paleo

How did you order them? Fandango online?

Maybe it's a North American thing? Here "enhanced CD" is written on both CD and back cover, and there is an inlay with drections and phone numbers for the ring tones (these are of course meant for the American market, too)

Do you know if this is for online purchases only, or could I pick this up in stores on Tuesday and still get the free download? I don't really know, but since it lists the features as "enhanced CD" on the back cover, I guess it's the standard condition. I doubt they would print extra covers for online retailers only

Fireworks, Professor Umbridge, The Sirius Deception, and The Death Of Sirius are my favorites. I particularly enjoy The Ministry of Magic (a cue tat actually features something like awe), The Room of Requirements, and the Kiss You always get that download; I ordered it through buy.com, and it is featured (plus free ringtones dor the cell phone) Oh, just discovered that the CD offers to download a bonus track... unfortunately (imo) a rock song; maybe sourc music? It's called Big Beat Repeat. Other bonus features are the digital download of the score, a behind the scenes look at the scoring sessions, and the ringtones

I already found Half-blood prince in the mail... apparently buy.com delivers quickly. Hope the score grows a little more on me now

I received Natty Gann recently, and I really love it. A fresh and original Horner score for me - I had largely forgotten what the music was like, just remembered that I liked it. Also got the re-recording of The Egyptian... I'm not overwhelmed yet, but it's growing on me. I guess it takes some time to get into it. Just ordered Greatest Story ever told... more expensive at Amazon now, but there was still marketplace... 3CD set; looking forward to it

Just out of curiosity, who is Alan (I am not always up to date about who is behind which Avatar)? Anyway, after reading this entire blog I'm not sure if I should even be interested in the outcome of the interview. The questions I would like to have answered will never be asked out of diplomacy (what I understand, who wants to jeopardize job and/or reputation), and I'm not really interested so much in the technical issues of this mediocre piece of music. One thing that comes to mind when reading the posts here is that most people preferred not to ask any questions but to ridicule other people's, even though many of these were considered seriously (yes, I actually think most people actually asking something were aware that these ideas would have to be rephrased, but that that's the job of the interviewer). In summary, why did I even waste my time here.

As I said, I agree that these questions shouldn't all be like what you mentioned, but continuity within the franchise is legitimate, and it is not necessary to go through each and every theme to get an answer concerning the general problem. But Maestro is probably not solely using our questions anyway, so I doubt there is much danger that it ends as you jokingly suggested . There are also plenty of other things to discuss in this case, such as internal continuity, complexity, orchestration etc., after all. And I am aware that there will be people who like Hooper"s score, as seen in the Variety review...

Sorry, not my best day. Anyway, I still think a totally uncritical interview is pointless. He knew what he was getting into, so he will have to live with a couple of questions that indicate a certain disappointment of the fan base. It's for his own best, isn't it (maybe he learns something out of it )

Haha, very funny. First, this is a John Williams fan forum, so what do you expect . Second, I know you seem to want us all to say these things so you can roll your eyes, even though many people here are a bit more reasonable and fair. What's so wrong about expecting a composer for a franchise to include established ideas into his own work? That's a difficult task, and we can't expect it to be a 100% satisfying end result. But there are composers who managed to not ruin the overall flow and yet expressing their own style (e.g. Don Davis, Jurassic Park 3), whereas Williams really didn't always convince me with his sequel scores, either (e.g. in case of Lost World). It seems most here would have been content if Hooper had just paid a little bit respect to the other Potter composers (yes, even to Doyle, even though I didn't really enjoy his work so much, either); or at leats to have something to offer himself. Imo he did a much better job last time, for example. If you disagree, go ahead and ask your own questions, that's what the forum thread is for. You can praise the score all day and ask Maestro to send Hooper your congratulations.

Well, obviously nobody would ask questions like "for what reason does your score sound dull, boring and like shit?", but I also do not at all like uncritical interviews as they are so typical these days. I think it's totally legitimate to mention that a lot of fans were underwhelmed by his simplistic, largely athematic and inconsistent (in regard to the overall franchise) approach and to ask how he justifies that. The interviewer should imo be more or less neutral; he/she can thus convey general concerns as well as praise (besides asking for the more technical issues like the choice of the orchestra or the orchestration) without insulting or flattering the composer unnecessarily. Otherwise these interviews are useless.

