Rings of Power Bear McCreary's The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)

[Chen G. 3,346]

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

[Bilbo 3,707]

So Shore is only doing the main theme? 
 

Christ this thing just gets worse and worse.

 

No offence to McCreary. I’m sure he’ll do a good job but fuck it. This show has nothing going for it for a Tolkien or PJ fan. I am both and I am definitely out. 

[blondheim 1,051]

Yeah I was hoping for more, athough even one more Shore LOTR track is better than nothing! Here's hoping it's as exciting as the Galaxy's Edge Suite, Adventures of Han or Obi-Wan Kenobi!

 

I mean, you can do a lot in four minutes when you're Howard fucking Shore

[Chen G. 3,346]

Shore could always score The War of the Rohirrim, I guess. It'll be like an intermezzo!

[Bilbo 3,707]

4 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Shore could always score The War of the Rohirrim, I guess. It'll be like an intermezzo!

That movie is already way better. Shore would just be amazing. Fingers crossed.

[KK 3,288]

The McCreary tracks aren't terrible, but don't feel very Tolkien at all.

 

And sounds like McCreary is abandoning the original themes.

[Richard Penna 2,963]

Fairly predictable I think. McCreary is very set up for the demands of TV scoring - maybe Shore couldn't or didn't want to provide the sheer amount of music needed.

 

Plus he's proven he can do wonderful, melodic scoring with cultural flavours from Outlander. He's probably the most ideal composer to do this after Shore.

 

But JWFan continues to be absolutely merciless to any composer taking another's baton, before some have even heard any of the music itself.

[Bilbo 3,707]

5 minutes ago, KK said:

The McCreary tracks aren't terrible, but don't feel very Tolkien at all.

 

And sounds like McCreary is abandoning the original themes.

Where have you heard them?

[Richard Penna 2,963]

https://music.amazon.co.uk/albums/B0B6229P1X?tag=linkfire-smarturl-21

[KK 3,288]

1 minute ago, His Royal Noelness said:

Where have you heard them?

 

https://music.amazon.ca/albums/B0B621SXCS?

[Disco Stu 15,483]

Well, I'm certainly interested in the soundtrack for this show still, but not the show itself.

 

The Galadriel theme is lovely, I like it.

[blondheim 1,051]

I don't have Amazon. Does anyone know of any other place to listen to them?

[Barnald 364]

No disrespect to Mr McCreary, but after hearing those pieces, I sense quite a few people watching this series are about to realize just how important Shore's music was to the success of the films.

[Edmilson 5,703]

If his score for the show is as good as his God of War, I'll be satisfied.

[Chen G. 3,346]

 

[Jay 33,700]

Nice

[Barnald 364]

Lol:

 

[Edmilson 5,703]

Meh, these two tracks were a letdown. Sauron's theme is nice enough, if it is a little too generic and samey. Galadriel's was pretty forgettable.

 

Bear is capable of writing stuff a lot better than this, like BSG, GoW, etc.

[Dcole4 11]

If Doug is here/can elaborate... that would be greatly appreciated. I'm still very excited in the show and have faith it'll be good.... but this has totally taken the wind out of my sails. Shore's music was 80% of what I was looking forward to.

[Monoverantus 343]

41 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Sounds very God of War...

[Bilbo 3,707]

Galadriel sounds nice but forgettable. 
 

Sauron is generic and repetitive. Sounds like something you’d hear in the menus for Shadow of Mordor. 

[Chen G. 3,346]

I guess an opening credits theme from Howard Shore is better than nothing.

 

Depending on how abstract the opening credit sequence is, there could be something nice about the Middle Earth cycle (in terms of Howard Shore music) opening with "absolute" music (the Rings of Power opening credits) and ending with absolute music (Bilbo's Song).

 

I still hope he could pull a Pergulesi and give us Rohirrim stuff in the future!

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

Good composer who happens to be totally wrong for this project.

[Disco Stu 15,483]

Well, speaking as someone who thinks God of War is one of the best scores for any medium of the past 5 years, I remain optimistic.

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

36 minutes ago, Dcole4 said:

 Shore's music was 80% of what I was looking forward to.

32 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

I guess an opening credits theme from Howard Shore is better than nothing.

 

Did anyone really expect Shore to commit to the gruelling work of a scoring a TV show?

 

[Dcole4 11]

No, but I expected a bit more of a contribution... I always expected someone else to do the heavy lifting. 

