Rings of Power Oscar Winning ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Howard Shore In Talks To Compose Music For Amazon Studios’ Middle Earth-Set TV Series

[Monoverantus 312]

Anyone wanna screenshot for those who don't want to subscribe?

[Richard Penna 2504]

This is the pertinent bit: (I just opened the page.... don't know about any subscription thing)

 

(bolding isn't me)

 

Quote

Will It Sound Like The Lord of the Rings?

In one very obvious respect The Rings of Power will sound absolutely familiar to Tolkien fans. Composer Howard Shore, who won three Oscars for his work on the Jackson films, is back to score this new Middle-earth adventure.

 

I wonder whether that either means McCreary isn't involved after all, or he'll have more of an 'additional music' role.

[Monoverantus 312]

Thanks, it seems there's a maximum amount of articles one can read before you have to subscribe.

[Jay 30968]

6 minutes ago, Monoverantus said:

Anyone wanna screenshot for those who don't want to subscribe?

 

If you open in an incognito window you can read the article

[Disco Stu 15468]

Gasp!

 

Well at least one good thing will come of all this!

[Monoverantus 312]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Well at least one good thing will come of all this!

I'm still far from convinced that Shore scoring is 100% positive. If the show sucks, it will likely just pain the more to know what potential was wasted.

[Richard Penna 2504]

Hopefully the show and setting will provide Shore with some fresh inspiration. I watched a bit of Smaug on Netflix over the weekend and was reminded of how generally a bit lacking I find his Hobbit material.

 

Now my turn to complain - why didn't they get Shore to write some original music for the trailer? What better way to 'announce' the assignment?

[Disco Stu 15468]

Guys, in 2022 we're getting a new Spielberg/Williams collaboration, a new Raimi/Elfman collaboration, and now a new Howard Shore Tolkien score.  Good times!

[Monoverantus 312]

2 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Now my turn to complain - why didn't they get Shore to write some original music for the trailer? What better way to 'announce' the assignment?

Good question. The article also supposedly confirms that it IS Narsil in the promo image of Elendil.

[Jay 30968]

5 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Guys, in 2022 we're getting a new Spielberg/Williams collaboration, a new Raimi/Elfman collaboration, and now a new Howard Shore Tolkien score.  Good times!

 

And a new Silvestri/Zemeckis collaboration, a new Giacchino/Reeves collaboration, a new Giacchino/Trevorrow collaboration, and a new Giacchino/Waititi collaboration (most likely 2)

 

And a new Yasunori Mitsuda RPG score

 

What a year

[Disco Stu 15468]

7 minutes ago, Monoverantus said:

I'm still far from convinced that Shore scoring is 100% positive. If the show sucks, it will likely just pain the more to know what potential was wasted.

 

 

I'm not super invested in the show either way, so just new Shore music in the world of Tolkien is bound to produce at least something worthy for me.  Shore has a deep love for Tolkien and I trust he'll do his best to do right by that legacy as much as he can within the strictures of the show.

 

[Monoverantus 312]

This article is actually doing a lot of work redeeming my hopes for the show. For one, they reveal that Durin III will be part of the show despite us getting no promos of him, which in turn makes the exclusion of Anarion also feel less likely. The discussion of Biblical themes and Shakespearean verse also gives me good vibes.

[mstrox 5672]

It might be too early to sound the trumpets, but given the alternative rumors, I do like the idea of Shore scoring this by himself.  I don’t really care if the show is good or bad, but now I’m sure that the score will be good.

[KK 3251]

Good news indeed! I'm still betting that Shore won't be tackling this solo, but any new Tolkien music by his pen is a treat.

[Bilbo 3622]

This might be the one positive thing from this series!

[Chen G. 2936]

The issue, though, is that legally they can’t rehash designs (WTF?!) and where does that put Shore’s great themes?

 

Of course, he can spin new themes out of the same ideas. Numenore could be to Gondor what Bilbo’s material is to the Shire theme.

[Barnald 364]

When that report came out about them not being able to use the term 'cave trolls' because of the Jackson films, I did consider what it might mean for the music. Sounds like a legal minefield if Shore can't lean too heavily into his old material.

 

I'm surprised this is so given New Line (and so Warner Bros) are on board. Presumably Doug wouldn't be able to clarify this on pain of Amazon-inflicted death?

[Luke Skywalker 1440]

Amazon holds the rights of the movies too, or not?

[Disco Stu 15468]

11 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Amazon holds the rights of the movies too, or not?

Pretty sure that’s Warner Bros.