I would like to know if he cannot write memorable themes, but since you are not going to ask him that (who would...), I am interested in why he thinks that a very restrained, quiet, and simple approach does do justice to the drama and fantasy of Harry Potter (which in my opinion, as apparently in those of Williams and Doyle, begs for boldness and color). Also, what is Hooper's opinion on continuity? Fans usually would like to hear not only the main theme of the franchise, but also the majority of other firmly established ideas mixed with new material, but sequel composers usually abandon most of the existing material of colleagues, so what does he think? One concrete question: Could he imagine using the theme for Dobby from Chamber of Secrets (just as an example), or will we have to get used to a new one (as I would guess in his case)?

Natty Gann finally arrived, and it was worth the waiting. Great score! And who would have thought that the theme of Land before Time was actually almost a rip-off from this score (It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, long before I paid too much attention to the music in detail)?

There is an interview with Hooper at L.A. Times online giving some insight into the composer's motivations and ideas: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomple...pler-style.html I like the following quotes: " [...] we all decided that it was best if I moved into my own way of composing rather than trying to emulate John Williams, which is impossible. I did a different kind of score for “Half-Blood Prince,” really. It was simpler, the way I write music is simpler." Well, ... er ..., yes. "I think my favorite moment was Harry and Dumbledore in the cave because it’s just so big and tough. A couple of people came to listen to it when I was finished and they were in tears after they heard the recording [...]" But probably for other reasons than what he thinks

He would at least fit in my [any... ] space. Horner can write magic if he wants to or is inspired... and even his self-rip-offs like Pagemaster are way superior fantasy scores in comparison to Hooper's approach

Yeah, I could live with that, or with a score by [virtually any experienced composer out there except for Tyler Bates and the like] I have heard now enough of the sore to become thoroughly disappointed. You would never imagine that this is music for a probably action-filled, engaging, emotional FANTASY movie. I sort of liked the last score, but now that even Umbridge's theme is gone and there is nothing to really replace it other than a Latin chant without a memorable melody... Speaking of melody... Hooper is really the master of anti-melody; his stuff is about as complex as what I had to play in my first piano lesson. I guess almost anyone with a keyboard and synth choir could come up with comparable stuff. Okay, parts of it may be pleasant to listen too (if you don't fall asleep), but overall.... Please, John, what do we have to do to get you back?

Hope I got it today... I will know in half an hour

Even though I largely listen to non-Williams soundtracks at present, I do almost daily listen to "To the Blimp", "Journey to Austria", "Father's Study", and "Wrong Choice, right Choice" from Last Crusade. Whereas "The Blimp turns around" is among my favorite cues from the soundtrack, I never liked the album version of the "Joneses" cue much (always skip it)... the film version is much better but, sadly, not officially released.

Great; so they were able to ship your order to Ausria faster than mine to Washington? It's a holiday, so I won't get it before Monday at the earliest

Being interested in classical scores of epic period movies at present I found out about an interesting soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman (what a promising mix!), The Egyptian. I have seen the movie when I was a kid, but have hardly any memory of the score. There are quite a number of different CD versions available, and I decided to go for the re-recording by Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony after hearing samples (and after my positive experience with She lately). And - only $2.50 at Amazon marketplace Guess that can't have been a wrong decision.

There are a couple of his scores I consider okay... Alien 3 and Interview with the Vampire are the ones I like best, and Sphere and Final Fantasy are not too bad, either. It get's sort of repetitive, though, and one should not listen to his scores when already being in a bad mood... they are almost always depressive...

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I will certainly look into it. Btw, my version of "The Robe" is newer and longer than the original release, but, as I said, is missing some cues. The new "The Ten Commandments" CD is supposed to be terrible, so I'll rather try to find a copy of the older one (darn, they used to be in every CD store when I wasn't interested yet). Speaking of Herrmann, do you guys also like "Journey to the Center of the Earth"? It;s one of my favorites, and in a similar category, I'd say. I do actually own the 2CD version of Ben Hur; should dig it out again; and the "Greatest Story ever told" ($12!!!) is already on my wish list...

Thanks, but I meant the Cantata. This link is helpful though, too, because it contains the crucifixion music the other edition lacks.

Oh, sounds interesting (I'm really in religioso mood at present ;-)). Can one get that easily? And in general, what else that's similar would be of interest? I figured that many things i would like (like Ten Commandments and Rozsa stuff) is out of print ant usually very expensive...

Are you listening to an isolated score derived from the Special Edition DVD of The Robe? No, I imported the German release based on a late 90s edition. about 60 minutes, unfortunately without the highlight "the crucifixion" (apparently it did not survive on the masters they used).