The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies / Motion Picture Soundtrack / Composed By: Howard Shore / 2 CD / Special Edition / Made in the EU

UPC 602547104946

The music of The Hobbit film series is composed and produced by Howard Shore, who scored all three The Lord of the Rings films, to which The Hobbit trilogy is a prequel. The score continues the style of The Lord of the Rings score, and utilizes a vast ensemble, multiple musical forms and styles, a large number of leitmotives and various unusual instruments, adding to Shore's overarching music of the Middle-earth films.

Shore composed over nine hours of music, featuring 65 new musical themes and reprising 50 themes from the Lord of the Rings. Shore sketched and orchestrated the music for an immense ensemble consisting of a large symphony orchestra, additional stage "bands" (featuring various non-orchestral instruments), multiple choirs and several vocal soloists.

While not quite as critically successful as his Lord of the Rings compositions, Shore's score remained a financial success, peaking in the top ten album charts in multiple countries, and garnered various award nominations, and his setting of the "Misty Mountains" tune becoming very popular. The score has since been performed as a Symphonic piece in four movements for orchestra and soloist. The score and its production were the subject of an hour-long documentary film created for the behind-the-scenes features of The Desolation of Smaug, and is to be featured in a dedicated book by the musicologist Doug Adams, set to be completed in late 2017.

With these three scores added to the music of The Lord of the Rings film series, Howard Shore has composed over 160 leitmotifs for the Middle Earth films, creating by far the largest collection of themes in the history of cinema and one of the biggest collections for any cycle of musical compositions.

• Manufacturer: ‎ Watertower Music
• Date First Available: ‎ October 15, 2014
• Label: ‎ Watertower Music