A unique collection of the very best themes from Howard Shore's scores for the blockbuster trilogy The Lord of the Rings plus music from the 2012 smash hit The Hobbit.One of the most respected and honoured composers in cinema history, Howard Shore’s career spans five decades and includes scores for many of the most popular and critically successful films of the modern era - The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Gangs of New York, The Departed and Hugo. Shore’s soundtrack from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy remains his most towering achievement, winning three Academy Awards...

Silva Screen Records once again delve into Howard Shore's score for the Tolkien movies as it releases this compilation album that showcases some of the highlights from all three The Lord of the Rings movies as well as The Hobbit.

This follows on neatly from the record label's 2004 release Music From The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. However this release misses off all the vocal tracks from the former, and a few instrumental songs, and replaces them with three tracks from The Hobbit.

Personally I loved this album, but if you already own Music From The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, then you may find this album a bit of a disappointment. But if you don't already have the former collection, this is a fantastic introduction to Shore's music and could well whet your appetite enough to get you to purchase all of the original scores. To be fair, Silva Screen have pretty much collected together the highlights of the albums right here. And whilst not the original recordings, I defy anyone to tell the difference.

The album contains 15 tracks and runs for 1 hr, 05 min, 17 sec.

9

Darren Rea