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


Chen G.

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21 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Sure, but McCreary's Elven music is absent those exotic hues (orchestrationally and otherwise), so the connection is not there to be made.

Interesting point. I think a case could be made that giving Galadriel's brassy theme to Númenor and Númenor's exotic theme to Galadriel would be more in line with Shore's artistic vision.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not that awards mean anything, but still troubling for the IMFCA to give this Score of the Year. I’ll admit to having an extremely exaggerated opinion on this score. I’ve made peace (well, as much as I can) with the fact that everyone else seems to like it a lot. Score of the year, though? That has to be an exaggeration of the other direction, right? I mean, I can admit my opinion doesn’t cover everyone under my umbrella, but isn’t the opinion that Rings of Power is score of the year essentially as extreme? Or do all of you agree, it’s your favorite, and I’m just over here clutching my few measly scheckles of hope that you all just ‘like it fine enough’?

 

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2 hours ago, blondheim said:

but isn’t the opinion that Rings of Power is score of the year essentially as extreme? Or do all of you agree, it’s your favorite, and I’m just over here clutching my few measly scheckles of hope that you all just ‘like it fine enough’?

 

Afraid not! It's my favourite score of last year by miles. If the oscars included TV scores, I'd expect him to be a shoe-in.

 

I suppose if you turn things around, I would find awarding the Fabelmans score of the year 'extreme' so we both have our little battles.

 

At some point I'm going to have to actually buy the albums, as I've basically lost any hope they're going to do a physical episode set.

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2 hours ago, Stark said:

It’s absolutely the best score of this year and a competitor for best of the decade (so far)!

Yep, this is where I stand too

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On 11/03/2023 at 2:53 PM, Stark said:

It’s absolutely the best score of this year and a competitor for best of the decade (so far)!

 

Thank god "decade" only covers 2 years (so far).

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13 hours ago, TolkienSS said:

 

Thank god "decade" only covers 2 years (so far).

Plenty of time for season 2’s score to be even better!

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  • 2 weeks later...
11 hours ago, artguy360 said:

Elrond Half Elven is secretly one of the best themes in the show. The main melody has a quiet dignity to it. And the B part played on horn is just lovely. 

 

Agreed.  The Durin theme is absolutely knockout dwarf music as well, particularly in its variability (demonstrated ably in the concert suite but also, I'm sure, in the episode cues, which I have yet to fully delve into).  This is such score-of-the-year material that I honestly have trouble extricating what I love about the show (which coexists alongside what I hate about it) from what I love about the score (which is just about everything).

 

Has anyone done a roundup of what material is exclusive to the episode albums?

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Just now, igger6 said:

Has anyone done a roundup of what material is exclusive to the episode albums?

 

That was done here as soon as each episode aired

 

Here you go

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iPZSq84CsDwNeyokPVDh4adCyagChXIEW9X_-sYu5sc

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Interesting passage there:

 

“Nolwa Mahtar” was not written as a theme, merely a one-off cue for an especially exciting scene. Even as I sketched, however, I felt this cue had the potential to be really memorable. Months later, Amazon asked me to compose and perform a suite of The Rings of Power score to debut with a live orchestra at the massive San Diego Comic Con panel. Knowing this would be the first occasion fans hear my score, I wondered: which theme had the potential to best grab the attention of sixty-five-hundred fans crowded into Hall H? I realized that the best candidate was not a theme at all, but “Nolwa Mahtar.” These bombastic choral chords provided the perfect fanfare to introduce my work to the Comic Con crowd! (Even now, I don’t consider “Nolwa Mahtar” one of the series’ primary musical themes, but I must admit I’m on the lookout for an opportunity in the future to turn it into one.)

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On 25/03/2023 at 4:14 AM, artguy360 said:

Elrond Half Elven is secretly one of the best themes in the show. The main melody has a quiet dignity to it. And the B part played on horn is just lovely. 

I absolutely love it. And Elendil and Isildur.

 

Karol

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  • 3 weeks later...

Producing a niche product for a niche crowd (Soundtrack collectors) may not be a priority when a show flops as hard as this one.

 

I don't know why tease it in the first place if there's no concrete plan.

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5 hours ago, Laserschwert said:

If only...

 

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Amazing work! Any chance you could share the box's front cover on its own? Maybe even reframed to square if you really have too much time?

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7 hours ago, Laserschwert said:

If only...

 

trop.jpg

 

That's gorgeous. Great work!

 

If that were the real thing, I'd almost be tempted to buy it. Almost.

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I love JWFan for the insane amount of effort people will put into completely fake things :lol:

 

But I also hate you now because I can't buy this... I really believed the resolution of LotR fans to buy literally anything would lead to this sort of thing being made.

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39 minutes ago, Laserschwert said:

It's a bit more complicated than that, since I've used Blender for it, though Photoshop definitely played a role for all the box/cover/label designs.

 

v1.jpg

 

v2.jpg

 

trop_box.jpg

 

I would read an entire blog post about the making of this! 

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39 minutes ago, Laserschwert said:

It's a bit more complicated than that, since I've used Blender for it, though Photoshop definitely played a role for all the box/cover/label designs.

 

v1.jpg

 

v2.jpg

 

trop_box.jpg

Dear Jeff. Do something useful with your obscene wealth and get @Laserschwert in to make this happen. Love JWFan. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 18/4/2023 at 7:47 AM, Richard Penna said:

I've lost all hope for that :(


Same here.  I’m just going to buy the digital and not care if they don’t come out on disc!  I think the OST is the one I’ll come back to most anyway.

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1 hour ago, mstrox said:


Same here.  I’m just going to buy the digital and not care if they don’t come out on disc!  I think the OST is the one I’ll come back to most anyway.

Which one?

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Well, technically, there are three if you count Amazon exclusive streaming version of OST with two extra tracks and the shortened vinyl programme.

 

Karol

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On 3/5/2023 at 12:54 PM, A Farewell to Kings said:

Which one?


I have the CD of the OST.  I don’t stream, and it’s my understanding that any bonus tracks are found elsewhere on the episode albums.

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Yes, the music that's in those two bonus tracks is all on the episode 6 album.

 

"Find The Light" is the first 3 minutes and change of "In Defiance Of Death", while "The Promised King" is a combo of two cues, each of which is inside the much longer "Transformed By Darkness" track

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Quote

In writing themes for each character, McCreary encountered a challenge in composing for Halbrand and Sauron – two characters whose connection isn’t discovered until Season 1’s final episode. “I couldn’t have just completely unrelated themes and I couldn’t have the same theme,” said McCreary. “So actually, Halbrand’s theme is Sauron’s theme played backwards… the difference is that I make [Halbrand’s] theme sound more noble – I reharmonize it, I play it in a solo French horn.”

 

I didn't spot that!

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I want to say that was pointed out here the day the OST dropped, but searching "backwards" or "reverse" doesn't find it.  Not sure if the search engine picks up things in spoiler blocks though

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Look up inverted or retrograde perhaps. That's more accepted terminology for that.

 

A musican would simply look at those two and say "its the same music."

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Ah nice, that found one reference to it after the season aired

 

On 15/10/2022 at 7:22 AM, Edmund said:

Halbrand's theme being an inverted version of Sauron's theme (or vice versa) turned out to be relevant after all! I like that. Although it's a bit weird that it will continue to carry that association if it is used for the Southlanders going forward.

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