Harry Potter soundtrack

[javasaurus]

It just occurred to me, as I listen to the soundtrack to HP:Goblet of Fire, that there aren't a lot of memorable themes. Certainly, Hedwig's theme (the main motif of the soundtracks) is recurring in the movies, but I there isn't a readily recognizable "Voldemort's theme" or "Luna's theme." Certainly ominous music for the bad stuff, light music for the fluffy sequences (um, not meaning the dog, by the way), but character-related motifs are missing. I suspect they are there, somewhere, but they don't stand out, like Leia's theme, or Vader's theme (the Imperial March).


Maybe I'm wrong...I'll have to listen through them again!

Comments

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

They're there. Patrick Doyle, not John Williams, composed that music. Doyle's prior work includes the Kenneth Brannagh Shakespeare films (and Dead Again and Frankenstein), among others. He did some motivic-based development in Henry V, but he's gotten more subtle since then.

Hedwig's theme is "used with permission", of course.

There are themes, but he doesn't develop them individually the way Williams would. Listen to "Foreign Visitors Arrive" and then listen to "Death of Cedric" and you'll hear the pieces of motives that are the same. particularly among the cellos, which is given the full brass treatment at the end of "Golden Egg" (Harry's success moment). In short, its a kind of "Champion's motif". There are others and they are developed throughout, but its subtle. especially in its touches that show up in The Black Lake.

similarly, there's a progression, a simple transformation, that turns "Neville's Waltz" into "Potter Waltz" - they start from the same motives and merely develop them differently into themes that seem less matched.

that's true modern motif development, extended from the romantic stylings of Wagner and Bruckner and Mahler, as Williams and Shore (and on occasion, Goldsmith) use them making them more "neo-romantics" to give a label.

So no, the themes aren't "singable" in the Williams sense, but the composition style is pretty standard for 20th/21st century composers.

Potter 5 is done by a different guy entirely, and doesn't even push the Hedwig theme all that much.

[thatwasjen]

Which would be why GoF is the only HP soundtrack I bought. I loves me some Patrick Doyle.