[Luke Skywalker 1440]

Ah ok, but the have the rights to the books then?

 

The argonath photograph is credited to amazon studios wrongly then.

[Bilbo 3622]

Amazon only has tv rights at the moment. 
 

but even if they buy the rights to make movies from SZ they won’t have the rights to the pre-existing films as I understand it. 

[Disco Stu 15468]

As we learned from Space Jam: A New Legacy, Warner Bros. is well aware that ownership of already popular intellectual property is the only currency in the streaming industry (ie, the entire entertainment industry) so yeah the rights to the Jackson films would have to be pried from their cold dead hands.

[Chen G. 2936]

2 hours ago, Barnald said:

Sounds like a legal minefield if Shore can't lean too heavily into his old material.

 

But he can spin new themes off of old ones.

 

I mean, when the Rhinedaughters enter in Gotterdamerung, they're associated with a brand new theme, but almost everyone will make a connection to the music they're associated with from Rhinegold. The same could be said for the theme we associate with Young Anakin and the Imperial March, or the themes we associate with Bilbo and the theme we associate with the Shire.

 

Shore could spin new themes out of the material that already exists for Gondor, the Elves, Orcs and so forth.

[TheUlyssesian 2247]

If Shore could do his magic - 
 

 

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

But he can spin new themes off of old ones.

 

I mean, when the Rhinedaughters enter in Gotterdamerung, they're associated with a brand new theme, but almost everyone will make a connection to the music they're associated with from Rhinegold. The same could be said for the theme we associate with Young Anakin and the Imperial March, or the themes we associate with Bilbo and the theme we associate with the Shire.

 

Shore could spin new themes out of the material that already exists for Gondor, the Elves, Orcs and so forth.

 

But isn't the final theme associated with the Rhine Daughters at the finale an adaptation of earlier music.
 

 

In short, I think this to be a difficult assignment if prior themes cannot be used. 

 

Though if anyone is the man for the job, it is obviously Shore. 

[Barnald 364]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

But he can spin new themes off of old ones.

 

I mean, when the Rhinedaughters enter in Gotterdamerung, they're associated with a brand new theme, but almost everyone will make a connection to the music they're associated with from Rhinegold. The same could be said for the theme we associate with Young Anakin and the Imperial March, or the themes we associate with Bilbo and the theme we associate with the Shire.

 

Shore could spin new themes out of the material that already exists for Gondor, the Elves, Orcs and so forth.

 

True, but there are certain themes one would expect/hope to hear direct quotes of - History of the Ring, Dwarrowdelf, House of Durin, Lothlorien, etc. Plus Williams and Shore were both legally allowed to reference old material when composing related works in the same world. Providing LOTR/Hobbit material is indeed off-limits, just how close can Shore get here? I say this as someone who has no idea how this would work in legal/technical terms.

[Jurassic Shark 9327]

Just invert the themes and Shore will be off the hook.

[Chen G. 2936]

3 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

But isn't the final theme associated with the Rhine Daughters at the finale an adaptation of earlier music.

 

That's the wrong timestamp, but sure, they also get their Rhinegold material. Still, its just one of innumerable examples how composers spin new ideas out of old ones.

 

2 hours ago, Barnald said:

True, but there are certain themes one would expect/hope to hear direct quotes of - History of the Ring, Dwarrowdelf, House of Durin, Lothlorien, etc.

 

I mean, the music for the title reveal (not by Shore as it happens but still) was effectively the theme we associate with the history of the Ring, so clearly if its varied enough you can get away with it. I mean, this is the same as the theme we associate with Dwarrowdelf, and yet we don't hear it as a quote of "Balin's Tomb." The whole point of leitmotives is that they change, and so I'm all for a score that presents the same ideas in new guises.

 

I think Shore is, too. I mean, he could have just reprised all the material we associate with Sauron for Dol Guldur, but he didn't: he chose to create "Dol Guldur" versions of that material. I think he takes a great deal of artistic pleasure in putting his musical material through change and metamorphosis: that's the whole idea of this kind of writing.

[TheUlyssesian 2247]

55 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

That's the wrong timestamp, but sure, they also get their Rhinegold material. Still, its just one of innumerable examples how composers spin new ideas out of old ones.

 

 

I mean this motif below from The Valkyrie Act 3 is the one being reprised in Gotterdamarung.

 

 

My point was it is nearly impossible to make a work covering the overall larger story without referring to earlier leitmotifs.

