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

[pete 1,280]

On 7/21/2025 at 8:49 PM, crumbs said:

He's actually playing in Melbourne in 2 nights, still undecided about whether to check out his concert. I'm only really a huge fan of his TROP music.

 

DId you go? I attended the Sydney concert and meet and greet. I described it in the Bear McCreary thread in the General Discussion. And I've got to say, every aspect of the evening exceeded my expectations.

 

Here are some snippets of the Rings Of Power pieces played at the concert: Old Tom Bombadil, Galadriel's Theme, and Nolwa Mahtar

 

I thought I had more video of Nolwa Mahtar, but just the one clip. Well, it's 53 seconds, so that's a decent part of it. It really worked well in a rock setting! And I just noticed/remembered that Galadriel's Theme reappears in it on electric guitar.

 

That and Galadriel's Theme weren't performed on the first leg of the tour in Europe. Bear wrote on his blog that during that tour, he realized some pieces weren't working as well as he had hoped, so some changes were in order, and when he mentioned that to his brother, he agreed. Not sure what else is different or what it replaced, but those pieces were two of the highlights of the night. And they were performed together - so we have kind of a new Rings of Power suite of those two themes

 

 

 

[crumbs 15,802]

1 hour ago, pete said:

DId you go? I attended the Sydney concert and meet and greet. I described it in the Bear McCreary thread in the General Discussion. And I've got to say, every aspect of the evening exceeded my expectations.

 

Didn't go after reading some reviews of his EU concerts and the lack of TROP music... his non-film/TV work doesn't do much for me musically.

 

If I'd known he was going to add Galadriel's Theme and Nolwa Mahtar to the setlist I probably would've bought a ticket though. Alas!

 

Glad to hear it was an awesome concert and you had a great time though! Seems like he's loving his time in AU so hopefully he'll come back in a few years for another tour.

[VenomVeVenom 224]

 

Hey folks, wasn’t sure if this belonged in Shore’s thread or Bear’s, so I’ll post it here. I transcribed it by ear, so there are probably a few mistakes, but I hope you enjoy it!

[Chen G. 5,570]

Don't you just love how the piece peters on A minor - the nearest the piece has to anything resembling a tonic - and then hours and hours and hours later, Bilbo's Song cadences in A major?

 

"Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. Nego! On the contrary, I find that the major has a glorious effect...Joy follows sorrow, sunshine—rain." - Ludwig von Beethoven

[Laserschwert 664]

Still no update on the TRoP S2 boxset?

[Jay 44,345]

if there was it'd be posted here for sure!

[crocodile 9,405]

I did message Mutant about it but they never replied. I was also hoping it would be tied to the hobbit day yesterday. That also didn't happen.

 

Karol

[Richard P 5,007]

I hope it doesn't come out as late as Christmas - I'd been a bit worried that it would come out while I was away in June!

 

In my mind, would've made more sense to have it drop a month or two after the final episode streamed, so that the primary market are still in the mindset. It's been ages since I've listened to these scores properly. (partly as S2 has a more Autumnal feel to me - I've wanted to wait a bit later in the year)

[crocodile 9,405]

I think all the Tolkien scores play better during autumn. They're not very summery at all. 

 

As for timing, I don't think it will impact this much. The first set came out year and a half after the first season and it sold extremely well. I really hope to add this to my collection soon as I really like the music. The reason I was expecting it this week because it was supposed to come out after Bear's tour and the last one came out on a Tolkien-related date (Tolkien reading day, was it?).

 

Karol

[pete 1,280]

On 7/26/2025 at 9:45 AM, pete said:

 

Galadriel's Theme, and Nolwa Mahtar

 

And they were performed together - so we have kind of a new Rings of Power suite of those two themes

 

 

 

 

Oops, me bad. It wasn't a new suite per se., but a rearrangement of the season 2 piece "The Sun Yet Shines".

Bear's next tour blog is up - North America part 1.