[Chen G. 3,346]

4 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Did anyone really expect Shore to commit to the gruelling work of a scoring a TV show?

 

Nah, but I expected at least a theme (or a collection of connected thematic ideas) to be placed at the disposal of the show's composer a-la Solo and Obi Wan. Maybe it'll seep into the underscore in future seasons, but to hear Doug tweeting about it, at the moment its totally separate to the score and that's kind of a letdown.

 

I also expected Bear to do his darndest at doing an ersatz-Middle Earth themes. But this "Galadriel" piece sounds like something from Gondor...

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

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.

 

2 hours ago, Barnald said:

No disrespect to Mr McCreary, but after hearing those pieces, I sense quite a few people watching this series are about to realize just how important Shore's music was to the success of the films.

 

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. 

[Richard Penna 2,963]

29 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Did anyone really expect Shore to commit to the gruelling work of a scoring a TV show?

 

 

It seemed like a possibility at one point but the problem is people getting attached to the idea and then acting like stroppy children when it doesn't happen.

 

I was expecting that at most Shore might contribute a few bits of music, a few themes, etc. I'd have been amazed if he had signed on to score the entire thing.

 

Also remember that Bear has a team underneath him to help him write Outlander, Walking Dead and whatever else he scores. The idea of Shore doing the project solo is in itself, a bit fantastical.

[Edmilson 5,703]

8 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 I'm frankly surprised they didn't go with Djawadi.

Maybe they tried, but Djawadi was already busy with Westworld 4 and House of the Dragon?

 

5 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Also remember that Bear has a team underneath him to help him write Outlander, Walking Dead and whatever else he scores. The idea of Shore doing the project solo is in itself, a bit fantastical.

That's what I thought. Bear is committed to so much projects, he surely will have all the help he can get from his team to finish them all.

[Richard Penna 2,963]

Also, composers like Tyler do TV work as well as movies, but he very openly co-composes with at least one other composer (Breton Vivian).

 

I wonder whether the 'in talks to compose' thing was just determining whether he wanted to collaborate with McCreary.

[Chen G. 3,346]

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

[Barnald 364]

1 minute ago, Chen G. said:

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

 

I'd say so. They're probably thinking 'the audience will likely only remember the theme tune anyway'.

[Jay 33,700]

1 minute ago, Chen G. said:

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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[Edmilson 5,703]

2022 will be the year where John Williams and Howard Shore return to their own fantasy worlds they helped build with music with a brand new piece... That no one will hear because, on streaming age, you can skip the opening anyway.

[Stark 201]

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.

[Monoverantus 343]

I for one am relieved. Ever since the start, my stance has been that the worst possible outcome would be to see Shore wasting his talent on a shitshow, and now I don't have to worry about that. If the show sucks (as it likely will) I can dislike it without compromise.  

[rpvee 681]

The pieces are nice, but I do worry this will be another Kenobi situation where it gets to the point that even casual viewers are wondering where all the familiar music is.

[Taikomochi 1,018]

I highly, highly doubt casual viewers will really notice the difference here. Y’all are way overestimating the musical knowledge of folks who do not give a shit. They just care if it sounds “epic”

[Dcole4 11]

Yeah this, to me, is a nightmare scenario. They can't use Howard Shore's themes and Bear is handcuffed and forced to make something that sounds "familiar" rather than create something bold and interesting of his own. What we'll get is a bargain bin version of what Howard Shore did. Hope to be proven wrong but this is really terrible news to me. I had hoped the new composer would have freedom to collaborate w/ Shore in some areas and run free on their own in other areas. 

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

23 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

I highly, highly doubt casual viewers will really notice the difference here. Y’all are way overestimating the musical knowledge of folks who do not give a shit. They just care if it sounds “epic”

 

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.

[Taikomochi 1,018]

Tell that to the many people I have encountered who thought Requiem for a Dream was part of the Two Towers score lol

[Richard Penna 2,963]

1 hour ago, Dcole4 said:

Yeah this, to me, is a nightmare scenario. They can't use Howard Shore's themes and Bear is handcuffed and forced to make something that sounds "familiar" rather than create something bold and interesting of his own. What we'll get is a bargain bin version of what Howard Shore did. 

 

Where is any evidence of any sort that this will be the case?

 

I'm getting really tired of this: JWFanners trashing a score before they've even heard it simply because it will be written by someone other than the composer who started the franchise, and assuming that said composer is being forced to write shit by evil showrunners.

 

The closed-mindedness of this place to different composers and styles is disappointingly breathtaking.

