Harry Potter 7CD Collection - MUSIC discussion

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

9 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

I think DH1 is a great score. I put it on a par with GoF. 
 

The others aren’t as good but shur they’re not Child’s Play 2 levels of crap or whatever.

 

Let rip, @Kasey Kockroach!

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Yes, DH1 is a really intelligent score.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Intelligent, sure.  Desplat always is.  But that DH1 score is dull dull dull.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

So is the movie. So is everything Yates does.

[Holko 9,526]

And you don't even see how dull it all looks! Or rather vomit-inducing in the case of HBP.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Don't need to either, the sound alone makes me depressed.

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

It seems there's nothing new to talk about in this thread...

 

[Holko 9,526]

So how would all the ource music be handled on GoF? All the World Cup stuff (duduk, ney fit, percussion, sitar, oirish, bagpipes) could maybe go after the main program better. Was Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy-warty Hogwarts recorded with a choir? It has no place to fit in the cue sheet but if it was, it should be in there somewhere. I'd be bummed if we only got the fleshed out OST version of the Hogwarts March, the abruptly interrupted version works so well between Voldemort and Cedric's Death and an incomplete version would belong well after Dumbledore's Warning to frame that whole final setpiece.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

1 hour ago, Thekthithm said:

 

Let rip, @Kasey Kockroach!

Nah, I’m not taking the bait from this bimbo.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

24 minutes ago, Holko said:

So how would all the ource music be handled on GoF? All the World Cup stuff (duduk, ney fit, percussion, sitar, oirish, bagpipes) could maybe go after the main program better. Was Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy-warty Hogwarts recorded with a choir? It has no place to fit in the cue sheet but if it was, it should be in there somewhere. I'd be bummed if we only got the fleshed out OST version of the Hogwarts March, the abruptly interrupted version works so well between Voldemort and Cedric's Death and an incomplete version would belong well after Dumbledore's Warning to frame that whole final setpiece.

I bet we might as well forget the incomplete march versions. I wouldn't be too fussed about the World Cup source music missing, espeically that dull drums cue.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

The only score I find dull in this series is DH2 and even it has Lily's Theme.

[Holko 9,526]

Yaaawn...

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

[Bilbo 3,709]

7 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It seems there's nothing new to talk about in this thread...

 

cyclical circle jerks about why we hate things are the only thing keeping this forum going. 

[TSMefford 1,509]

Man. So much Hooper hate here. I don't care much for the 5th score, but HBP? That one is great. I'd gladly take them both though. It would bug the hell out of me not to have the full set.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The HBP score is so boring they needed to lift the Fireworks track from OOTP to make it more exciting.

[crumbs 14,315]

The OOTP score mops the floor with HBP. What a downright snore of a score and even worse film. 

 

And what sane composer doesn't quote Fawkes' theme in his farewell scene (or the Dumbledore escape scene in the film prior). But at least he saw fit to quote Quidditch Third Year for a Hallmark Channel-esque teenage romance/jealousy montage. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I like OOTP and GOF well enough. Everything after that is a snoozefest.

[Arpy 4,145]

As sparse as they are, the Hooper and Desplat scores fit their films like a glove and I think this was Yates' style as a filmmaker to tone everything right down. OOTP at least has some spirit in the music that reflects the story; all the Dumbledore's Army sequences are scored brilliantly. Personally, by the later films, I was less concerned with wishing the score would carry the narrative, and just followed the story and everything else instead.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

3 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

 

And what sane composer doesn't quote Fawkes' theme in his farewell scene (or the Dumbledore escape scene in the film prior). But at least he saw fit to quote Quidditch Third Year for a Hallmark Channel-esque teenage romance/jealousy montage. 

 

I can live without Fawkes’ theme there. But the the biggest missed opportunity was not having Fawkes actually sing in the second and 6th movies. I can imagine Williams collaborating with the sound design team to come up with something incredible, then it would’ve been magnificent to hear it reprised after Dumbledore’s death 

[Edmilson 7,448]

I really don't like neither of Hooper's scores. Both of them have their moments, but they make me wonder what a better composer would do with the material.

