Harry Potter Soundtrack Discussions (Updated)

[snugglepot]

Originally Posted by SummerBelle

Yes! "A Window to the Past" is my fave too and also, the one that was being played during the last scene in COS..i don't know the name but it was also beautiful!

I don't know about the very end of CoS, it could be;
"Reunion of Friends" or "Harry's Wondrous World".
My favourite track in CoS is "Fawkes the Phoenix" which plays when Harry sees Fawkes in Dumbledore's office and again when Fawkes comes to save him by bringing the hat with the sword and then to heal Harry with his tears.

[Ross]

I like the efforts of all four composers. I feel John Williams is the best for creating such iconic themes and also for making his music so exciting and illustrating everything that happens upon screen.
A lot of you will probably disagree with me, but I prefered his scores to PS and CoS to POA. POA had the great new themes of Double Trouble and Window To The Past but on the whole I found the score less tuneful than its predecessors. Don't get me wrong, it's still fantastic, but I prefer the first two. Having said that, I think CoS could have done with a lot more 'new' content, but Williams wasn't able to put his full effort into it and relied on Conrad Pope to adapt some of his original themes. All his new themes for this film was great though - Fawkes the Phoenix especially. Particularly in the first two films, Williams using a lot of the same themes repeatedly which some people may find tedious, but I think it helps create a good picture (or sound!) for the whole film.
Then in came Patrick Doyle. I think his arrangement of Hedwig's Theme is great musically, but it seems a little too soon to make it all 'dark' just because he wants to put his own stamp on it. I think as a film series it deserves the same arrangement of Hedwig's Theme on the 'title card' of each film however dark it gets. It can be arranged however they want incorporated into the score of the rest of the film, but I think the theme should sound the same at the start of each film. Anyway, I found Patrick Doyle's score exciting on the whole and not a bad effort at all. It didn't quite contain the magic of Williams' - I think Doyle's quite a traditionalist in his choice of music. He is great at writing 'nice' orchestral music, however - with 'Hogwarts' Hymn being a great example of this.
Nicholas Hooper's style is probably even further from John Williams in that he doesn't particularly illustrate everything that happens on screen but tends to write background music. He is quite diverse, however, and he's written many great themes of varying styles. He dealt with the emotional moments of 'Half-Blood Prince' very well - with 'In Noctem' and 'Farewell to Dumbledore'. The music helped make that a great scene. He has some really great themes here and there, for example 'Professor Umbridge' suits her really well. There are a lot of Hooper's tracks that I really enjoy listening to. I just think some of the tracks could have a little more substance.
Alexandre Desplat seems very oriental in his choice of instruments. Sometimes I think it works, and sometimes not. I think Desplat's strong points are his action themes - particularly 'Sky Battle' which really emulates Williams' style. I also love 'Obliviate', which opens the film. 'Lovegood' also fits the character nicely. A possible downpoint is that he doesn't really have a theme that sums up the film. Also, I can't help but be a little annoyed as Desplat promised more Hedwig's Theme, and we only heard it in three tracks. This theme really sums up Harry Potter and it should be heard more often! Doyle, Hooper and Desplat have been all guilty of this. They haven't carried forward any other of Williams' themes either, such as the 'B' part of Hedwig's Theme and various themes that can be heard in Harry's Wondrous World. Having said that, Williams uses his original themes sparingly in PoA, but they're still there enough for it to be a continuity in the Harry Potter film series.

To summarise, I couldn't order Doyle, Hooper and Desplat but I would definitely put Williams top. Although the composers have brought something great to the series, but the constant changing of composers leaves a little to be desired in the way of continuity.

[Quaphasia]

I don't know if this was discussed before, but I'd like to know where I can find the music that's actually played in the Diagon Alley scene in Philosopher's Stone. Is it featured in other tracks or perhaps on the other soundtracks?

[ArryGrotter]

I believe the track is called "Diagon Alley" from the Philosopher's Stone soundtrack.

I just checked and it's track 5: "Diagon Alley and The Gringotts Vault".

[Quaphasia]

Originally Posted by ArryGrotter

I believe the track is called "Diagon Alley" from the Philosopher's Stone soundtrack.

I just checked and it's track 5: "Diagon Alley and The Gringotts Vault".

That's what I thought, but listening to that track, I don't actually find the bit that's played in the movie. I mean the sequence that shows Hagrid and Harry entering Diagon Alley and Harry looking around in amazement. At least it's not in my edition of the soundtrack, perhaps there are several ones? I've been looking for it for quite some time now, since I think it's one of the best themes of the series.

[Potion]

Harry & Hermione by Nicholas Hooper is so beautiful, my favorite soundtrack throughout the series. A Window to the Past is also really good.