 

Surprised to read that Wander My Friends wasn't played in Europe. I would have been disappointed if I had gone to a Bear concert and not heard that! If I were in charge of the setlist, that would be one of my first choices. Maybe I could get a job doing that!

 

So the new pieces for the American concerts - and they were played in Australia too were Wander My Friends, The Sun Yet Shines, and A Son's Path from God of War.  I don't know all the pieces that were dropped to make room for them, but Child's Play was one of them.

 

[The Score Cleaner 8,859]

19 hours ago, crocodile said:

I think all the Tolkien scores play better during autumn. They're not very summery at all. 

 

 

For me, all scores play better in summer, spring, early fall, because, late fall and winter are too cold, to go for walks.

 

Though because of nostalgia, TH scores do have a connection to the fall for me.

[Stark 801]

Not looking forward to having to buy S1's 10CD set secondhand for a trillion dollars

[Richard P 5,007]

10 hours ago, Little Ghost said:

For me, all scores play better in summer, spring, early fall, because , late fall and winter are too cold, too go for walks.

 

I tend to not want to remind myself that it's winter, and I'm a bit of a Christmas humbug, so true winter scores don't get a lot of play for me (Home Alone, for example), and Christmas-themes scores mostly just wind me up.

 

So once I can admit that summer has gone (probably another month over here), then The Village, RoP S2, LotR TTT, maybe The New World (a bit more Spring for me) get some plays. Also Edmund Butt's Yellowstone which feels like it's guiding between seasons. Autumn for me has a hint of the looming darkness and a touch of melancholy

[crocodile 9,405]

As we approach the expensive time of the year, I am beginning to hope they will just and release the set next year around the time as season 1 release (on Tolkien Reading Day). It actually would probably make more sense to do it then, just to re-acquaint yourself with the music ahead of the new season (assuming it is coming around September 2026).

 

I am probably jinxing it now, and the set will be announced just before Christmas!

 

Karol

[crocodile 9,405]

The Rings of Power Season 2 10 CD box set from Made by Mutant going on sale tomorrow.

 

That's 6pm UK time.

 

Karol

[Tydirium 1,533]

Aw man. I meant to try and let him know about a mistake in his blog post about Episode 207, to hopefully correct it before this set went to print:

 

Quote

Damrod proves too mighty a foe for most Elven warriors. High King Gil-galad himself charges in on horseback to aid Elrond. The choir surges with a tense rendition of the Elven Hope theme.

 

It's actually the Elven Valor theme (heard at 2:54 in "Damrod").

 

Still, the set looks awesome!

 

 

[Jay 44,345]

Nice!

 

There was a lot to love in the sophomore season of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings prequel, Rings of Power, last year—but one of the absolute highlights was Bear McCreary’s wild work on developing his own sound for Middle-earth in the series’ soundtrack. Now, you can get ready to enjoy it all without having to rewatch every episode and enjoy it in style.

 

io9 has got your first look at the fancy physical edition release of McCreary’s Rings of Power season two. Born from a deal between McCreary’s own independent label, Sparks & Shadows Records, and art company Mutant (which helped McCreary launch his rock concept album The Singularity last year), Mutant will release a grand, 10-disc physical collection. Eight of those discs will be dedicated to individual orchestral recordings for the episodic scores of each episode in the season, while the last two will encompass the broader original soundtrack release for Rings of Power season two.

 

On top of that is A Composer’s Journey, a 130-page booklet penned by McCreary that explores an episode-by-episode breakdown of how the composer approached scoring the second season, delving into his creative process, from initial ideas, to scoring, and then to producing the final package. Speaking of that final package, all this will come in a lavish slipcase box featuring gold foil design work inspired by the series, as well as imagery from the show. Check out the full track listing for the release below:

 

Mutant’s Rings of Power Season Two Complete Soundtrack Collection will be limited to 1,000 copies and will cost $150—and goes live for pre-order at 12pm CST tomorrow, October 17, at Made by Mutant.