[Taikomochi 1,018]

The nightmare scenario would have been Hans Zimmer or someone similarly generic. Much if this thread is totally detached from reality. Like, I get it - Shore would have been my choice too. But it could be way worse. 

[Bilbo 3,707]

37 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

 

Where is any evidence of any sort that this will be the case?

 

I'm getting really tired of this: JWFanners trashing a score before they've even heard it simply because it will be written by someone other than the composer who started the franchise, and assuming that said composer is being forced to write shit by evil showrunners.

 

The closed-mindedness of this place to different composers and styles is disappointingly breathtaking.

it has been reported that Amazon have no rights to any material from the PJ films. That’s why none of the armour or swords or designs (such as Narsil) match with the trilogy. 
 

The two tracks released have no Shore material despite being based on two characters with prominent and memorable thematic material already. 

[Nick1Ø66 3,856]

 

55 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I'm getting really tired of this: JWFanners trashing a score before they've even heard it simply because it will be written by someone other than the composer who started the franchise, and assuming that said composer is being forced to write shit by evil showrunners.

 

The closed-mindedness of this place to different composers and styles is disappointingly breathtaking.

 

Yeah, this a complete straw man.  I haven't seen anyone "trash" the score, haven't seen anyone say ONLY Shore was capable of scoring Middle-Earth, or that McCreary was being "forced to write shit by the evil showrunners".  

 

And in fact I see a lot of tolerance and interest here in different composers with different styles, McCreary included.  That doesn't mean every composer is right for every project, anyone who makes films or listens to film music knows that and people are going to have an opinion on that.

 

But hey mate, it's all good. Feel free to rage against the machine.

[TheUlyssesian 2,443]

Honest first reaction - I didn't like the first 2 pieces. Fairly generic.

 

Why is Galadriel's theme completely orchestral? At least follow the approach of Shore if not using the themes.

 

I think all elven material has to be choral to some degree. Without that, it just doesn't sound elven to me. Surely this has been established by now. 

 

Again, I am not saying use Shore's themes. But use his texture. You gotta make the elves feel ethereal.

 

I am guessing they felt if they had a "pretty, choral" theme for Galadriel, it might be thought of as feminizing her and not allowing her to be a badass or whatever. 

 

Sauron's theme is very simple. It is sufficient but doesn't have an interesting or memorable shape to me. That's what a leitmotif is supposed to be - it is supposed to be memorable and grab you in 7-8 notes alone because that is about the length you will have in dense sequences.

 

Do we know if this is a leitmotif - Wagnerian score like Shore's where everything and everyone and everyplace gets a theme?

[Mr. Gitz 55]

I listened to the pieces released today and like I assumed would happen it’s as if they think “All we need is lots of choral work & boom! It’s Lord of the Rings”. 
 

There are two things I associate with Lord of the Rings on screen. 1 is Howard Shore’s music & the other is New Zealand.

 

I remember when Peter Jackson took over the Hobbit after GDT quit the project & feeling unsure if Shore would return after the falling out between the two on King Kong. I honestly thought Shore & Jackson would be the new power couple in the director/composer realm after LOTR. But then whatever happened on Kong happened & Jackson turned to Brian Eno, of all people, to score his next film. 
 

I know some were disappointed with The Hobbits score but I thought they were terrific. The problem is how Jackson utilized  the score by chopping it up & requiring odd themes in odd places. I’m still not sure why the Nazgûl theme was used when Thorin descended down the tree on fire. 
 

But this? I could care less. The project doesn’t excite me, the score doesn’t excite me. I’m sure I’ll watch, but the little anticipation I did have has evaporated. 

[JibberJabberwocky 8]

That "Galadriel" track really makes me think of old Hollywood...like a Douglas Sirk movie's score. I quite like it.

One thing that hasn't been talked about -- I think -- is how PJ treated his end credits. He had pop singers contribute. I wonder if this will be true for the AMZN series?

[JNHFan2000 2,043]

I'm a big fan of McCreary so I am looking forward to this score.

 

I'm also really interested in the blog that McCreary will write about the score.

His blogs about his scores for series like Da Vinci's Demons & Outlander are really insightful and always made me have an even bigger appreciation for his music.

 

Knowing McCreary he will write expanded blogs about the themes and maybe each episode.

And since this is produced by Amazon, I can see them doing the same release format like The Wheel Of Time. 1 album with themes etc. And then 3 albums for the 8 episodes.