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

[TheUlyssesian 2,589]

Just came across this insane piece of trivia that I did not know about.

 

 

This is a question I always had - which was that McCreary was hired after the show was already shot. So how did we have the elves singing his Valinor theme if he wrote the theme after the scene was shot. And he says here something insane - that the lip movements are matched with editing - and that while filming the scene they sang a completely different song from Plan 9. 

[Jay 39,764]

He talks about it in his blog post for episode 1

 

On 18/01/2023 at 2:55 PM, Jay said:

https://bearmccreary.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-episode-101/

 

On 18/01/2023 at 4:40 PM, Jay said:

Huh, it says he wrote this in October 2022.    Why wait until now to publish it?

 

And it offers a nice explanation of the Valinor theme being sung on screen; Pretty impressive they went through dailies to find alternate takes to match the mouth movements, sheesh!  Still not sure why the Plan 9 guys get co-composing credit on GEMA though, since it sounds like their song was entirely junked.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

 

[Chen G. 4,719]

 

In this new clip, it could be seen that Bear continues to use the love theme with Arondir, even though Bronwyn had given up the ghost.

[TheUlyssesian 2,589]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

In this new clip, it could be seen that Bear continues to use the love theme with Arondir, even though Bronwyn had given up the ghost.

 

I think it might be an Arondir-only theme going forward.

 

 

[Chen G. 4,719]

Yeah, that's my point.

 

It's good music. It good that it doesn't drop out of the storytelling.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

The theme was used for Arondir in his action scenes throughout Season 1 as well.

 

Besides that it was used for scenes between Arondir & Bronwyn together, but never for Bronwyn alone. When Bronwyn was not with Arondir she was always accompanied by the Halbrand/The Southlands theme.

 

So it makes sense that the theme continues to accompany Arondir in the new season. Which I'm very happy with, because it was one of my Top 3 themes.

 

I'm currently rewatching Season 1 and Bear's music really is astonishing throughout all the episodes. It never ceases to amaze me. Very excited to listen to the album this week and even more excited for the episodic albums. So happy they're continuing with those!

[Jay 39,764]

1 hour ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I'm currently rewatching Season 1

 

I'm sorry

 

1 hour ago, JNHFan2000 said:

 It never seizes to amaze me.

 

ceases.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Always write that the wrong way. Fixed.

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

Giving the Season 2 album a first listen now.

 

The vocals in "Rhûn" remind me of both Avatar and John Powell's material for "Enfys Nest" in Solo.

 

"Concerning Stoors" is unsurprisingly very much in line with the Harfoot material from Season 1.

 

"Golden Leaves" is a song in what I assume is some sort of Elvish. I was able to pick out the words "Valinor" and "Eldar," but that's it. The first few chords remind me of The Stranger's theme. Could just be a coincidence.

 

"Cirdan's Perfection" has a bit of Elrond's theme at the beginning and also a lovely choral rendition of the Valinor theme. It also has a bit of the melody from "Where the Shadows Lie" in it. Don't remember if that was a theme for Sauron specifically or what.

 

"Stone Singers" is actually kind of an obnoxious wailing women piece.

 

"Sandstorm at the Well" starts with The Stranger's theme, then has some energetic material with a bagpipe and children's choir before returning to the Stranger. I like it.

 

"Eregion" is a lovely little piece for children's choir, at times evoking the opening few seconds of the first episode.

 

"Emissary at the Forge" has a lot of ethereal choir, another appearance of a string ostinato I noticed in "Cirdan's Perfection," then more of the melody from "Where the Shadows Lie."

 

"Shelob" is a short action track with some fun, creepy crawly string action before it eventually brings in the brass.

 

"The Pyre" features Raya Yarbrough singing a lovely lament over the theme for

Spoiler

Bronwyn and Arondir.

 

"Estrid" is a gentle, almost folksy and possibly somewhat romantic piece featuring harp and fiddle. I believe it contains a subtle bit of Galadriel's theme.

 

"The Great Eagle" is a great dramatic cue largely dominated by the Númenor theme.

 

"The River-daughter" might be this season's equivalent of "This Wandering Day." It's a short bit of Tolkien poetry sung by Raya to the same melody as "Old Tom Bombadil." I really like it.