 

But I like Desplat's DH 1 and 2. They have some good emotional moments: Obliviate, Lily's Theme, Farewell to Dobby, Harry's Sacrifice, The Ressurection Stone and my favorite one, Ron Leaves - the album version, on the movie, they had to track music from somewhere else, probably because Yates found the music to be too dramatic for his very serious, dark and grim war drama.

 

There's some good stuff in there too, like the Statues' theme on DH2, the building suspense of The Grey Lady, the Zimmerian drama of Courtyard Apocalypse... The weakest part for me was the ending. Why Desplat choose to score the final confrontation between Harry and Voldy, Bellatrix and Molly and Ron, Hermione and Neville vs Nagini with some generic action music that could've been from anywhere else on his scores. It's the fate of the (British) Wizarding World for God's sake, show some enthusiasm!

[mrbellamy 6,286]

4 is very entertaining but it's a very...high-pitched score. Lots of muted trumpets and strings at the top of their register, I dunno, gets annoying after awhile. That's always my nitpick but it has a lot of highlights and some great film moments. The main theme pops, the waltzes are fabulous. Good job. 

 

Hooper's scores aren't catastrophes, just thin and disappointing. He's at least following the spirit of Williams, which I always appreciated. A lot of OOTP feels like it's taking inspiration from the first score, warm and tuneful. HBP is sleepier and I think suffers most in the suspense writing, constantly falling back on bland string tremolos. It's better when he can be more lyrical, "Slughorn's Confession," "Farewell Aragog," "Dumbledore's Farewell" are nice pieces. A little Nino Rota homage in "When Ginny Kissed Harry," "The Slug Party" reminds me a bit of Thomas Newman. These scores aren't bankrupt of ideas or effort but I always kind of hear the gaps. Like he had the basic 8 crayon set when Doyle/Desplat had 64, meanwhile Williams is the little rich fucker who had the king size set with the pencil sharpener in the box.

 

I have affection for Desplat's Part 1 just because I remember how refreshing it was to hear the sound of it after 5 and 6. And I think it's the most atmospheric of the non-Williams bunch, it's a very effective film score imo. Part 2 would have been a tall order for anyone and overall it's a competent job but my major criticism is that it lacks a strong emotional center. It bothers me that the two boldest statements of Lily's Theme occur in the first half hour. It's a fine melody with rhythmic variation and a fairly rangy melodic contour and those two things disappear from the rest of the score. He opts for the pensive female vocalist setting a lot of the time which is a potentially interesting choice but ultimately just comes off cliche because the melody isn't especially identifiable. Same with the H vs V showdown where it's big but blah. "Harry Surrenders" doesn't work for me at all emotionally...weirdly dispassionate film and score for the most part. "Courtyard Apocalypse" is the only thing that is sort of effective at the blockbuster action-tragedy thing.

 

I feel like I've made this post before.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

12 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I feel like I've made this post before.

 

The relative merits of the post-Williams Potter scores?  Nope, fresh territory for the forum!

[Holko 9,526]

[bollemanneke 3,348]

I totally agree that 4 might stress the high frequencies of some instruments a bit too often, but then again, Doyle tends to do that a lot. It's still the score that made me interested in film music, though, and I love every note of it to this day.

 

What really bothers me about 5 and 6 is, as has been pointed out above already, how thin they are. I always feel like I'm listening to 50% of an orchestra.

 

7 is a really intelligent score, it only has too much of that synthetic bass. 8 is quite okay, but less intelligent than 7 and I really hate how they suddenly went: 'Oh my God, this is the last score in the series! LET'S PUT NEED HEDWIG's THEME ALL OVER IT!!!!!' 

[Bilbo 3,709]

25 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

The relative merits of the post-Williams Potter scores?  Nope, fresh territory for the forum!

That and “I hate David Yates”. Brand new stuff. More, more!!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

As thin as Hooper's scores are - they work brilliantly in the movies.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

They work okay. Not sure about "brilliantly", but they're fine.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Zzzzz..

[Richard Penna 3,688]

I revisited them last night, and the one main criticism I have is that on surface level they're almost devoid of obvious thematic material. I can't hum a single repeating theme that he wrote for either score. Lots of melodies I can remember, but actual assigned thematic ideas? I got nothing.

 

In terms of material, some of it's good and some of it's just 'there' as a perfectly functional, but completely ordinary score. I personally like it as a nice background listen.