I'll listen to the new ones from Deathly Hallows part 2 and see which ones I like in the future.

[Gingerella72]

Regarding the DH part 1 soundtrack, does anyone know why the Nick Cave song O'Children isn't on there? I know it's not part of the actual score, but as it was featured in the movie I thought sure it would be on the soundtrack.

[Gryffindormagic]

Hedwig's theme in SS still gets me everytime I hear it. The sneaky, mysterious, playful melodies tickle my eardrums. But what can I say it's John Williams. The whole soundtrack to PoA was awesome! The song when Harry and Sirius are talking in PoA is very sad but beautiful at the same time. I did not care for GoF because I felt like all the songs did nothing but repeat for 3 or 4 minutes. I have found the scores of both DH parts one and two absolutely delightful! Voldemort's End is nice and creepy. A New Beginning sound like a lullaby to me; beautiful! I'm still waiting to receive my HBP and OOTP scores in the mail so after I get them and listen to them I'll let you people know

[Kings_Cross]

Originally Posted by Gingerella72

Regarding the DH part 1 soundtrack, does anyone know why the Nick Cave song O'Children isn't on there? I know it's not part of the actual score, but as it was featured in the movie I thought sure it would be on the soundtrack.

My understanding was that the soundtrack only contained songs made for the film (the score), not the already existing songs. I suppose you'll just have to download it separately!

[pumpkinpuff]

I've just finished listening to the Goblet of Fire soundtrack, and I noticed that the music in the waltz piece sounded very familiar. Then I realized it is identical to some music from the 1995 film of A Little Princess. Sure enough, I looked it up and Patrick Doyle composed that soundtrack too!

I just bought all eight soundtracks a couple weeks ago and so far have listened to the first three several times and the fourth once. I love SS and PoA, and CoS is pretty similar to SS, so it's good too. I think I like PoA overall the best so far, I just love Double Trouble and Buckbeak's Flight. But I also really love Hedwig's Theme and Harry's Wondrous World and Leaving Hogwarts from SS. I still need to listen to the rest of the soundtracks when I can hear them undistracted!

[MarauderNight]

I just made Hedwig's Theme from SS my ringtone. A little late, but better than never.

[maraudersnitch]

Ahh a thread for the scores! *hearts for eyes*

First, I'd just like to say how pleased I was with Desplat's DHpt2 score. I was a bit underwhelmed by the DHpt1 score, and was fearful that part 2 would be similar. But no, it was absolutely brilliant (in my opinion). "Lily's Theme" is so hauntingly beautiful, and I love how it serves as a motif throughout the rest of the score. And I absolutely love the little interpolations of "Hedwig's Theme" throughout.

One of the things I found most interesting over the course of the series was how the composers seemed to be split between favoring more atmospheric scores, and more memorable ones. Williams certainly fell in the latter category with his iconic "Hedwig's Theme", "Harry's Wondrous World", and "Leaving Hogwarts". When you watch the first three movies (especially the first two), I think the music really stands out. I don't feel like this was the case with Patrick Doyle and Nicholas Hooper's works. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but their more atmospheric and subtle scores sometimes go overlooked. Especially Hooper's work in HBP. The score is just littered with beautiful, soft pieces that may have gone unnoticed while watching the film, but are hard not to appreciate after having listened to the score (notably "Harry and Hermione" and "When Ginny Kissed Harry".

Getting back to Desplat's DHpt2 score, I think that one of the reasons the score is so perfect is because he was really able to make it subtle enough that it wasn't intrusive, but obvious enough that you could appreciate it during the film (most notably "Dragon's Flight" and "Courtyard Apocalypse").

But my all time favorite pieces, "A Window to the Past" and "Reunion of Friends", both belong to Williams. After all, he truly is one of the greatest modern day composers.

And also, was anyone else beyond thrilled when they played "Leaving Hogwarts" at the end of the epilogue in DHpt2? I had been advocating for that since reading DH, and to actually hear it played as the final piece in the Harry Potter movies gave me chills. Such a beautiful ending to such a beautiful series.

[Phrozenone]

Originally Posted by maraudersnitch

And also, was anyone else beyond thrilled when they played "Leaving Hogwarts" at the end of the epilogue in DHpt2? I had been advocating for that since reading DH, and to actually hear it played as the final piece in the Harry Potter movies gave me chills. Such a beautiful ending to such a beautiful series.

When the music came on it was like I was sucked back in time to the first movie. I couldn't help but smile and that's what the music for Part 2 did for me! It made me reflect while I enjoyed the movie and I couldn't ask for more.

I really wish we could get a soundtrack like it appeared in the film (with Williams and Hooper's music included). That would be my ULTIMATE soundtrack!