Harry Potter 6 Soundtrack Review
Lightweight, Anonymous Fantasy Score by Nicholas Hooper
Aug 2, 2009 David Abraham Dueck
The Harry Potter film series has owed much of its broad, wondrous appeal to the rich fantasy scores provided by John Williams and Patrick Doyle for the first four films. But the latest installments, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in particular, have featured far more subdued musical support from television composer Nicholas Hooper, an approach which many film score collectors will find uninspiring and even irritating, while others may find it introspective and artfully restrained.
Simple, Restrained Score for Harry Potter Series
Whether one agrees with the approach or not, it cannot be denied that Nicholas Hooper’s Harry Potter scores are of a far less pronounced nature than the high-flying, richly-rendered installments by Williams and Doyle. Some claim that this makes the score unnoticeable and thus unexceptional and irrelevant in the context of the film. Others claim it gives the film a subtle sense of humanity which serves the changing nature of the franchise well.
Adapted Themes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack
The score for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, whatever one’s personal feelings towards it, is indeed a decidedly restrained, simple score. Many listeners will find it difficult to remember much of the score, and the few highlights of Hooper’s original material are still greatly overshadowed by the fleeting adaptations of John Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme,” despite their incredibly brief appearances.
The extremely quiet, lightweight version of the now-famous theme heard on xylophone at the outset of “Opening” is merely a token, brooding rendering of the tune before a much fuller (albeit incredibly short-lived) appearance of the melody in “Ginny.” Both appearances of the theme give way all too soon to meandering, sustained string chords and clunking percussive effects, providing an ominous sense of foreboding without presenting any significantly memorable material, outside of the almost unnoticeable adaptations of Williams’ material.
Highlights in Nicholas Hooper's Original Soundtrack
This, sadly, is the nature of most of the score, although a few cues of enjoyable, memorable material do present themselves. “In Noctem” features a lovely, haunting theme for choir, accompanied by an extremely small ensemble, unfolding from a unison presentation of the lyrical melody into several simple but captivating layers of choral beauty. “Journey to the Cave” begins quietly but slowly builds to a cacophonous level of dramatic power, aided by heraldic trumpets and chanting choir.
“Inferi in the Storm” contains grating amounts of aleatoric dissonance, while the haunting choir from “In Noctem” returns in the cue “Dumbledore’s Speech.” Also memorable are the moments of humor and mischief in the score, such as the surprisingly catchy big-band cue, “Wizard Wheezes,” and the joyous, Celtic-flavored “The Weasley Stomp.”
Simple, Anonymous Compositions
But throughout the body of the score, one cannot escape the score’s relative anonymity. The few original themes and motifs by Hooper are frustratingly undeveloped and unmemorable, with the score focusing on addressing the emotional needs of the moment rather than supporting the narrative with a cohesive story arc in musical form.
The score’s lack of instrumental and compositional depth, coupled with a relatively tiny performing ensemble, gives the score an undeniably restrained (even bland) construction which many listeners will find tedious and boring, especially if one is used to the blatantly epic, thematically magical scores by Williams and Doyle. Revisits to this album will be few and far between.
Conclusion
Hooper’s music is not offensive in any sense, but it is underwhelming. It will take a dedicated supporter of Hooper’s work, as well as a very good attention span, to truly appreciate and enjoy this score; a score which, in the end, is certainly serviceable and occasionally quite enjoyable, but largely anonymous and unmemorable. Whether such comparisons are fair or not, Hooper’s Harry Potter scores wither when placed next to their predecessors in the franchise.
Harry Potter 6 Album Cover
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Nicholas Hooper, Composer
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