 

To my surprise, "Barrow-wights" has a bunch of creepy, raspy voices reciting "Cold Be Hand and Heart and Bone," which is the incantation spoken/sung by a barrow-wight to Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin in FOTR (the book) and also quoted in slightly altered form by Gollum in TTT (the movie). After the incantation, the track moves on to a spooky choral cue. There's a cool little heroic bit for Elrond on brass. The incantation is spoken again at the end.

 

"Forgiveness Takes an Age" starts with peaceful choir, has some lovely strings, then finishes on the theme for Bronwyn and Arondir.

 

"Candles on the Tide" starts with a male choir singing the Valinor theme, then has more dirge like material sung by a bigger choir of both male and female voices. The track ends with a tragic sounding solo for a male vocalist.

 

"Army of Orcs" is an action-y sort of piece that features male vocalists chanting "Nampat," marching percussion and big, bad brass. Fantastic Galadriel material at the end.

 

Next is "The Last Ballad of Damrod." I assume we all have our opinions on this one by now.

 

"Battle for Eregion" is obviously a big action set piece. Elrond's theme appears a few times. Nolwa Mahtar is also heavily used. Galadriel's theme shows up halfway through. There's a really cool sad rendition of Elrond's theme sung by a female vocalist.

 

"Durin's Bane" seems to be a catch all suite for the season's dwarf scenes. Elrond's theme also makes a couple appearances early in the track and it has some great variations of Durin's theme, as well as a badass statement of the Khazad-dum theme. There's only about 50 seconds of material that I think could be for the balrog starting at about 6:00 into the track and it's fine, but hardly groundbreaking stuff.

 

"Last Temptation" is a cool action track with several statements of the themes for Sauron and Galadriel. It also features "Where the Shadows Lie," Halbrand's theme, Nolwa Mahtar and more vocals like the ones in "Rhûn." Elrond's theme has a nice statement at the end.

 

"The Staff" is a beautiful choral piece. The themes for the Stranger and Nori and show up about halfway through. I don't know if the title means that we're getting the backstory of Gandalf's staff of all things, but would anyone really be surprised at this point?

 

"The Sun Yet Shines" is an awesome closing track that alternates between Galadriel's theme and Nolwa Mahtar.

[Chen G. 4,719]

12 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

"Concerning Stoors" is unsurprisingly very much in line with the Harfoot material from Season 1.

 

 

There's a track called "Concerning Stoors"? 

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

Just now, Chen G. said:

There's a track called "Concerning Stoors"? 

 

It's not my fault!

[Jay 39,764]

Another clip with score

 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

There's a track called "Concerning Stoors"? 

 

Strangely, there wasn't when the album was first announced:

 

On 05/08/2024 at 11:29 AM, Jay said:

1 Old Tom Bombadil (feat. Rufus Wainwright)
2 Rhûn (feat. The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices)
3 Life in the Canyon
4 Golden Leaves (feat. Benjamin Walker)
5 Cirdan’s Perfection
6 Stone Singers (feat. Sophia Nomvete)
7 Sandstorm at the Well*
8 Eregion
9 Emissary at the Forge
10 Shelob
11 The Pyre (feat. Raya Yarbrough)
12 Estrid
13 The Great Eagle
14 The River-daughter (feat. Raya Yarbrough)
15 Barrow-wights
16 Forgiveness Takes an Age*
17 Candles on the Tide (feat. Clydene Jackson)*
18 Army of Orcs
19 The Last Ballad of Damrod (feat. Jens Kidman)
20 Battle for Eregion
21 Durin’s Bane*
22 Last Temptation
23 The Staff
24 Old Tom Bombadil Reprise (feat. Rory Kinnear and Daniel Weyman)
25 The Sun Yet Shines

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

I'm pretty sure it's the new title of Life In The Canyon

[Edmilson 9,134]

On 19/08/2024 at 11:50 AM, JNHFan2000 said:

 

That's a cool article, but I noticed something interesting.

 

Beneath the cover photo it says: "Bear McCreary conducting at Air Studios in London on April 23, 2022."

 

If the photo is indeed from the recording sessions of the season 2 finale then the date is wrong. Right? In April 2022 Season 1 didn't even begin to air yet so it's highly unlikely that they were already recording the score to season 2 at that point.

 

I guess the correct date would be more like April 23, 2024. It could be 2023 but considering season 2 begins airing in August I guess it's more probable that they were finishing the score earlier this year, especially taking into account the SAG-AFTRA strike last year.

