Analyze "Saving Buckbeak"

[Josh500 1,615]

What does everyone think of that cue (while we're on the subject)? On the CD, I mean specifically the music starting at 2:19. At first I thought it was too soft, too low-key somehow for JW, but the more I listen to it, the more I've come to appreciate it. Ever since JW used marimbas (is that the right word?) in the score to AI, he seems to have fallen in love with the instrument!!! I love the way it starts, in the movie as Hermione sends Harry to get Buckbeak . . . it gives the entire scene such a sense of urgency. Also, I love the way the music swells as it accomapnies the executioner striking the pumpkin!!!

Great . . . just great. But could it have been better? What do you think?

P.S.: Someone mentioned somewhere that the track Saving Buckbeak on the OS contains the Buckbeak's Flight theme. Is that true? I don't think so, but if it is, I can't find it.

[David Vincent 8]

I love every track in Prisoner of Azkaban. I'd love to sequence Saving Buckbeak into MIDI file. It is perfectly done for a scene melting action, suspense and if the volume is low, I guess it is because of the dialogues in the scene. It also reminds A Forward to Past Time, in the inverse order in the album.

I don't know where we can hear Buckbeak's Flight in Saving Buckbeak. Perhaps you think about the scene when Harry and Hermione save Sirius, an unreleased cue using Buckbeak's Flight. Alexis Savelief sequenced this unreleased cue in MIDI file.

[Morlock 11]

Ever since JW used marimbas (is that the right word?) in the score to AI, he seems to have fallen in love with the instrument!!!

He used marimbas in Hook too, for the 'The Lost Boys Chase'. On the album he changed the passage from marimbas to pizzicato, but in the film it remains marimbas.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

That could be marimbas in "Saving Buckbeak" or it could be a vibraphone.

~Sturgis, who, upon first POA listening (AOL party) expected an even grander version of the "Buckbeak's Flight" theme than what is in the track, and when the marimba/vibraphone came on, was thinking "What the hell is this?" but has now come to appreciate it; oh, and btw, did anyone else notice how in the movie the ticking sound from "Forward to Time Past" comtinues all the way down to the pumpkin patch and even further?

[John Crichton 4]

oh, and btw, did anyone else notice how in the movie the ticking sound from "Forward to Time Past" comtinues all the way down to the pumpkin patch and even further?

Yes. And I'm glad that it stopped a couple of minutes in on the CD, because is gets very annoying.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

It's a cue that has realy grown on me. It might not be the most enjoyable listen, but I think it's fascinating in how it builds so subtly and maintains tension throughout. It's a very fitting complement to the visuals of the film.

Ray Barnsbury

[John Crichton 4]

I love Forward to Time Past on the OST, other than the ticking clock. It is a wonderful cue. But all that sneaking around music for the next 7-8 minutes (unreleased and Saving Buckbeak) is rather dull and probably the weakest part of the score, listening experience wise.

[Bowie 45]

I love minimalism. Steve Reich is a jeany us.

You can tell Williams whole-heartedly placed this on the cd to impress his contemporaries. It's an excellent and entertaining attempt at film-score minimalism, particularly like Reich's "Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ" and "Nagoya Marimbas."

[Trumpeteer 302]

I think the use of vibraphone was great for "Saving Buckbeak." The scene is supposed to be quiet (remember, they're not to be seen). The melody adds urgency, as was said before, and the orchestration of it is quite different from the norm.

Jeff -- who loves the ticking clock in the score. I couldn't get enough of it in the film.

[King Mark 3,626]

It sounds like the Dr Know music in A.I.

[fommes 153]

But all that sneaking around music for the next 7-8 minutes (unreleased and Saving Buckbeak) is rather dull and probably the weakest part of the score, listening experience wise.

Unless you just love 'sneaking around music'.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Or if you just plain love sneaking around.

~Sturgis

[Josh500 1,615]

Actually I DO love all the sneaking around music in PoA. The unreleased cue (in the movie between "Forward to Time Past" and the marimba-section of "Saving Buckbeak") is really most fascinating. See, how the tension continues throughout the scene, and the best part of all -- get this -- is when Hermione throws the two stones through the window, first hitting a vase then Harry in the back of the head. Did anyone else notice that JW accompanies the shots while the stones fly through the window with high flutes/piccolos? I think this is so well done . . . perfect timing, really . . . I didn't notice this the first time, only while later watching it on DVD. Awesome!!!

[fommes 153]

Actually I like this kind of music too, if done well. (Perhaps that was not so clear in my previous post.) Sneaking around music can be utterly boring too of course.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

As can sneaking around.

~Sturgis