Jump to content

Harry Potter 7CD Collection - MUSIC discussion


Jay

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Datameister said:

Agreed!

 

Unrelated again - I'm really wondering what the full-length quiet section at the final freeze frame was for. It's edited to be way shorter (and, IMO, more effective) on the OST and in the film, whereas the LLL set has the full version that was recorded. (Which I appreciate, even if it's not my preferred version to listen to!) We'll probably never know, I suppose.

 

Just options I suppose in case they wanted to tweak the voiceover in the final version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just listened to disc 3 again and the suite is really growing on me now. What a great concert work. But I do have a question about HWW: Does the official sheet music publication omit the removed part on the OST as well, or does it follow the version on disc 3 of this set with the included bars? I somehow think it would have been nice to replicate the OST edit once because we'd have all three HWW versions, but maybe Matessino didn't want to edit anything, which is equally commendable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bars were only snipped on the OST album because Williams likes to do that kind of thing from time to time.


The snipped bars are present in the sheet music of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sometimes official sheet music is altered to match released CD versions.

 

The handwritten originals that leaked that were used at the recording stage contain the bars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But isn't it more likely that JW simply preferred the bars to be removed on second thought than to assume they were taken out just to match the CD? Why would the CD matter to anyone if it didn't have the complete children's suite on it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow this set is Incredible. 

Tracks like You're a Wizard Harry, House Selection, Through the Doors. The Stone, The Chess Game (Extended), Love Harry and Gryffindor Wins the House Cup are Tracks I always wanted.

 

But there are Tracks that I didn't know I wanted like The Daily Prophet, Fighting the Troll, Filch's Fond Remembrance and Teaser. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Mirror of Erised and A Change of Season has always been one of my Grail cues, and one that was sorely missed from the OST. I don't know how to describe it, but it's this reverberating warmth that bubbles up in the orchestra during Dumbledore's conversation with Harry, it's quiet, yet it's so magical and expressive. It's also a cue (or cues) that showcase Williams' ability to morph from one mood or tone to another so effortlessly, going from the yearning underneath the characters' conversation, to a stern warning into Change of Season which is probably one of the most beautiful statements of Harry's theme, it's so tender.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/5/2019 at 8:39 AM, Josh500 said:

I think JW partly compensated this distinctive lack of intensity of this cue by giving a sudden loud and unexpected burst of the orchestra (a burst of relief, really), once the immediate danger is past... the moment right after Buckbeak makes his appearance and drives the werewolf away, right before the glissando ("Buckbeak Saves the Day"). This moment expresses the aftershock, as it were, when the danger is past and our heroes, as well as the viewers, can breathe normally again, while the heart is still pounding. (Hermione: "That was so scary!")

 

Nice interpretation! Another JW moment like this that comes to mind is from Last Crusade after Donovan drinks from the wrong cup. That chord from 01:01 to 01:10 is like that nerve-jangly feeling of an adrenaline rush in the aftermath of a nasty fright.

 

 

Listening to Philosopher's Stone with new ears, it struck me just how varied the many performances of Hedwig's Theme are throughout the film. There are very few, if any, statements that sound identical, the arrangements do something new with the theme each time. The same goes for the rest of the thematic material, to be fair, but it's especially commendable considering how prevalent Hedwig's Theme is.

 

Also, quick question about the end of the track 'Hedwig's Theme' - did the OST version augment the very final hit with some artificial reverb? It sounds slightly different on the LLL version.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

But isn't it more likely that JW simply preferred the bars to be removed on second thought than to assume they were taken out just to match the CD? Why would the CD matter to anyone if it didn't have the complete children's suite on it?

 

You're probably right - my wording wasn't very clear. I'm sure the removal of the bars is a JW creative decision that got applied to both the OST and the published sheet music. I didn't mean to suggest that the only reason they removed the bars from the sheets was so it wouldn't conflict with the OST. ☺️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DolceMecha said:

 

Nice interpretation! Another JW moment like this that comes to mind is from Last Crusade after Donovan drinks from the wrong cup. That chord from 01:01 to 01:10 is like that nerve-jangly feeling of an adrenaline rush in the aftermath of a nasty fright.

 

 

 

Hmmm, nice find! I had to rewatch that scene, and the music certainly underscores that frightening moment and its aftermath, but that's not quite what I meant. 

 

I meant a frightening, shocking, or suspenseful moment, which is scored accordingly, and then the immediate danger passes, but the frightening or suspenseful music still continues or even intensifies, as if JW is scoring the aftershock or sudden adrenaline rush and the inner turmoil of the characters on screen....

 

Here are two examples I could find on short notice.

 

Jurassic Park: The T-Rex chases the jeep, and then at 1:26 it gives up and turns away...and yet the chase music continues for another 5 seconds or so, even while the characters are starting to relax. That's the aftershock, the adrenaline rush, the heart still pounding away in terror....

