Favorite Harry Potter score?

[Brundlefly 2,385]

4 hours ago, kaseykockroach said:

Agreed, but since I don't own the first score, I don't mind. It's like I get the highlights of the first one, AND some extras!

Except "Harry's Wondrous World" the OST of the second film includes no rerecording that has already been released on the OST of the first film. On album you don't even notice that passages were reused and rerecorded, as the second album kind of completes the first one. So you have just the highlights of the first score that are unreleased on the first album.

[Jay 37,346]

On 6/3/2017 at 9:41 AM, Thor said:

The third. It's the best Potter score (of them all), and really the last time we heard "classic" Williams.

 

War Horse is utterly classic Williams from the first note to the last

 

 

My favorite Potter score is the first one ultimately, but I truly love all three scores A LOT.  COS continues to be criminally underrated around here and everywhere else, and POA is just brilliant.  HPATSS just slightly edges out as being just so full of amazing melodies.  It has the best villain music, too.  But again, I love all three scores so much.

[Josh500 1,615]

PS and CoS are almost on the same level for me. They're both that good.

 

However, PoA is slightly better.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

COS continues to be criminally underrated around here and everywhere else

 

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Fawkes the Phoenix and The Chamber of Secrets are masterpieces. 

[Jay 37,346]

Yep

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I agree with Stefan

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Heard Chamber Of Secrets in concert the other week, conducted by JW. Was bored.

[Josh500 1,615]

Well, you guys prove out point, because that's exactly what Jay and I said!

 

CoS is criminally underrated. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

We're saying it's properly rated at less good than the other two Potters.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Indeed!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I agree

 

 

 

 

with Jay and Josh500

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So you, Jay and Josh think COS is on par with the other two? 

[Jay 37,346]

I think all 3 scores are great scores, indeed.

 

And I only said COS was underrated, I did not say it was literally equal to SS & POA.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You are incorrect, CoS is NOT a great score!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

COS is not as good as the other two, considering that much of it is actually taken from SS. But I love the new darker parts from the second score.

[Josh500 1,615]

Well, I personally think PS and CoS are almost equally good, when considering only the original music.

 

However, CoS has some obvious problems, in how the score was handled in the movie.... But that doesn't mean the original music is bad, or even inferior. In fact, some of the setpieces from CoS are some of the best JW has written! 

 

Many people just don't notice this, and instead display an almost allergic reaction when it comes to CoS, and that's certainly undeserved. 

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

If you're not a particular fan of COS, I think it works nice to think of it as the second movement in a three-movement symphony Williams wrote for the Potter world, serving as the transitory element that maintains the lighter and warm fantasy aspects of the first film's score while hinting at the darker and more mature tones to come in the final act.  

[Jay 37,346]

3 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

If you're not a particular fan of COS, I think it works nice to think of it as the second movement in a three-movement symphony Williams wrote for the Potter world, serving as the transitory element that maintains the lighter and warm fantasy aspects of the first film's score while hinting at the darker and more mature tones to come in the final act.  

 

Hey I never thought of it that way before, but you're right!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

1 hour ago, Josh500 said:

PS and CoS are almost on the same level for me. They're both that good.

 

However, PoS is slightly better.

 

Hehehe...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Hey I never thought of it that way before, but you're right!

 

Nope.

[Josh500 1,615]

13 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Hehehe...

Damn auto correct! 😂 

 

PoA, of course.

 

 

21 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

If you're not a particular fan of COS, I think it works nice to think of it as the second movement in a three-movement symphony Williams wrote for the Potter world, serving as the transitory element that maintains the lighter and warm fantasy aspects of the first film's score while hinting at the darker and more mature tones to come in the final act.  

 

Sure, but if somebody's not especially partial to CoS (not me!), how is thinking like this gonna change one's opinion about it?

 

They're just gonna think it's the "sucky" second movement of JW's Harry Potter symphony! 

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

Perhaps when viewed in that broader context, it may take on a different meaning or purpose to the listener and may be appreciated more as a result. For example, I think Back to the Future Part II is pretty okay just as a movie, especially when compared to the greatness of the first entry, but I feel like I appreciate it more when I think of it as the second act in a huge 6-hour Back to the Future film, and at least in that regard it works really quite well.  

[Josh500 1,615]

1 minute ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

Perhaps when viewed in that broader context, it may take on a different meaning or purpose to the listener and may be appreciated more as a result. For example, I think Back to the Future Part II is pretty okay just as a movie, especially when compared to the greatness of the first entry, but I feel like I appreciate it more when I think of it as the second act in a huge 6-hour Back to the Future film, and at least in that regard it works really quite well.  

 

OK, I see your point. 

 

Yes, that's certainly possible, why not?

[Arpy 4,145]

8 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

If you're not a particular fan of COS, I think it works nice to think of it as the second movement in a three-movement symphony Williams wrote for the Potter world, serving as the transitory element that maintains the lighter and warm fantasy aspects of the first film's score while hinting at the darker and more mature tones to come in the final act.  

I disagree, with the case of BTTFII (and that trilogy of scores) it's a clear movement of three parts, each reintroducing themes and building towards one whole picture. With the first three Potter scores it very much feels less cohesive and structured. HP1 was obviously the introduction to the thematic material then HP2 on the other hand feels like the brief was an afterthought of Williams' unavailability and his instructions to just repurpose material from the first score. Moving onto HP3, Cuaron further shook things up and we got a greater shift in tone and abandoning thematic material from the last two scores. The only thing that bridges the three scores is Hedwig's Theme!

 

All this not to denigrate the score for Chamber of Secrets, which has one of my favourite Williams themes - Fawkes' Theme and some brilliant action music in the finale.