 

Then there's the OOTP album which is hilariously out of film order.

[mrbellamy 6,286]

There's really no developed thematic material to speak of. OOTP you've got Umbridge's theme popping up a few times. HBP actually does have a handful of recurring motifs but with little to no variation. Plus the "possession" melody that pops up in both but it's barely worth noting.

[mstrox 6,651]

Beyond "they're not John Williams,"  I have no real problems with any of the Harry Potter scores.  I initially was a bit bored with Desplat's scores, but I came around to them

[Jurassic Shark 12,075]

7 minutes ago, mstrox said:

they're not John Williams

 

How dare they!

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Now now now now now, this is what we're going to do. When we go out, we're going to buy you two new presents. How's that, popkin?

[Datameister 2,042]

12 hours ago, mstrox said:

Beyond "they're not John Williams,"  I have no real problems with any of the Harry Potter scores.  I initially was a bit bored with Desplat's scores, but I came around to them

 

Goblet of Fire probably has the most character to it, and it contains some of my favorite non-Williams moments from the series, but it also really wears on me as a whole. Doyle's style is not always to my taste. Hooper's efforts have grown on me significantly, after initially having quite a low opinion of them. DH1 has all the professional nuance that Hooper's Potter scores lack...it's just not very remarkable melodically. DH2 I'm not too familiar with. It never impressed me enough in the film to want to listen to it on its own (although the beautifully inevitable "Leaving Hogwarts" reprise really got me on my first viewing).

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The title track on the Goblet OST is such a great cue

 

I’ve never really dug into that score deeply, I just know it’s the non Williams one I enjoy listening to the most.  Never bothered seeking out the sessions or anything.

[Holko 9,526]

There's a buttload of great unreleased cues and very significantly different alternates!

[Richard Penna 3,688]

5 hours ago, Datameister said:

 

Goblet of Fire probably has the most character to it, and it contains some of my favorite non-Williams moments from the series, but it also really wears on me as a whole. Doyle's style is not always to my taste. Hooper's efforts have grown on me significantly, after initially having quite a low opinion of them. DH1 has all the professional nuance that Hooper's Potter scores lack...it's just not very remarkable melodically. DH2 I'm not too familiar with. It never impressed me enough in the film to want to listen to it on its own (although the beautifully inevitable "Leaving Hogwarts" reprise really got me on my first viewing).

 

This pretty much sums up my view of the non-JW scores. Desplat's are the most professional and well -crafted, but they're also largely the least interesting.

[Arpy 4,145]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

The title track on the Goblet OST is such a great cue

 

I’ve never really dug into that score deeply, I just know it’s the non Williams one I enjoy listening to the most.  Never bothered seeking out the sessions or anything.

Yes, it's probably the best opening of the series, I get goosebumps hearing the score as Nagini slithers up the statue!

 

I seem to remember a few cues on the sessions leak were labelled 'damaged' and had crackling, I hope this doesn't spell bad news for a proper expansion.

[Holko 9,526]

Many cues have subtle crackling and some of them have very very heavy crackling. I really hope it's not a problem with the source.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I prefer the dark, mysterious material in Doyle's score to the bright, romantic stuff, actually.  That aspect of his score came off really well I think.

[Holko 9,526]

Well, you know, he can do darkness unlike Williams.

[crumbs 14,315]

I think Doyle's score does a good job layering in new themes while maintaining the spirit of JW's scores, while also not being beholden to the first 3 musically.

 

Arguably he took JW's lead after seeing how he approached POA.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Many cues have subtle crackling and some of them have very very heavy crackling. I really hope it's not a problem with the source.

It isn't, the sessions source was just damaged, nothing more.

[crumbs 14,315]

It's the sound of JW's fingernails while listening to it.

[Arpy 4,145]

John Williams' psychic interference. 

[Bilbo 3,709]

He probably thinks the 5 scores did a better job of carrying on the legacy than Rogue One.

 

Because they did!

[Arpy 4,145]

Not really, RO is very Star Warsy and faithful to the sound of that universe, whilst the Post Williams Potter scores are a mixed bag. 

[crumbs 14,315]

I highly doubt Williams saw any of the films, or heard any of the scores, that followed Azkaban.

[Smeltington 1,440]

Lol that's probably true. To him HP is a trilogy.