 

 

Or in this scene from Minority Report at 2:16. Anderton is in safety at this point, but the chase music briefly starts up again (although this is likely tracked)... Again, it's the aftershock and adrenaline!

 

 

 

But I still think that Buckbeak moment is one of the best of its kind!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Faleel J.M. said:

Would the end of The Waterfall from Indy 4 count?

 

 

 

 

You mean the loud brass rendition of Irina's Theme? Yes! It's certainly written in that spirit all right.... Although at the same time it's also emphasising and underscoring Irina's character, as she looks after Indy and the gang in fury.

 

At 1:20

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Faleel J.M. said:

I was referring more to the return to the rhythmic motif from the cue at the end, but I guess that would be more of the wind down..

 

You have to give me timestamp in the movie! Not just the music. I don't know the unreleased cues by heart! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Faleel J.M. said:

1:30 of your video, the low strings...

 

That not so much. That's just low music accompanying the characters that are fairly calm (before the next drop)!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Holko said:

You know what Double Trouble is for most of its appearances? Just the year opening choir concert still ringing in the kids' ears that night and the next morning.

Whoah! That's deep, man!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like “Hogwarts Forever”, “Double Trouble” could be interpreted as a theme for the school that almost disappears completely after the Quidditch match for some reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess the tone gradually changes from quirky to serious in POA so there is not much room for mischievous Double Trouble. Interestingly Williams relies almost purely on rhythm even in the Buckbeak rescue sequence where one could easily expect some subtle references to Double Trouble for all time travel shenanigans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Once said:

Hogwarts Forever also disappears after the Quidditch match.

Again perhaps the film makers and Williams just didn't feel it would be right for the latter half of the film. Even the final House Cup scene is scored more from Harry's emotional perspective and not focused on the school as such although it would have been another logical choice given the feel of ceremony in that sequence. Interestingly Hogwarts Theme is also absent from the entire CoS although there would have been plenty of possibilities to use Hogwarts theme during the school activities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well considering that he was very conscious about them in the new film and even thought out the tracking of material for CoS in scoring notes and what would be adapted from the first score to what scene, I doubt he just forgot but I suspect the score would have turned even more thematically intricate if he had had time to work on it full-time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hogwarts Forever could definitely have been featured in some small guise somewhere yep. I think it almost doubles as a Dumbledore theme on some occasions and since we had the new Falkes Theme in CoS which also kind of doubles as a dumbledore there, there wasn't room enough for both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Hogwarts Forever could definitely have been featured in some small guise somewhere yep. I think it almost doubles as a Dumbledore theme on some occasions and since we had the new Falkes Theme in CoS which also kind of doubles as a dumbledore there, there wasn't room enough for both.

Yeah that was my thinking on it as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always saw them as this: Hogwarts Forever kinda took on a Griffindor/ Gryffindor Victory association, especially in the finished film with stuff like Lonely First Night and the statement in You're a Wizard, Harry removed completely, and the Hedwig B mentioned in the liner notes took its place as a Hogwarts Fanfare, most often used in big, wide or swooping transition shots. This way they make sense in CoS as well - it has no real Gryffindor moments anymore, (neither does the second half of PS for that matter), therefore Hogwarts Forever is abandoned, but Hedwig B (Hogwarts Fanfare) is still used for transitions and such a lot.

 

 

On a completely different note: I'm now noticing the tertiary Mystery/Danger motif in Chamber (the one in the alternate Petrified Colin) effortlessly, and for how simple and underutilised it is, it adds a lot of inexplicable enjoyment to the score for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Holko said:

On a completely different note: I'm now noticing the tertiary Mystery/Danger motif in Chamber (the one in the alternate Petrified Colin) effortlessly, and for how simple and underutilised it is, it adds a lot of inexplicable enjoyment to the score for me.

 

Yes!  I was just re-admiring that motif all over again today myself!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Especially since I knew the sessions pretty well for years, it's always fun to see just a whole new motif pop up that was there all along in plain sight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Holko said:

On a completely different note: I'm now noticing the tertiary Mystery/Danger motif in Chamber (the one in the alternate Petrified Colin) effortlessly, and for how simple and underutilised it is, it adds a lot of inexplicable enjoyment to the score for me.

Do you mean the Chamber theme or the Philosopher's Stone motif re-purposed as the new all-purpose Voldemort/Danger motif?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither.

 

We're talking about the ditty at the very end of "Petrified Colin (Alternate)".


It also appears in "Car Drives Off / It’s a Basilisk" and "The Chamber Opens and The Search for Ginny"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Jay said:

Neither.

 

We're talking about the ditty at the very end of "Petrified Colin (Alternate)".


It also appears in "Car Drives Off / It’s a Basilisk" and "The Chamber Opens and The Search for Ginny"

All I hear are variations on the Chamber theme and its arpeggio accompaniment figure but I guess there is that small section which repeats in all three examples.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.