[bored 228]

Howard Shore was the only thing about this series I was actively looking forward to, and if they're going to restrict his use of previous themes, then my hype level for his score has significantly decreased to about 50%. 

[Chen G. 2936]

1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

I mean this motif below from The Valkyrie Act 3 is the one being reprised in Gotterdamarung.

 

Sure, and that motif is itself a transformation of this:

 

 

And we hear the one in the other. But you're right, not getting to use the same themes at all would be a big limitation. I mean, there's a reason Williams puts a little bit of The Imperial March at the end of Anakin's theme, or why Wagner puts the spear motive in the middle of the storm that opens Die Walkure: they're drawing our attention to the way those motives are transmuted.

[Jay 30968]

Vanity Fair has edited the article to removed the part about the music.

 

Before:

 

Quote

Will It Sound Like The Lord of the Rings?

 

In one very obvious respect The Rings of Power will sound absolutely familiar to Tolkien fans. Composer Howard Shore, who won three Oscars for his work on the Jackson films, is back to score this new Middle-earth adventure. But what about the language? Jackson and his team had the advantage of working off Tolkien’s novels and could lift long passages of dialogue straight from the source, but McKay and Payne are building their story from sparser material. Here’s where their love for Tolkien’s language came into play. “We start every single day of our writers room with a quote from the books,” Payne says. “Every day in production a quote from the books gets emailed out.”

proof

 

After:

 

Quote

 

Will It Sound Like The Lord of the Rings?

 

Jackson and his team had the advantage of working off Tolkien’s novels and could lift long passages of dialogue straight from the source, but McKay and Payne are building their story from sparser material. Here’s where their love for Tolkien’s language came into play. “We start every single day of our writers room with a quote from the books,” Payne says. “Every day in production a quote from the books gets emailed out.”

 

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/10-burning-questions-about-amazons-the-rings-of-power

[Disco Stu 15468]

So either: the deal is not actually finalized yet and therefore could fall through OR the interview reveal wasn't part of whatever dumb marketing strategy some overpaid executive put in a dumb powerpoint presentation

[Chen G. 2936]

Another option I had feared: these people saw the first three episodes back in November and may have seen it with a Howard Shore temp track.

[Jay 30968]

Deadline reported Howard Shore was in talks, so there is at least some truth to him being involved.

 

Whether it fell through before anything got submitted, or his work will eventually be heard in the show, remains to be seen I guess.

[Disco Stu 15468]

3 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Another option I had feared: these people saw the first three episodes back in November and may have seen it with a Howard Shore temp track.

 

Wasn't it a quote from one of the showrunners?  Not a journalist or other kind of outsider?  The showrunner knows how temp tracks and scoring work.

[Chen G. 2936]

The article's a mixture of quotes of the showrunners and the interjections of Joanna, who had been invited to set and watched the first three episodes (or an edit thereof) circa November.

[Disco Stu 15468]

Just now, Chen G. said:

The article's a mixture of quotes of the showrunners and the interjections of Joanna, who had been invited to set and watched the first three episodes (or an edit thereof) circa November.

 

You're right, I see now that later in the same paragraph it actually quotes the show runner.  That's pretty confusing.

[Barnald 364]

Interesting that Doug would tweet this though:

 

 

I mean, you'd think he of all people would know *something*....

[Jay 30968]

I think what's happening is that Shore was hired to provide music for the show, but there's no guarantee that in the end the producers will like his music and use it.

 

So they weren't planning on announcing his involvement at this point because so much can change between now and Sept 2.

 

Heck, the giant new HALO TV series coming out this year only announced its composer last week, and the show begins 5 weeks from now.

[KK 3251]

Bhaha. That's an embarassing PR mistake. 

[Disco Stu 15468]

LOL

 

 

[Jay 30968]

The greatest trick Shore ever pulled was convincing Amazon the contract didn't exist?

[Drew 557]

Come on...........

Doug Adams did previously say "more soon" though.

[Chen G. 2936]

Yes! We have PROOF!

 

[Drew 557]

That portion of the article was just retracted.

[Jay 30968]

28 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Yes! We have PROOF!

 

3 hours ago, Jay said:

proof

 

[Monoverantus 312]

14 minutes ago, Drew said:

That portion of the article was just retracted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the second time they've failed to keep this reveal secret isn't it?

[Drew 557]

They can't announce anything until the contract details are finalized.

[Monoverantus 312]

Some people must be really itching to get it out, since it's happened both in the article and LOTRonPRIME's Instagram...

They better have a big damn reveal prepared for when it's actually time

[LOTRHobbitFan 20]