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What score do you prefer: Hook or The Philosopher Stone?


Edmilson

JW's fantasy scores  

96 members have voted

  1. 1. What score do you prefer?

    • Hook
    • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone


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Two of the most beloved scores by JW for fantasy movies, now pitted against each other. What score do you personally consider is the best? The nautical adventures of Hook? Or the magic in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? Vote now!

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As wonderful as HP is, I must say Hook. Such masterful orchestration and the sheer variety of extraordinary themes. 

I love the ballet-like quality of the score. It always makes me dream of what could have been, if the original project for a Peter Pan musical had become a reality.

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Most definitely Hook.

 

HP1 is my least favourite JW Potter score. I struggle to get through the OST let alone the C&C.

 

If I had them on vinyl, HP2 would be wearing through and 3 would be close behind. HP1 would be mint ;)

 

@Edmilson could you please allow us to see who voted for which score? Thanks.

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HOOK all the way. No competition. If you had chosen AZKABAN instead of PHILOSOPHER, it would have been a closer race, but still HOOK in the end. It's one of my favourite JW scores of all time. I was 24 when the first Potter film came out, so I have no nostalgic connection to these things - unlike most of you young whippersnappers. They are fine scores (esp. 3), but not something that will feature in my top 10.

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Tough call. But I'd say stronger main theme for Harry Potter gives it a slightly edge in being a more cohesive score.

 

But of course Hook is also an outstanding score and both are great Williams classic masterpieces.

 

11 hours ago, Will said:

They're both utter masterpieces, but I have to go with Potter. That score really moves me emotionally -- albeit perhaps in large part because the film is near and dear to my heart.

 

Just such wonderful marriage of music and picture (at least to those who like the movie):

 

 

 

 

Great call here. I think Harry Potter is definitely helped by being mixed so loudly and prominently in a watchable entertaining film.

 

It's been some time since I saw Hook so I don't quite now how it is featured in the film - whether it is butchered or mixed low - I don't remember. 

 

But HP1 must pretty much take the cake as probably the best film Williams score to listen to "in movie".

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Both scores in toto are a chock-full too much (and humping up and down the legs of older scores), but Potter is careful to balance the syrup with more sophisticated dramatic writing that Hook lacks. But it ain't so easy when you just choose single cues instead of the whole thing.

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Has to be Hook for me. That film landed right in my formative years. The first film I remember deliberately going back to the cinema to see again, (go easy..... I was a kid) and I played that original album to death. Whilst potter is undoubtedly a fantastic score, I suppose my connection to it just doesn't run quite so deep. A little unfair perhaps if we're just going off the music, but I can't ignore those big Hook feels!

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I both like them equally I guess! It feels like a parallel tie a feeling of the force I sense!

But HOOK has those themes! Snuff said.

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1 hour ago, bigjimwilson said:

Has to be Hook for me. That film landed right in my formative years. The first film I remember deliberately going back to the cinema to see again, (go easy..... I was a kid) and I played that original album to death. Whilst potter is undoubtedly a fantastic score, I suppose my connection to it just doesn't run quite so deep. A little unfair perhaps if we're just going off the music, but I can't ignore those big Hook feels!

 

Good to hear someone my own age feeling the same way! :) I often feel very 'fatherly' around these parts.

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16 hours ago, Madmartigan JC said:

It always makes me dream of what could have been, if the original project for a Peter Pan musical had become a reality.

 

Since the obvious musical traces are the worst parts of the score, I think we were lucky that it got turned into a film instead.

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For nostalgia reasons, I voted for HP. I watched Philosopher's Stone on theaters when I was 8 and then countless other times on DVD, meanwhile I've never seen Hook until this day.

 

Both scores are amazing, but I find HP to be the richer score.

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1 hour ago, SteveMc said:

HP is second tier Williams.  

Not in the universe we live in by any stretch of the imagination!

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Hard choice. Hook has such a wealth of great material and terrific orchestrations, but Harry Potter has the best main theme, and I prefer the intensity of the Quidditch match to the swashbuckling of the Ultimate War. Farewell Neverland is one of the most beautiful thing JW has ever written, but overall I have more emotionnal connection to Potter, which was the first soundtrack I consciously listened to, and my first contact with Williams (there must be a club of us!).

 

So let's go with.Potter on this one.

 

On a related note, I rewatched Harry Potter 8 last week, and while it left me cold 9 years ago, the nostalgia factor is working better now, and I was not immune to the use of Leaving Hogwarts during the epilogue... :crymore:

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I distinctly recall watching HP1, hearing the score for the first time that it reminded me of Hook (and Home Alone).

 

Ultimately, they're similar enough with a lot of the same Tchaikovsky tropes and mushy sentimentality on steroids. HP leans decidedly more toward a "British" kind of sound and Hook blends fairy tale with seafaring pirate stuff and Korngoldian derring do. I prefer it because of that. The battle scenes at the end are ace.

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Potter by a long shot for me. It just contains a bit of everything I love about Williams writing. There’s not a dull moment in the score.

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1 minute ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

 

Tell that to people back in 2001!


I know, I’ve seen the reviews from that time. Different tastes I guess. It has aged very well though in my opinion. I forgot about it for a while even, and upon revisiting it a couple of years ago my appreciation has only grown. 

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5 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

We're obviously witnessing a generational shift. All these Millennial Gen Z kids that grew up obsessed with HP.

 

Indeed.

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15 hours ago, publicist said:

Potter is careful to balance the syrup with more sophisticated dramatic writing that Hook lacks.

When you have the complete score (Children's Suite included) and cut it down at the right spots, you can get an almost two hour listening experience with just a minimal amount of syrup. Basically, cutting down the pre-Hogwarts-arrival-stuff is almost it. My appreciation of the score really grew as soon as I was done with that.

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Potter is a more refined work, with more idiomatic depth than the all-out cutesy Disney excesses of Hook. Still, i wouldn't want to lose cues like Farewell Neverland. 

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