[Yavar Moradi 4,007]

3 hours ago, Tydirium said:

Aw man. I meant to try and let him know about a mistake in his blog post about Episode 207, to hopefully correct it before this set went to print

 

You should still try and let him know right away! It might not be too late. If I know Mutant, they'll be putting this up for ordering in advance of it actually being manufactured.

 

Yavar

[Stark 801]

Very exciting. Less exciting is the second hand market for the first season set...

[Richard P 5,007]

https://www.madebymutant.com/release/544259-bear-mccreary-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-season-2-complete-soundtrack-collection

 

Ordered!

 

£136 all in - works out at £20 for the OST and £13 for each episode album, so actually good value overall. Estimated delivery is about two weeks before Xmas.

[crocodile 9,405]

Ordered one too.

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 3,472]

Ordered, although the European postage is an astonishing £42 (so for the purpose of this order, Guernsey is part of England again...). And no, they aren't losing out, postage to Guernsey is the same as the UK.

[crocodile 9,405]

49 minutes ago, Richard P said:

Estimated delivery is about two weeks before Xmas.

They actually adjusted the date. The initial listing stated 28th of November.

 

21 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Ordered, although the European postage is an astonishing £42 (so for the purpose of this order, Guernsey is part of England again...). And no, they aren't losing out, postage to Guernsey is the same as the UK.

Not sure I understand?

 

By the way, looks like this set is exclusive to Made by Mutant website.

 

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 3,472]

21 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Not sure I understand?

 

If I put in Guernsey, a lot of shopping websites assume that when you put Guernsey as a country, it's therefore non-UK (i.e. they count it as a mainland Europe destination) so try to charge me the European shipping rates. However, I can put UK as my country and Guernsey as my "county". It doesn't always work, but Guernsey postcodes are part of the UK postcode system and so usually gets accepted. Of course it means they don't take the VAT off (and it doesn't look like they were going to anyway) but £7 postage is entirely acceptable relative to £42!

 

Lots of places don't even deliver to Guernsey or will accept an order and randomly cancel it because they decide they can't be arsed, even though sending to Guernsey is basically like sending to the UK.

 

One does not simply... post something to Guernsey.

 

It's easier to get to fucking Mordor sometimes, I swear...

26 minutes ago, crocodile said:

By the way, looks like this set is exclusive to Made by Mutant website.

 

 

Karol

I ordered it from A****n last time (annoyingly, they are actually one of the best for shipping stuff to Guernsey) but fortunately Mutant seemed to accept my order.

[ST-321 25]

Does this contain any music that wasn't previously available with the Season 2 digital releases?

[crocodile 9,405]

3 minutes ago, ST-321 said:

Does this contain any music that wasn't previously available with the Season 2 digital releases?

No, it's the same content.

 

Karol

[Jay 44,345]

Ordered one too! I'm glad they let us know yesterday when it'd be up for sale today 

[Stark 801]

Picked it up as soon as the cart fixed about 3 minutes after sale. Hopefully early enough for an autograph.

[crocodile 9,405]

40 minutes ago, Stark said:

Picked it up as soon as the cart fixed about 3 minutes after sale. Hopefully early enough for an autograph.

There are no autographs.

 

Karol

[The Score Cleaner 8,859]

2 minutes ago, crocodile said:

There are no autographs.

 

Karol

[Marian Schedenig 10,955]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

Ordered one too! I'm glad they let us know yesterday when it'd be up for sale today 

 

Ordered one, too. I'm for one am not glad that nobody let me know - I was unaware of Made by Mutant, and I don't usually see the stuff tucked away in the Tolkien sub forum. Thanks to @crocodile for posting about it on the main forum, otherwise I would have missed it.

 

2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

If I put in Guernsey, a lot of shopping websites assume that when you put Guernsey as a country, it's therefore non-UK (i.e. they count it as a mainland Europe destination) so try to charge me the European shipping rates. However, I can put UK as my country and Guernsey as my "county". It doesn't always work, but Guernsey postcodes are part of the UK postcode system and so usually gets accepted. Of course it means they don't take the VAT off (and it doesn't look like they were going to anyway) but £7 postage is entirely acceptable relative to £42!

