The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings arrived last night. I think I’m in love.

I’ve only listened to the first disc of three so far, but it’s like experiencing the movie – the Extended Edition – scene by scene. The first disc is one hour long and they’re only just arriving at Weathertop. The disc includes the entire two and a half minutes of the mournful choral elf song, “A Elbereth Gilthoniel,” that we hear in the Extended Edition when Frodo and Sam spot a procession of elves in the woods near the Shire. So hauntingly beautiful.

An accompanying 44-page booklet includes musical notation of various themes used in the score, with analysis as to how various themes are related.

As a bonus, anyone can download the “annotated score,” which is not really an annotated score but rather a track-by-track description of the three-disc set. It’s a beautiful-looking document with stills from the movie.

I may need to finally get an iPod just so I can have my own “portable Fellowship.” Once the other two complete recordings come out, I could listen to all nine-plus hours in one big Lord of the Rings audio marathon.