2001: A Space Odyssey

The initial MGM soundtrack album release contained none of the material from the altered and uncredited rendition of Ligeti's "Aventures", used a different recording of "Also sprach Zarathustra" from that heard in the film, this time performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and a longer excerpt of "Lux aeterna" than that in the film.

In 1996, Turner Entertainment/Rhino Records released a new soundtrack on CD which included the material from "Aventures" and restored the version of "Zarathustra" used in the film, and used the shorter version of "Lux aeterna" from the film. As additional "bonus tracks" at the end, this CD includes the versions of "Zarathustra" and "Lux aeterna" on the old MGM soundtrack, an unaltered performance of "Aventures", and a nine-minute compilation of all of Hal's dialogue from the film.

North's unused music had its first public appearance in Telarc's issue of the main theme on Hollywood's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, a compilation album by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. All the music North originally wrote was recorded commercially by North's friend and colleague Jerry Goldsmith with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and was released on Varèse Sarabande CDs shortly after Telarc's first theme release but before North's death. Eventually, a mono mix-down of North's original recordings, which had survived in the interim, would be released as a limited-edition CD by Intrada Records.