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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone


Datameister

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they could have made the OST near complete

Not even close. There are a TON of alternates for this score, a large amount of which we've never heard.

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My full set - as heard in the film, minus alternates and concert pieces, is 1:55. You'd have to shave more like 35 mins.

You're probably right. I based my twenty-minute figure on an old edit I did, which is probably flawed. I'm a little surprised that you've got a full 15 minutes more in there, but maybe once I've redone my edit, I'll figure out where those 15 minutes came from.

In any case, an expanded POA with no alternates would definitely require two discs.

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Well an 80 minute (1:20) CD is 35 mins short of 1:55 :)

Of course, it's based on the arrangement of the complete score. My timing includes tracked versions of Diagon Alley/A New Home and Halloween, whereas an official set would probably have the intended versions.

I'd still guess that a full CD would omit at least 30 mins of pure score.

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No, you're just bitter and irrational. Chamber has more good stuff missing than Azkaban.

What the hell, man? The only noteworthy unreleased music I can think of is the stuff that uses the Chamber theme, particularly the cue for Ron discovering that Ginny's been taken by the monster. There are lots of unreleased pieces that I used to like... until I found out that they all came from Philosopher's Stone.

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what's this thread about?

Stuff!

The only noteworthy unreleased music I can think of is the stuff that uses the Chamber theme, particularly the cue for Ron discovering that Ginny's been taken by the monster. There are lots of unreleased pieces that I used to like... until I found out that they all came from Philosopher's Stone.

Precisely.

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What the hell, man? The only noteworthy unreleased music I can think of is the stuff that uses the Chamber theme, particularly the cue for Ron discovering that Ginny's been taken by the monster. There are lots of unreleased pieces that I used to like... until I found out that they all came from Philosopher's Stone.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I prefer the style Williams composed the first two. Azkaban is good, but it loses me throughout, especially in the later half. I also prefer the themes and leitmotif in the first two. I don't care if it's based on music from the first score, it's still great stuff. Just off the top of my head, the film version of the opening, Errol's motif, the writing on the wall, McGonogall's story, Christmas scene, extended finale, Dobby is free.

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There certainly a few good unreleased cues in CoS, but maybe not as much as we initially thought if you deduct the remaining HPSS material.

The quidditch scene is too close to Chase through Coruscant so I doubt it would be a revelation

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What the hell, man? The only noteworthy unreleased music I can think of is the stuff that uses the Chamber theme, particularly the cue for Ron discovering that Ginny's been taken by the monster. There are lots of unreleased pieces that I used to like... until I found out that they all came from Philosopher's Stone.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I prefer the style Williams composed the first two. Azkaban is good, but it loses me throughout, especially in the later half. I also prefer the themes and leitmotif in the first two. I don't care if it's based on music from the first score, it's still great stuff. Just off the top of my head, the film version of the opening, Errol's motif, the writing on the wall, McGonogall's story, Christmas scene, extended finale, Dobby is free.

Sure... except... only one of these is unreleased and not from PS.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again. I prefer the style Williams composed the first two. Azkaban is good, but it loses me throughout, especially in the later half. I also prefer the themes and leitmotif in the first two. I don't care if it's based on music from the first score, it's still great stuff. Just off the top of my head, the film version of the opening, Errol's motif, the writing on the wall, McGonogall's story, Christmas scene, extended finale, Dobby is free.

The first score is actually the only Williams one that I fully enjoy. CoS has evidence of a rushed process, and parts of Azkaban, particularly later on, have a messy feel in their orchestration. I've mentioned elsewhere that I consider The Werewolf Scene to be one of the messiest and least organised cues that Williams has ever written.

I could live with just bonus cues from both scores. Dobby is Free, Rescuing Sirius, to name a couple. Oh, and the two cues with the past theme - the bridge scene and outside the whomping willow.

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The truth of the matter is...I'd much rather have Goblet, OOTP, Hallows, and HBP leak than either CoS or POA.

But that's just me.

wot.gif

My thought exactly.

Why would someone prefer HBP recording sessions over POA recording session? Especially since the HBP album is more than complete.

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My thought exactly.

Why would someone prefer HBP recording sessions over POA recording session? Especially since the HBP album is more than complete.

Because I enjoy HBP about ten times more than POA. POA has about, 15 minutes of music I want, even that I can live without.

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I talked to somebody who has looked at the sheet music.

Can you say something more about this? :o Know what tracks had alternative versions, or some other information?

... I find it very interesting! :lol:

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“Introducing Dobbie” [Note: This is how the Lucius’ house elf was

spelled (instead of “Dobby”)]

Williams really has an issue with words that end on 'y' ;)

I think this is an old article, but it's always nice to re-read (the parts that I understand...)

