Hey folks, Harry here... I still haven't been bitten by the HARRY POTTER bug... not that I won't. I'm entirely confident in the project, it is just I still don't get it, as I haven't read the books, and have remained (on purpose) fairly in the dark about this universe. HOWEVER, with the people around me that I know and trust that ARE Harry Potter nuts, well I know it is just a matter of time. I just listened to the first 30 seconds of each track of the Harry Potter score, and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. If you've seen the trailer, then you've heard pretty much all that you'll hear when listening to the first 30 seconds of each track. It seems that with very few exceptions (and there are 5 or so exceptions) Williams is hammering us with that basic Potter theme, which sounds like a re-orchestrated WITCHES OF EASTWICK blended HOOK sort of thing, but it does give a very mystical feeling. Can't wait to hear the whole score.... But check it out for yourself....
Hi Harry,
Just doing a late-night (UK time) browse around the Internet to find, at one of the unofficial Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorceror's Stone movie sites
that previews of every track on the John Williams Score CD are available at
Click Here To Hear The Sound of Potter
The opening 30 seconds of each of 19 tracks are there.
Most of it is unmistakably WIlliams, and some tracks seem very similar in orchestration and tone to parts of Star Wars and the raptor bits of Jurassic Park.
That said, there's very little Hollywood slush that I can make out: a little use of human voices in a Danny Elfman/Batman kind of way.
But I am impressed that it sounds so British to my ears rather than American. It seems Williams not only picked up folk/Elizabethan kind of music - Diagon Alley - but also 20th century British music, such as non-pastoral Vaughan-Williams and Tippett.
Have a listen to "entry into the great hall", which sounds very reminiscent of the "Scott of the Antarctic" score that I always rave about.
But anyhow, have a listen for yourself. I'm absolutely dying to hear the rest of the CD - it sounds to me as though this might be one of the best John Williams has done in a long while.
All the best,
Schnorbitz