[Doo_liss 6,640]

Stone Singers made me think of this:

 

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

I'll just swap out the actual track with a YouTube rip of that lady singing, delete the Damrod track and call it a day.

[Doo_liss 6,640]

1:38 of Shelob, pranked me, it almost sounded like the main riff from "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath!

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

Well as a big fan of the score for the first season, that was a very enjoyable listen. It was kind of all over the place though (I'm sure we can blame the show for that) and I'm surprised how little some themes were used. Galadriel's theme doesn't really show up until the last third or so. The themes for Nori and the Stranger only appear in a couple of tracks. The Durin and Numenor themes only show up in one track each. I didn't notice Elendil and Isildur's theme at all. Oddly, there weren't any obvious standout new themes either, outside of the melody for Bombadil which only gets used in three tracks and presumably wasn't even written by Bear in the first place.

[Tydirium 1,402]

Huh???

[Doo_liss 6,640]

4 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Huh???

"Well ....It was kind of all over the place (I'm sure we can blame the show itself for that) and I'm surprised how little some themes were used:

 

Galadriel's theme doesn't really show up until the last third or so.

 

The themes for Nori and the Stranger only appear in a couple of tracks.

 

The Durin and Numenor themes only show up in one track each.

 

I didn't notice Elendil and Isildur's theme at all.

 

Oddly, there weren't any obvious standout new themes either, outside of the melody for Bombadil which only gets used in three tracks and presumably wasn't even written by Bear in the first place."

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

The "enter/return" key on my keyboard must be broken.

[Doo_liss 6,640]

 

Low Choir in Barrow-Wights reminds me of Kenji Yamamoto's  Metroid music

[Tydirium 1,402]

3 minutes ago, The Great Gonzales said:

"Well ....It was kind of all over the place (I'm sure we can blame the show itself for that) and I'm surprised how little some themes were used:

 

Galadriel's theme doesn't really show up until the last third or so.

 

The themes for Nori and the Stranger only appear in a couple of tracks.

 

The Durin and Numenor themes only show up in one track each.

 

I didn't notice Elendil and Isildur's theme at all.

 

Oddly, there weren't any obvious standout new themes either, outside of the melody for Bombadil which only gets used in three tracks and presumably wasn't even written by Bear in the first place."

 

My confusion was because the soundtrack isn’t out for a few more days.

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

Some of Bear's music sounds like it belongs in a video game for sure.

[Doo_liss 6,640]

1 minute ago, Tydirium said:

 

My confusion was because the soundtrack isn’t out for a few more days.

[Stark 566]

OST is great!

 

I think some tracks (like Durin’s Bane) are edits of related cues from throughout the season - hence why Galadriel’s theme is absent from the first half of the album, among others.

 

I think Eregion might be a suite, of a theme that might be for Celebrimbor?

 

Lot more Nolwa Mahtar than I expected, which works for me.

 

Shelob is wild, it sounds like he tried to emulate Williams’ horror music of all people!

 

Estrid sounds like a suite as well, and I honestly think it may be the best thing Bear’s ever written. It’s beautiful and alluring!

[Tydirium 1,402]

2 hours ago, The Great Gonzales said:

 

I figured it out before your comment, haha.  I’m kicking myself that I could have been listening all yesterday and today!

 

2 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

Some of Bear's music sounds like it belongs in a video game for sure.

 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing, in your view?

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

3 hours ago, Tydirium said:

Is that a good thing or a bad thing, in your view?

 

I'm pretty ambivalent about it actually. If the show were anywhere near as good as PJ's LOTR trilogy, the presence of "video game music" might bother me more. It might also bother me if the percentage of music in the show that sounds "gamey" was much higher (though I do like some of Bear's actual game scores). Part of what I liked so much about the score for the first season was that it felt like Bear was really trying to grow and write music that was more cinema/concert worthy than perhaps some of his previous TV work has been. It felt to me like he was really pouring his all into it and pushing his limits. I don't get that same sense with this album, but I still like it for what it is.

[Doo_liss 6,640]

BTW this is the kind of stuff I was referring to in my previous Post:

 

This:

 

 

But especially this:

 

 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Cues I think are theme suites:

 

Old Tom Bombadil

Rhûn

Concerning Stoors

Eregion

Estrid

The Last Ballad Of Damrod

 

Maybe Golden Leaves is onw as well.

