[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Movie soundtracks

[Karen Chuplis]

On Sunday, January 29, 2006, at 07:19 AM, laurenmcoakley wrote:
>
>
> I must admit, I haven't cracked open yet my GoF soundtrack (well, I
> just popped it in for the first time, actually).  It's ok so far, but
> I'm finding the Quidditch World Cup to be a little (IMO) too bare.

That's interesting. I would never describe that as bare. I mean, I see 
where you get that as it is very much homophonic with the percussion 
underneath but that keeps the character of the "national" music 
(particularly the Irish teams theme). It *is* very straightforward. 
This is the Jig for the Bare Fisted Fun Loving Rough Housing Irish, 
this is the Cold Weather Very Dark Bulgarian team.

>
> You must understand, I'm a music student from way back, and have
> probably had my views of music tainted by my very influential high
> school music teacher.  I am undeniably subjective when it comes to
> John Williams.  I think he is GENIUS.

Yeah, my bachelors is in music. While I give JW great kudos for 
bringing orchestral soundtracks back to its highest prominence since 
Korngold, I lost my reverence for him in college once I'd heard Holst's 
The Planets. It didn't diminish how much I liked Star Wars but it did 
make me more critical of him.  I also am a bit disappointed in his "bag 
of tricks" that he pulls out all the time (Which I'm sure is often 
dictated because of time limits). I will say I think PoA is really a 
good soundtrack and has quite a bit of a different sound than I often 
hear from JW. Honestly though, I'm glad he didn't do this one. I have a 
horrible feeling that the World Quidditch Cup or some of the Tri-wizard 
championship music would have been a rehash of Call of the Champions 
(which I really, really like! Just don't think he could have got past 
the temptation :) and I wouldn't have wanted to see that here- but 
then, I like the more simple nationalistic music. To me the WW is a 
pretty small community even in world terms and it seemed approriate to 
me. )

>
> So of COURSE I'd recommend the first two soundtracks too!  SS is
> (what I think) the rest of all the following HP soundtracks are based
> from.  The Prologue is the familiar Harry Potter opening song that we
> are all acostomed to hearing at the beginning of each film (except
> GoF, of course).  Harry's Wondrous World, track 2 is great- it is
> very upbeat- you feel like you are being carried off to some
> fantastic place.  And Hedwig's Theme is another one brought through
> all the different movie soundtracks.

You KNOW I'll end up getting them :D  I just don't know if I will 
listen to them as much as GoF.  But I really like the darker tones in 
GoF. I really, REALLY hope JW treats OoTP with the more grown up ideas 
that start to come into play. OoTP will not work with too much of 
Harry's Wonderous World at that point. It's Harry's Fascinating but 
much Scarier World now. ;)  I actually think it could be a real 
opportunity, but I have a feeling that "available time" dictates a lot 
of the creativity of Film composers. It's a real shame, but it is true 
and I cannot blame them.
>
> I wonder though, if your preference if for GoF, then you might not
> enjoy the first two soundtracks, because the songs are much in the
> same style as JW (and therefore PoA).
>
> Lauren
>
As I said, I don't DISlike PoA but I just really like Doyle's GoF. But 
I have liked pretty much anything I've heard of Doyle's despite some of 
the critiques I've seen of him. I've always liked what I've heard of 
him.

Karen