WaterTower Music has announced the release of the soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, with music composed by Academy Award-winner Howard Shore, one of film music's most respected, honored, and active composers and conductors. The soundtrack also contains an original song performed by Billy Boyd, who starred as Peregrin Took in The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.
The soundtrack will be released in two configurations: a standard 2 CD set and a Special Edition set, also with 2 CDs, and featuring extended tracks, bonus tracks, and expanded liner notes. On December 9, both versions of the soundtrack will be available digitally and on CD, except the 2CD Special Edition, which will be available for purchase on December 16.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is Howard Shore's final musical voyage to Middle-earth—concluding his work with director Peter Jackson on both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
"It's been such an incredible experience and I'm very pleased to be able to finally release this last Hobbit film score. The connection to nature is very important to me and I think that was also my connection to Tolkien's work," Shore noted.
Also included on the soundtrack is "The Last Goodbye," performed by The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy star Billy Boyd, which he co-wrote with filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. "Billy is not just a wonderful actor but also an extremely accomplished singer/songwriter—we are so glad he agreed once again to share his talent with us," the filmmakers said jointly. "We cannot imagine a more perfect voice to carry us away from the shores of Middle-earth... one last time."