Classic :)

Also remember 'Darth Vadar' and 'The Little People' (he just forgot their name :))

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My thought exactly.

Why would someone prefer HBP recording sessions over POA recording session? Especially since the HBP album is more than complete.

Because I enjoy HBP about ten times more than POA. POA has about, 15 minutes of music I want, even that I can live without.

Fair enough, but PoA at least *has* unreleased music, while HBP does not. It wouldn't make much sense releasing a "complete" album when the original one already was.

And I'd bet my white big arse that Williams' outtakes are far more interesting than Hooper's (if he had any).

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My thought exactly.

Why would someone prefer HBP recording sessions over POA recording session? Especially since the HBP album is more than complete.

Because I enjoy HBP about ten times more than POA. POA has about, 15 minutes of music I want, even that I can live without.

Fair enough, but PoA at least *has* unreleased music, while HBP does not.

And I'd bet my white big arse that Williams' outtakes are far more interesting than Hooper's (if he had any).

Nah, HBP's missing a few things. The cello ostinatos for whenever Harry chases Malfoy (Knockturn Alley/Hogwarts Express/pre-Sectumsempra), the folksy tune in the Three Broomsticks, Katie Bell's cursing, Ron and the love potion, Ron's poisoning, the Horcruxes scene in Dumbledore's office, Snape and the Death Eaters walking through Hogwarts after Dumbledore's death...

You're right that they're not particularly memorable or anything, but they're there.

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My thought exactly.

Why would someone prefer HBP recording sessions over POA recording session? Especially since the HBP album is more than complete.

Because I enjoy HBP about ten times more than POA. POA has about, 15 minutes of music I want, even that I can live without.

Fair enough, but PoA at least *has* unreleased music, while HBP does not. It wouldn't make much sense releasing a "complete" album when the original one already was.

And I'd bet my white big arse that Williams' outtakes are far more interesting than Hooper's (if he had any).

HBP has unreleased music...maybe the outtakes will be more interesting, but frankly, I enjoy HBP more than POA. Not to say POA has a lack of good music, I just enjoy it more. Honestly though, the reality of the matter is, I'd much rather GOF or DH1 get a RS leak than the others.

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  • 2 months later...

Hello gang,

New sheet music has turned up that sheds light on some new things.

It appears that the first thing Williams wrote for Harry Potter was a 58 bar composition called "Hedwig's Theme" that is about a minute long. This was recorded along with a second composition called either "MX 8 & 10" or "Trailer #1" in November 2000 and used in the first, "teaser" trailer. Here is this teaser trailer:

The first 36 seconds of that is "Hedwig's Theme", cut down from its full length, and the rest is "MX 8 & 10 aka Trailer #1"

Next, Williams wrote "Trailer #2" (of which, bars 64-74 are just bars 25-35 of Trailer #1) along with two different intros "Trailer #2 Intro" and "New Trailer Intro". "Trailer #2 Intro" wasn't used, and might have never been recorded at the time, but "New Trailer Intro" and "Trailer #2" were recorded in June of 2001 for the second, "main" trailer. Here is that trailer:

The first roughly 31 seconds of that trailer is "New Trailer Intro" and the rest is "Trailer #2"

Now these trailer cues are essentially the only recordings not included in the Recording Sessions leak (other than the ending of You're A Wizard Harry and the synth noise that goes under the ghosts), probably because they were all recorded earlier than the main sessions for the film.

However, Williams liked this material so much, he incorporated pretty much all of it into film cues!

Most of "Trailer #1" was incorporated into "1m5 Mail Delivery". "New Trailer Intro" turned up in "1m1 Prologue". "Trailer #2 Intro" was incorporated into "4m4 Mr Longbottom Flies", etc. But most obviously, "Hedwig's Theme" cribs heavily from all these cues as well - Which brings me to my next item - How did the full "Hedwig's Theme" we know and love come about?

Well, I already mentioned the original "Hedwig's Theme" was a 1 minute / 58 bar composition written in 2000 for the teaser trailer.