And I think Cirdan's Psrfection & Barrow-Wights contain new thmes, but not in suite form. Because there are other themes present (I love the heroic trumpet version of Elrond's theme in the latter).

 

I also think some cues are from different parts of the season, because some themes appear only once or twice.

I LOVE the album (not surprised), the use of Nolwa Mahtar in multiple cues is excellent and quickly has quickly risen to become one of the best themes for me.

Really want to listen to the episodic albums to spot the differences and again hear the full extent of McCreary's work.

 

 

11 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

It also has a bit of the melody from "Where the Shadows Lie" in it. Don't remember if that was a theme for Sauron specifically or what.

Where The Shadows Lie is the theme for The Rings Of Power themselves and therefor linked to Celebrimbor & Mithril.

 

11 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

"Candles on the Tide" starts with a male choir singing the Valinor theme, then has more dirge like material sung by a bigger choir of both male and female voices. The track ends with a tragic sounding solo for a male vocalist.

That's a woman, Clydene Jackson.

[crocodile 8,611]

13 hours ago, The Great Gonzales said:

I didn't notice Elendil and Isildur's theme at all.

Check track 17.

 

Karol

[Tydirium 1,402]

Does anyone think there will be a CD release of this at some point?

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

15 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Does anyone think there will be a CD release of this at some point?

Yes, there will be

 

 

[crocodile 8,611]

26 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Does anyone think there will be a CD release of this at some point?

I am sure there will be. We will probably learn more details on Friday.

 

11 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Yes, there will be

 

 

Fingers crossed for the box set too.

 

Karol

[Knight of Ren 1,089]

Was just listening to the album and realized that perhaps could Golden Leaves be a new theme for Gil-galad? Is sung by Benjamin Walker, the actor who plays the character, and I remember reading in one of Bear's blogs that he had a theme for him in mind but that would be introduced in later seasons, so perhaps it's this?

 

I really liked the album, especially all the new variations on all of the familiar themes, and I'm a huge fan of Nolwa Mahtar becoming such a prominent theme. Of the new ideas, I really liked Rhûn with its exotic vocals and the lyrical theme in Estrid, and I hope we get to hear some great variations on the album episode themselves, as these feel like album arrangements, Same thing with Eregion.

[Chen G. 4,719]

So, I was listening to the album which is perfectly nice and all...

 

And then it hit me:

 

Quote

O dillusion and madness!

Howard! Where are you!?!

 

[crocodile 8,611]

11 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

So, I was listening to the album which is perfectly nice and all...

 

And then it hit me:

 

 

Do you think they ditched his title music for Season 2?

 

Karol

[Yavar Moradi 3,031]

19 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

Well as a big fan of the score for the first season, that was a very enjoyable listen. It was kind of all over the place though (I'm sure we can blame the show for that) and I'm surprised how little some themes were used. Galadriel's theme doesn't really show up until the last third or so. The themes for Nori and the Stranger only appear in a couple of tracks. The Durin and Numenor themes only show up in one track each. I didn't notice Elendil and Isildur's theme at all. Oddly, there weren't any obvious standout new themes either, outside of the melody for Bombadil which only gets used in three tracks and presumably wasn't even written by Bear in the first place.

 

I'm sure all these themes will be very present on the episodic albums which will actually contain the musical story/journey of the show. For a highlights album containing a small fraction of the season's music, I'm not surprised that a lot of stuff would be missing.

 

Yavar

[Chen G. 4,719]

1 minute ago, crocodile said:

Do you think they ditched his title music for Season 2?

 

 

Nah. But as of yet I haven't heard it incorporated into the underscore which...I mean, too bad!

[Yavar Moradi 3,031]

1 minute ago, crocodile said:

Do you think they ditched his title music for Season 2?

 

Calm down, folks. The season 2 album for Foundation didn't include a repeat of Bear's own title theme, even though it's present in the show itself. I think they figure folks already have it from the season 1 album and they don't feel the need for redundancy.

 

Yavar

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Look, I really get wanting Shore's theme incorporated in the show, but where would it fit. McCreary has been building such an exstensive musical world himself, that I don't think it would really fit anywhere.

