Lord of the Rings CD Specials
Howard Shore, the composer for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has announced that the soundtrack from the films will be released on a nine-CD set. The first eight will include the soundtrack from the films with the ninth CD containing previously unreleased music.

That means approximately two and a third CDs of music per film. Just think of all that delicious music we heard in the theatre that wasn’t on the albums, and of the new music scored for the extended release DVD sets! And an extra CD of music that didn’t end up being used, too? Oh, it’s too much happiness…

Howard Shore was interviewed back in 2001 and mentioned that the album releases were condensed from the longer musical cues in the films. Those of us who listen to music closely in films know this. To be able to hear the entire musical story from start to finish, with all its developments and revisitations of motifs and themes, is going to be an incredible gift.

(via the SF Site News. Anyone have a release date?)

UPDATE: Here’s the original exclusive interview Shore did with Empire. A snip: �The plan is that we would feature all of the music in the theatrical cuts of the films,” said Shore, talking exclusively to Empire. “Currently, two discs for [the first], three each for [the second and third films] and a ninth disc of rarities with host of rare, unreleased music from the films with commentary from me.� Looks like there’s also to be a two-disc release of the symphonic version of the LOTR music Shore’s been touring about the globe. As for a release date, all we know is “next year.”