Bit of old news, but worth mentioning here, I feel.

---

This historic release contains over 180 minutes of music on three CDs, comprising the full score of the 2002 film, composed by Howard Shore. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Complete Recordings" marks the second edition of the three complete recording releases of the film trilogy whose score has been honored with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, and which has sold over 6 million copies worldwide. This deluxe set also includes exclusive new artwork, packaging, extensive liner notes written by Doug Adams, and "Gollum's Song" performed by Emiliana Torrini.

Composed for symphony orchestra and choir, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Complete Recordings" was performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Voices, The London Oratory School Schola featuring vocal performances by Emiliana Torrini, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Sheila Chandra, Elizabeth Fraser, Ben Del Maestro and cast member Miranda Otto.

The fourth disc is a DVD-Audio presenting the entire "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Complete Recordings" in 5.1 Surround Sound.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=16469

---

The release was sort of stirring in the back of my mind for most of the year, and I think the thing I was thinking most was, "Would three CDs will sufficient to cover the entirety of The Two Towers score?"  Assuming they use the full 74-80 minute capacity, it should definitely suffice, right?

Looks like a retail price has been nailed; according to The Digital Bits, it's going to be $75.98 USD.  Why the considerable rise in price, I wonder, in comparison to last year's Fellowship of The Ring's $59.98?     

The tracklisting was also revealed:

---

DISC 1
1. Glamdring
2. Elven Rope
3. Lost In Emyn Muil
4. My Precious
5. Ugluk's Warriors
6. The Three Hunters
7. The Banishment Of Eomer
8. Night Camp
9. The Plains Of Rohan
10. Fangorn
11. The Dead Marshes
12. "Wraiths On Wings"
13. Gandalf The White
14. The Dreams Of Trees
15. The Heir Of Numenor
16. Ent-draught

DISC 2
1. Edoras
2. The Court Of Meduseld
3. Theoden King (featuring "The Funeral of Theodred")
4. The King's Decision
5. Exodus From Edoras
6. The Forests Of Ithilien
7. One Of The Dunedain (featuring "Evenstar")
8. The Wolves Of Isengard
9. Refuge At Helm's Deep
10. The Voice Of Saruman
11. Arwen's Fate (featuring "The Grace of The Valar")
12. The Story Foretold
13. Sons Of The Steward
14. Rock And Pool
15. Faramir's Good Council

DISC 3
1. Aragorn's Return
2. War Is Upon Us
3. "Where Is The Horse And The Rider?"
4. The Host Of The Eldar
5.: The Battle Of The Hornburg
6. The Breach Of The Deeping Wall
7. The Entmoot Decides
8. Retreat (featuring "Haldir's Lament")
9. Master Peregrin's Plan
10. The Last March Of The Ents
11. The Nazgul Attack
12. Theoden Rides Forth
13. The Tales That Really Matter
14. Long Ways To Go Yet (featuring "Gollum's Song")

---

That's what I've been wondering too :-(

I hope it's a mistake and will be fixed....it was like $42 at CDUniverse on preoder and I'd love to get that price again....

-Joshua

I don't think anyone has figured out why the price is so high. Some places are selling it cheaper (Barnes and Noble, in particular) but I'm certainly not getting it at over $70.

The /retail/ price is still $76, it doesn't matter if "some places are selling it for less".

Still, between CDUniverse's discount on top of the $10 off $20 for using Google Checkout discount, I preordered it for $46.

-Joshua

My copy of The Two Towers came in yesterday, and I've given it the once-over this morning.  Very little needs to be said that hasn't already been said about The Fellowship of The Ring's Complete Recordings; based off of the Extended Edition, this is about as complete a score as one could ever hope for in The Two Towers.  It's incredible to now be able to listen to the entirety of The Battle of Helm's Deep. :) 

One thing that seems odd, though, is the color choice for these box sets.  Fellowship's was a brown-ish red, whereas The Two Towers is blue.  One would've thought they were going to try to replicate the Extended Edition DVD colors, where Fellowship was green, Towers red, and Return of The King blue.  By this logic, then, Return of The King would now need to be green.

I've had the set for about a month and it's very enjoyable (and very complete). Unlike the box set for FotR, my TT box came damaged (and that's actually a common complaint, making me wonder whether there was a problem with production). Still, it's all about the music and Howard Shore deserves a medal for his work.

The RotK set will be four disks. I'm worried about how much it will cost...

Are you talking about the spine?  Like Fellowship, my Two Towers set is just a bit smushed in straight down the middle.  Sort of makes me relieved that it's not just mine that came like that.

Four disks for RotK, yes..... but I wonder if they'll also be including the DVD?  I've become rather spoiled by the 5.1 treatment.  ^_^  Didn't Shore also say that it might be released earlier than the now-established month of November?

Yeah, the spine... among other things. My Fellowship arrived perfect so I was miffed.

There's no release date... but they ARE including the DVD.

First of all, the spine issue is a common thing -- mine is too, and I've seen a number of other similar complaints. I somewhat wonder if the reason it was hard to find for a while was that they were fixing that.

As for ROTK, it will have the DVD. In fact, supposedly the reason they chose the resolution (48/24 instead of, I guess, 96/24) was so ROTK could fit on one DVD.

-Joshua