Next there was a 166 bar version created that would be about 4 minutes long, also just called "Hedwig's Theme". However - this version had NO original material at all! It was completely comprised of material cribbed from existing cues:

bars 1-58 = bars 1-58 of Hedwig's Theme [58 bar version]

bars 59-66 = bars 1-8 of Trailer #2 Intro

bars 67-75 = bars 18-26 of 6m4 Owl's Flight

bars 76-87 = bars 9-20 [the rest] of Trailer #2 Intro

bars 88-166 = bars 1-79 [all] of Trailer #2 [as mentioned above, bars 64-74 are just bars 25-35 of Trailer #1]

Whew! It appears that this version was never recorded, however. Instead, the final version, that appeared on the OST as "Hedwig's Theme" had a sheet music title of "Hedwig's Theme (With Inserts)". For this version, Williams took the 166 bar version and wrote unique inserts (sometimes drawing heavily from other existing material) to be inserted through, and ended up with the 212 bar final version that was recorded and appears in the film and OST. That is broken down as so:

0:00-0:17 = Beginning of Hedwig's Theme [58 bar version]

0:17-0:34 = First Insert [b Section of Hedwig's Theme on celeste]

0:34-1:17 = End of Hedwig's Theme [58 bar version]

1:17-1:35 = Second insert [b Section again]

1:35-1:47 = Beginning [bars 1-8] of Trailer #2 intro

1:47-1:59 = Third Insert [b Section of Nimbus 2000 Theme]

1:59-2:13 = Section [bars 18-26] of 6m4 Owl's Flight

2:13-2:31= End [bars 9-20] of Trailer #2 Intro

2:31-4:47 = All [bars 1-79] of Trailer #2

4:47-end = Fourth Insert [big finish]

Now I'm not saying Hedwig's Theme from the OST was created by editing a bunch of different recordings together - just that the sheet music came from a variety of existing places, and then it was recorded altogether at once as one track. You can hear some performance differences between the trailer and the final track, etc.

Also of note is that "End Credits Part 1" (aka Harry's Wondrous World) is a unique composition not cribbed from other cues. As written it does contain the ending heard in the film and OST, and the end of Williams' sketch even says to "overlap Hedwig's Theme"

OK, now moving on. They seem to have had a real trouble working on the reveal of Diagon Alley in the film! As we now know from the recording sessions they original version of the reveal was scored with a very fast paced version that we had never heard before. Well then the film must have been re-edited because Williams then wrote an insert called "2m4 Insert Diagon Alley Reveal" that was likely never recorded since it didn't show up in the recording sessions. In the final film they simply replaced the whole scene with tracked music.

Also, "Qudditch" from the Children's Suite has an original version we've never heard! It was called "Quidditch and the Great Gryffindor Victory" and differs in a lot of ways from the final version. The final version is called "Quidditch (Rev)". Hopefully someone can make a mockup of the original version (along with that Diagon Alley insert!)

Also, the name of the opening Warner Brothers logo on the sheet music is "Potter Logo Lead In (Reel 1) Version I" and "Potter Logo Lead In (Reel 1) Version II". He literally wrote both versions on the same piece of paper so he probably wrote them both at the same time and they recorded both so the producers would have a choice, rather than once being a replacement for an other.

And finally - new information has surfaced concerning that Harry Potter Coke commercial. First Wrobel's rundown mentioned a cue called "Hedwig Tries A Cookie" that nobody knew what the heck it was. Then the recording sessions leaked that contained a cue called "Coke Ad 60s" and GoodMusician speculated that the cue was REALLY called "Hedwig Tries A Cokie", "Cokie" being British slang for coke. Well, Williams' original sketch for the cue has turned up and it is called - pay attention to the apostrophe as well - "Hedwig's Tries A Coke". Now it's certainly possible that whoever orchestrated the cue altered the name slightly on the orchestrated sheet music, and then Wrobel might have made a typo as well, who knows. But at least we know Williams intended name now.

Sadly, one thing we still don't have is the original version of Hogwarts Forever. If you've read Wrobel's Rundown, you know he mentioned a 14 bar, 65 musician version, along with a 20 bar, 4 musician [horns only] version. Well, what we have sheet music for is a 32 bar, horns only composition called "Hogwarts Forever (Revised)". It's possible Wrobel made a typo and meant to type 32 bars when he typed 20, but that original version still hasn't leaked.

Phew, I think that's it!

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Wow. Actually I always thought Trailer 1 was the "original Hedwig's theme" (the pre-OST version)

But that Trailer 2 was edited from the 4 minute OST version of Hedwig's Theme (and various other cues )which were already recorded at that time and not the other way around

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But that Trailer 2 was edited from the 4 minute OST version of Hedwig's Theme (and various other cues )which were already recorded at that time and not the other way around

Nope.

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Yea the original trailer music was definitely recorded in November 2000 and the Trailer #2 stuff was definitely recorded in June 2001. The main recording sessions for the film were probably in September/October of 2001.

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That's an edit, but the remainder of "Trailer #2" is unedited. (Including that shorter horn passage toward the end - Williams only expanded that for the final version heard on the OST.)

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