Grade Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Nicholas Hooper

[Morlock 11]

Certainly not, IMO. Just like being British is not a plus when it comes to directors.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I agree. The British composers certainly have not lived up to what the American did for the Potter scores, so far.

Ray Barnsbury

[Morlock 11]

I was just listening to Hooper's score again. It has some good highlights. I like 'Fireworks', sounds like a peppy Thomas Newman track. Umbridge's theme is fun, but I think it's a bit too comedic when it gets into the brassy section. I am not at all a fan of the Possession motif...no idea why it's so popular. 'The Room of Requirement' is probably my favorite track. 'The Kiss' is fine, I guess. 'Journey to Hogwarts' is nice, but it's a bit too sunny at the end. 'The Death of sirius is fine, like the Trevor Jones-ish action motif. Like 'The ministry of Magic', I like that he didn't overplay it. 'Flight of the Order of the Phoenix' is good...but it's too disconnected. I do like the idea of that motif as a theme for the Order (not that it is that).

A bunch of nice highlights...but it amount to very little. It worked in the film, that's what really matters....but this is a slight album, a collection of amiable, yet not terrifically memorable small ideas. I like it more than Doyle's, I guess, but, again, I dislike everything about that movie, so I can't pretend to be unbiased about the score. I do recall that the Walz worked well, as did Doyle's typical action music in 'The Maze'. Don't care for the big themes, sound like weak counterparts to doyle's greatest moments.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Music as such is mediocre, almost themeless but listenable. But in the movie it was terrible. It didn't express the onscreen emotions or made the movie better in any way. At least Patrick Doyle's score for GoF suited the scenes (e.g. the graveyard scene), although the music was not that memorable. But Doyle's score was functional. In OotP the music is often misplaced and even annoying at times (Umbridge's theme).

Well, a few cues did really deliver. For one, I found "Posession" to be very thrilling, and also the scene in which Harry sends Hedwig to Sirius.

But overall, you're right. I appreciate OotP less and less with each listen. Especially odd, and flat out wrong, I find the moment in "Loved One And Leaving", when we see Luna's shoes hanging from the ceiling. What is that rambling flute/celesta tingling trying to say?

Or when Harry has another vision of the Ministry, and wakes up in the Hogwarts Express. Hooper just completely ignores Harry's state of mind and the previous scene, and instead writes "A Journey To Hogwarts".

The music almost never taps into your mind.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

But overall, you're right. I appreciate OotP less and less with each listen. Especially odd, and flat out wrong, I find the moment in "Loved One And Leaving", when we see Luna's shoes hanging from the ceiling. What is that rambling flute/celesta tingling trying to say?

It's just a little mischievous accompaniment to the situation.

Ray Barnsbury

[John Crichton 4]

After watching three seasons of the new Doctor Who, I say bring Murray Gold in. He's more than capable of handling a full-scale orchestra well - though it can get quite overblown at times. His quiter bits are gorgeous though, like the beautiful new theme for the Doctor/Martha in Season 3 (not sure who it's attributed to most).

At the very least, he's a capable British composer.

He's very inconsitent though. One one hand there's The Impossible Planet/The Satan's Pit (one of the greatest scores I've heard in the last five years, film, TV, anything), Father's Day, the period music in The Shakespeare Code, and the Master music in Utopia, all really good. But when he tries to hard to get big, it gets ugly, usually in the finales. I still can't get over how awful the cue for the Master's funeral pyre was.