tomsmoviemadness

I'm sorry. What is this man doing?
This feels very unnecessary
 
 

The harp statement in To Serve the Lord of Mordor is awesome, as it gives the theme an oddly calm vibe, which makes it all the more unsettling. I like that the Sauron theme is becoming the main character of the show, but every variation is different and interesting, ranging from those soft statements to full choral statements. The constant repetiton of the theme and the ostinato could make it feel repetitive, but the fact thay it goes through many different variations makes it constantly engaging.
 
My favorite track so far is My Name Is Not Halbrand/Emissary at the Forge, with all those different Sauron and Rings of Power variations!

I'm super impressed with the way McCreary uses choir and voices in S2. It's really excellent. And as someone who loves a good choir, this is just phenomenal stuff.

The final scene of the episode is Celebrimbor & Annatar working in the forge together. That's why it's used.
 
 
And after seeing the 3 episodes, I'd say just like S1 pretty much all the is on the albums. He edited out some thriller stuff, or long chords etc., but there is also music on the albums that is unused in the episodes.
 
Quite surprisingly for example is the solo male choir Khazad-Dûm arrangement after Stone Singers.

"Missing" music from Episode 1

Dawn Of The Second Age
Some small cuts, but nothing major missing. Mostly string sustains missing.

The Last Hope For All Middle-Earth
Short passage missing, with a Sauron statement, nothing major.

Bow Or Bleed
Again, just some string sustains missing.

There's some small thriller stuff not on the album, but it never includes any themes.
So when it comes to Ep. 1, I'd say it's very well spotted, there really is just less music in it.

Golden Leaves is 100% a theme for Gil-galad. It's used beautifully in The Last Hope For All Middle-Earth

Watched the second episode. The most interesting parts for me right now are everything revolving around the Rings, especially how they're showing Sauron's deception and seduction to everyone around him. Charlie Vicker's performance is one of the best thinsg this season so far. The music in that Annatar reveal with Celebrimbor is the highlight of the episode for sure. I love how it builds with the Forging Ostinato until the climax with the Rings of Power theme in full force. Awesome! Also loving all the Rhûn material.
 
I've done a chrono breakdown of the splitting points of each track. It's mostly chronological with a few exceptions. The weird thing is that there are some bits omitted from the album, but then the album has some fragments that are missing from the show, probably unused or meant for a longer cut of the scenes, like in Despair Under the Mountain, where that solo vocal statement of Khazad-dûm is missing from the show
 
Episode 1
 
Episode 2
 

That's on the original album. It's Raptors / Stand Together from 1:17 onward. The film version has a sliggtly different opening, but other than that, it's the same cue.
 
 
 
 

The more I listen to "Warning In the Woods", the more I'm loving this orchestral re-interpretation of This Wandering Day.  I hope subsequent episodes feature more versions of this tune!

From Roger:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/wJQPQggGDQqQc6Tn/?mibextid=K35XfP

Ahhh, right.  So the music is used in episode 2 as score, then repeated in episode 3 as end credits.  neat.  First time that's happened.
 
 
 
I think the best plan is to keep the season 1 episode albums as-is, and for the season 2 episode albums, drop the bonus tracks.

Then make your own custom "album" of everything else:  The Concert Arrangements from the season OSTs, the new bonus tracks here, and the tracks from the season 1 OST with alternates in them (In The Beginning and Nobody Goes Off Trail)

 
 
Wow, that's crazy that that big of music wasn't used! It's great!
 
 
 
~
 
 
So, no Tom Bombadil or Stoors themes yet, in the first 3 episodes.  I guess that means those character's haven't been introduced yet?

Watched the first episode. Really liked it, and I feel it's anpromising start to the new season, more focused on Sauron and the Rings from the get go. The music was awesome in context, being one of my favorite bits the first part of Last Hope for All Middle-Earth with Nolwa Mahtar over the title card. Also, This Wandering Day is used as a sort of travelling theme as someone mentioned here, and since the lyrics of the song seem to be important to Nori and the Stranger's storyline, we might hear more variations on the theme.
 
And then, both Círdan and Three Rings for Elven Kings work great, especially
 
Also, I think I noticed a motif that appears in both those tracks that seems to be related to either Círdan himself or tied specifically to the three Elven Rings. It appears at 6:57 of Cìrdan right after the Mithril motif, and then again at 3:08 of Three Rings for Elven Kings, joined by the Forging Ostinato, building up to that majestic Valinor statement.

Thoughts on the 3 albums after seeing the episodes.

*Slight spoilers*. But nothing about bigger specific plot points.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3


I'm wondering if you guys will keep the S1 trailer cues etc on these albums or add them to the S1 album.

Golden Leaves is 100% a theme for Gil-galad. It's used beautifully in The Last Hope For All Middle-Earth

"Missing" music from Episode 1

Dawn Of The Second Age
Some small cuts, but nothing major missing. Mostly string sustains missing.

The Last Hope For All Middle-Earth
Short passage missing, with a Sauron statement, nothing major.

Bow Or Bleed
Again, just some string sustains missing.

There's some small thriller stuff not on the album, but it never includes any themes.
So when it comes to Ep. 1, I'd say it's very well spotted, there really is just less music in it.

Golden Leaves is 100% a theme for Gil-galad. It's used beautifully in The Last Hope For All Middle-Earth

Born On The Fourth Of July
 
Fantaatic performance by Tom Cruise, one of his best!
The scenes in Vietnam were incredible, so visceral and well shot. The first part after he comes home sags a bit in my opinion, but other than that it's a great film.
 
And I wonder if there will ever come a day that I'm not going to be amazed by John Williams' craft. The solo trumpet theme in this sounds so simple, but it's just incredible how those few notes absolutely perfectly encapsulate the character in every aspect of his life. It's astonishing. Add to the the beautiful string work and the avant garde and horrific sequences for Vietnam and you have one of Williams' best dramatic score. Brilliant!

I'm super impressed with the way McCreary uses choir and voices in S2. It's really excellent. And as someone who loves a good choir, this is just phenomenal stuff.

Born On The Fourth Of July
 
Fantaatic performance by Tom Cruise, one of his best!
The scenes in Vietnam were incredible, so visceral and well shot. The first part after he comes home sags a bit in my opinion, but other than that it's a great film.
 
And I wonder if there will ever come a day that I'm not going to be amazed by John Williams' craft. The solo trumpet theme in this sounds so simple, but it's just incredible how those few notes absolutely perfectly encapsulate the character in every aspect of his life. It's astonishing. Add to the the beautiful string work and the avant garde and horrific sequences for Vietnam and you have one of Williams' best dramatic score. Brilliant!

Certainly. I'll add the other potential new themes to the transcription thread for those who want to familiarise themselves with them.

@Monoverantus
Do you think there is a chance to make a full theme breakdown for the season 2 albums like (and I) did for S1? Because those were really helpful to appreciate the music even more.
 
I'm not familiar enough yet with the newer themes, but I will try to do it myself when I've seen more of the show.

It's at 82% on RT and if the viewership is as high as season 1 (S1 has been No. 1 over the last few weeks on Prime in multiple countries) there will definitely be more.
 
 

I'm so excited to hear that 12 minute opening cue!!! I believe none of that has been heard yet, so should be treat with some cool arrangements of the Sauron & Adar themes.

It's at 82% on RT and if the viewership is as high as season 1 (S1 has been No. 1 over the last few weeks on Prime in multiple countries) there will definitely be more.