 

But postage to mainland Europe is "only" €23.15? Even the more expensive (and only slightly quicker) Courier option is "only" €37.78:

 

 

What bothers me more is that I included Black Sails in my order - just because I happened to notice they have that one too; been wanting one for a long time, but at first I didn't want to pay the Amazon price and now it's been unavailable at Amazon for years and goes for several hundred Euros on Discogs… now with shipping and expected customs I've probably paid more than the initial Amazon price, and all I'll probably listen to repeatedly is the main title… - and they seemingly allow me to choose between shipping "when available (faster)" and "in as few shipments as possible" - only it defaults to "as few as possible" anyway, doesn't let me select the other option, and still charges an extra €10.17 shipping (at least) for this second item. So now the total is almost €200, for which I'll have to pay customs in not just one, but two instalments (which means double the handling fee).

[Laserschwert 664]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

But postage to mainland Europe is "only" €23.15?

Weird... postage to Germany was only €19.97 for me.

 

 

But with custom I guess this'll crack the 200 again.

[Marian Schedenig 10,955]

And with how busy customs usually are around Christmas, it'll be interesting to see if we get them before the end of the year…

[Tom Guernsey 3,472]

Maybe it just applies some arbitrary maximum amount of shipping as the system is set up as “rest of world”. I feel even more glad I forced it to recognise Guernsey as the U.K. for postage purposes. I could possibly have accepted the European rates quoted but £42 is crazy…

[Jurassic Shark 15,666]

8 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

And with how busy customs usually are around Christmas, it'll be interesting to see if we get them before the end of the year…

 

...and in what condition. 

[pete 1,280]

I attended the meet and greet in Sydney, and I was thinking of asking him if he was doing any composing on tour. Glad I didn't because I got my answer anyway. Question unasked, questions answered! This was back at the end of July. I just read that filming of season 3 wrapped at the end of October..

 

Quote

I spent the late hours of my last night in Brisbane filled up on steak and fries, in bed with my laptop open, composing a new piece of music for the third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on my little portable keyboard rig. Never a dull moment on tour!

Bear's Australian Tour Blog.

[The Score Cleaner 8,859]

Can't wait for him to reveal which cue it was on his blog after S3 airs!

[crocodile 9,405]

Interesting, the date moved up to 28th of November. That's two weeks earlier.

 

 

Karol 

[crocodile 9,405]

Just got my shipping notification. Perfect timing, I am two episodes (plus suites) away from finishing my re-listen of season 1. 

 

Karol

[Richard P 5,007]

I got my dispatch email 10 seconds after reading your post! A nice arrival to unbox and enjoy on Saturday evening.

[Laserschwert 664]

Got mine as well!

 

[Jay 44,345]

Huh. Nothing here.

[Stark 801]

Appears the Season 1 10CD boxset is back in print: https://mondoshop.com/collections/all-music/products/lotr-rop-10cd-box-set

[Richard P 5,007]

Box #2 has arrived.

 

[Stark 801]

With the s1 box set back in print, I have both sets waiting in the docket to ship. Should I be concerned that s2 hasn't even shipped yet though?

[crocodile 9,405]

Mine was scheduled to be delivered but I wasn't in. So they will attempt again tomorrow. 

 

Karol

[Laserschwert 664]

5 hours ago, Richard P said:

Box #2 has arrived.

Would you mind taking a photo of both seasons next to each other? I'm curious if the designs of the two match.

[Richard P 5,007]

One big difference is there's no writing across the spines for this one.

 

[Laserschwert 664]

Thanks! It's really weird how they managed to (nearly) line up the horizontal stripes, but weren't able to use the same RoP logo as on S1.

[Laserschwert 664]

Well, look at that...



That wasn't too bad. Customs fee probably will be, though.

 

Edit: 2 hours later, and it's here! And I didn't have to pay a cent, nice!