Chen G.

I dunno. Based on what we’ve seen they obviously saved a fortune on writers.

Sauron's Theme straight up sounds like trailer music. I don't dislike it though.
 
It almost gets interesting at the end. But I would have loved some of Shore's theme in there.
 

I like passion from musicians when playing their instruments, but I do cringe at the ballet dancing, martial arts melodrama that some (mostly violinists) decide to do.

I think he is.
 
The actor is one Anson Boon by the way.

Agreed. Given how important having “Hobbits” in the show was for Amazon, it’s almost impossible to imagine them not having Gandalf.
 
But if that’s the case, good grief, why all the obsessive f*cking secrecy? 

I'm just saying, there's so much crossing of the t-s and dotting of the i-s that for them to pass on Gandalf after they've given us Hobbits, ladled on premotions of Durin's Bane, threw-in a Palantir for good measure, etc...

That's what I always try to do, but I would probably find the Harfoots cloying in any case.

I will say this...it's the best of the trailers so far. And you can see the budget a lot more on the screen vs. the teasers. Still looks like a fanfic mess to me. And why are they trying to make it look like a horror movie?
 
The whole Harfoot thing is just...silly. Those accents. 
 

I bet the endgame for the Moria storyline is the Balrog attack, transposed to the Second Age a-la the Harfoots.
 

Has anyone seen the 1980 Syrian epic Lion of the Desert?  @Chen G., since this is from your neck of the woods? Worth a watch?

Made a transcription of the main theme in "Sauron". The lyrics are definitely Black Speech, but they are probably jumbled gibberish.

Normally, I'd agree. But the score from Lord of the Rings, like Star Wars, is very familiar to even casual viewers (especially given that a lot of the viewers Amazon is counting on are fans of the films). You don't need to have any great depth or musical knowledge of film scores to recognize when something is missing in the music. Even if they can't put their finger on it, something will feel off. 
 
People will notice.

While I would have preferred Shore contribute more than one piece, Bear is very good at what he does and I like both released pieces, so I am cautiously satisfied.

I wonder whether getting Shore's token-involvement with the opening logos was a rather cheap attempt at some attention/legitimacy.

Wouldn't you say this is more of a...
 
Tolkien-involvement?
 
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https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/bear-mccreary-confirmed-as-composer-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-20549/

https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/bear-mccreary-confirmed-as-composer-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-20549/

Bear is an obvious choice. He's reliable, well known, knows how to score TV, and compared to doing a full orchestral score, comes relatively cheap.
 
Which is what makes him all wrong for the project. I mean, when PJ's LOTR was announced, who picked the guy who scored Dogma & Striptease to score? Anyone? I was personally guessing and hoping for Horner after Braveheart.  I was wrong, and happily so.
 
Bear (again, who is a talented guy) composing just brings the underlying problem with the show into sharp relief, i.e. Amazon fundamentally doesn't understand the thing they paid so much money for. So they're just treating it like any other big-budget fantasy show, which is why it's going to look and sound like every other big budget fantasy show. Need a composer? Hey, let's get the biggest TV composer out there, that will do the trick! He did a great job with these other scifi/fantasy projects, so he's perfect for Middle-Earth!  It's all the same after all! Gnomes and people with swords and stuff.  
 
I'm frankly surprised they didn't go with Djawadi. This whole thing started when Bezos said "bring me my Game of Thrones!" after all.
 
 
This. This. This. With the exception of Williams & Star Wars, I can't think of a film that owes more to the score than Lord of the Rings. 

https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/tv/news/bear-mccreary-confirmed-as-composer-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-20549/