It is not surprising that when awards season rolls around, commercially successful films nominated for major awards also manage to attract nominations for their music, and that may help explain why composer won three Academy Awards for the trilogy of films based on 's trilogy, although it does not explain the distribution of those awards: won the scoring award for the first film, , wasn't nominated at all for the second film, , then won the scoring award and shared the song award for the third film, . Of course, the films generated albums released by , and others have also taken up their own versions of the music, notably , which made an album of the score for in 2002, and the low-rent , which addressed the three scores for the budget label . imprint specializes in new versions of film scores for which albums were never attempted, but he too has jumped in with a version of the music, employing, as usual, the 87-member and the 100-voice , plus soloists. His usual staff, headed by conductor , has paired the seven hours of scoring down to 88 and a half minutes in 16 segments. This makes for a reasonable precis, retaining the scope of 's efforts, which range from bombastic action music to delicate, -flavored interludes, with sweeping, string-filled melodies and angelic choir interventions to keep things suitably mythic. Unlike the typical composer hired on short notice to write a score in a few weeks, was able to take more time on this lengthy project, and he also had many different moods to underline. He proved up to the task, even if there really isn't anything new in his approach. The album concludes with what are referred to as "bonus tracks," though they are not bonuses in the sense that record buyers usually suppose; it's not as though there's any version of the album that doesn't contain them. These are vocal versions of the three theme songs for the films, from , , and the Oscar-winning co-written by , from . All could have been dispensed with, just as they could have been in the films themselves. ~ William Ruhlmann