 

I really love the piece, but I'm fine with it just staying in the main title. After a season it really felt like Shore was only asked to do this for publicity, but they're never gonna use it outside of the main title I think.

 

Like I said, to what would his theme connect and belong at this point?

[Chen G. 4,719]

On 21/08/2024 at 9:14 PM, JNHFan2000 said:

Like I said, to what would his theme connect and belong at this point?

 

It doesn't have to "belong" to anything, but lets say the diminished fifth arpeggio, at least, would be a good fit for Elrond. Yes, he has a theme, so what? Howard gave Bard like five themes. Wagner gave the Volsung love duet like seven...

[Holko 10,401]

I love how much he leaned into the vocals for this season, too bad the OST is not nearly as well balanced/crafted as S1's. It works better as a hype piece for the rest of the season score than as a satisfying standalone presentation.

[A. A. Ron 1,953]

It's probably just a smaller collection of highlights this time since they know for sure there will be individual episode albums. No big surprise IMO.

 

Also, if they were ditching Howard's main title, they probably would have included whatever was going to replace it.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Here we go!!

Samples available.

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power/1762849570

 

[Jay 39,764]

WOW!

I am listening to the Season 2 OST album and LOVING IT.  What I was most stricken by was that I didn't revisit season 1 music at all leading up to this; I probably haven't listened to any of it since some time in 2023.  And yet as all the various season 1 themes would pop up throughout this album I realized just how ingrained into my psyche they are from listening to and enjoying the season 1 score so much when it came out.  A nice accomplishment!

 

I don't even know what specific comments I have, other than just generally loving everything I'm hearing here (except for the Damrod track).  Boy, is it going to be fun getting new episode albums over the next 8 weeks.  Er, 5 weeks, since they are foolishly dropping 3 episodes (and presumably episode albums) at once next week.

 

 

 

 

On 20/08/2024 at 4:41 PM, A. A. Ron said:

It also has a bit of the melody from "Where the Shadows Lie" in it. Don't remember if that was a theme for Sauron specifically or what.

 

The theme is that track is not a theme for Sauron, it's a theme for The Rings themselves.  Sauron has his own, separate theme (that has a concert arrangement just called "Sauron")

 

My google doc is actually a good refresher on what the 18 themes that made up season 1 are, on the first tab:

 

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

 

I'll be updating it as the season goes on and we know for sure what the new season 2 themes are and what they represent.

 

I've actually already added a season 2 tab and I'm jotting down which themes I hear in each of these tracks.  If anyone sees that I missed any let me know

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

Fantastic Jay! I'm also really excited about the episodic albums again. It really feels like we're going on a journey in the coming weeks!

 

Just like you I love the S2 album, I'm even starting to enjoy the Damrod track, mostly because of how it plays on the album in between the cues surrounding it.

Only negative I have is that the themes for the dwarves and the Numenorians only appear in one cue each. It would've been really disappointing if we weren't getting the episodic albums, so I feel it's not that bad that the themes aren't as present as others here.

Like someone else said earlier, I love the vocal and choral parts of the album. All the songs feel so ingrained into the fabric of the whole work, that it never feels when a song is playing that it takes you out of the music. It's quite remarkable. Choral work overall is excellent!

 

My favorite cues at the moment are:

Old Tom Bombadil

Rhûn

Concerning Stoors

Sandstorm At The Well

Eregion

The Pyre

Estrid

Army Of Orcs

Battle For Eregion

Last Temptation

The Sun Yet Shines

 

But who am I kidding, I freaking love the whole thing, and I'm pretty sure it's my top score of the year, just like S1.

[Jay 39,764]

Yes the second thing that surprised me beyond how familiar I was with all the season 1 themes (and how nicely those are used here) is the use of choir on this album.  Feels like its in almost every track!  And it all sounds good (except for the Damrod track)

 

Just finished the album.  The theme that makes the biggest impact is the Noble Warrior theme.  McCreary really took a cool passage for one scene in one episode and turned it into a fun de facto concert arrangement for the S1 album, which just made that passage even more popular... and then turned it into what sounds like Galadriel's new main theme in season 2.  It appears more than her original theme does on this album anyway.  And it gets so many new variations!  The final track has the best ones too, it's great!

[tomsmoviemadness 3,623]

I guess you mean Nolwa Mahtar? Not Noble Warrior? Or did I miss a new theme.