Shows Williams at the top of his form as regards the Harry Potter series
Disadvantages:
With so much new material, the old themes have been almost completely omitted
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
After a year-long break in 2003, Williams returned with the third installment of the Harry Potter saga with renewed energy. His third Harry Potter score proved that Williams could still write music that can be original and extremely good. After the rehash of The Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban breaths new life into the music of Williams, featuring a more serious approach and almost completely devoid of the usual kiddie type music. At the core of the music is the song "Double Trouble" that is sung by a children's choir in a very unprofessional sounding way. The lyrics are taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth and further emphasises the medieval nature of the music's style that includes many ancient instruments courtesy of the Dufay Collective. This medieval approach greatly enhances the wintry atmosphere of the film, being more cold and melancholy than the previous entries.
The music lives very much in the moment, with no thematic material allotted to the central new characters like Sirius Black or Lupin. Instead the music is used in depicting different characters and incidents individually, corresponding with the general atmosphere of the whole. This approach works surprisingly well, with the instrumentation and mood of the music sustaining cohesion without falling into the usual Wagnerian use of leitmotivs. However it is curious to notice that there is hardly any reference to the old established themes from the previous scores. "Hedwig's theme" makes only a couple of appearances, with the Nimbus/Quidditch theme appearing only once. Without these brief references it would be very hard to link this score with Harry Potter, so utterly different it is from the previous entries. I would have expected a little more thematic integrity, but with so many great new themes it becomes less of a detriment.
There is a great wealth of new material written for The Prisoner of Azkaban. "Buckbeak's Flight" is one of the most fantastic cues in the entire Harry Potter series. It opens with the most bombastic drumming I have heard in a while. This in turn leads to a broad, majestic and epicly sweeping theme in the grand old fashion of Williams' adventure music. This makes for an absoultely fabulous highlight of the album. It is only unfortunate that it is not found elsewhere in the album. "A Window to the Past" is another great highlight, opening with a flute melody of almost folk song-like simplicity. It is joined by a harpsichord and later on is taken over by the rest of the orchestra. Rising in excitement, the music is then interpolated with Hedwig's theme and then returns to its initial mood for a satisfying conclusion. "Double Trouble" gives us a darker version of a Home Alone Christmas song, with ominous undertones to make it more dark without loosing its holiday feeling. The music makes further appearances in the cues "Secrets of the Castle," "Hagrid the Professor" and "The Portrait Gallery." "The Patronus Light" presents music of almost angelic beauty and virtue, with a female chorus humming the theme in a very pure light. The patronus light theme makes a further appearance in "Finale" mixed with Harry's family theme.
There are also many great separate moments infused into the score. "Aunt Marge's Waltz" is a whimsical cue, full of comic humour with parodical references to Rossini's Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) toward the end. "The Knight Bus" is a zany, carnivalesque piece that can be a pleasure or just incredibly irritating when heard outside the context of the film. This music is full of that jazziness of Catch Me If You Can mixed with the "Cantina Band" music from Star Wars and turning it into a very frantic and weird cue. Unlike the light and fairly routine scherzo music for "The Quidditch Match" in The Philosopher's Stone, "Quidditch, Third Year" in The Prisoner of Azkaban is much more serious in the mould of the action music in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. There are no bright fanfares, no lightness in the textures. This music is intense and urgent, with fullsome brass accented by a meandering female chorus. This intensity is maintained from beginning to end, making it one of the most satisfying action cues Williams has written in a while. This approach is continued in "Lupin's Transformation and Chasing Scabbers," which follows the same intensity of writing.
There are more truly horrifying moments in The Prisoner of Azkaban than in the previous scores. With the appearance of the Dementors, Williams has written very intense and dissonant music that rumbles along in a murky and terrifying atmosphere. This approach can be heard in cues like "Apparition on the Train," "The Dementors Converge" and "Finale." Other cues featuring horror music apart from the music of the Dementors can be found from the cues "The Werewolf Scene," "Monster Books and Boggarts!" and "The Whomping Willow and The Snowball Fight" (the latter part of this cue giving music of more playful nature). "Saving Buckbeak" provides music of more sustained suspense, while "Forward to Time Past" features a ticking clock and music that sounds as if it is being played backward. The wonderful "Finale" opens with the music of the Dementors, but is interrupted by the Patronus Light theme and Harry's Family theme. The family theme then continues to the end of the cue and sends shivers up your spine. To end the album we have the 12-minute "Mischief Managed!" that sums up all the themes of the film. It opens with the Nimbus/Quidditch theme (the only place where it is heard on this album), but then turns out to be nothing more than a re-edit of the music as we have heard already. This is unfortunate, especially since the editing is not done in a very skillful way. But it still it proves a decent summary of the score as a whole.
1. Lumos! (Hedwig's Theme) (1:39) 2. Aunt Marge's Waltz (2:15) 3. The Knight Bus (2:52) 4. Apparition on the Train (2:15) 5. Double Trouble (1:38) 6. Buckbeak's Flight (2:09) 7. A Window to the Past (3:54) 8. The Whomping Willow and The Snowball Fight (2:22) 9. Secrets of the Castle (2:33) 10. The Portrait Gallery (2:06) 11. Hagrid the Professor (2:00) 12. Monster Books and Boggarts! (2:27) 13. Quidditch, Third Year (3:47) 14. Lupin's Transformation and Chasing Scabbers (3:02) 15. The Patronus Light (1:13) 16. The Werewolf Scene (4:25) 17. Saving Buckbeak (6:40) 18. Forward to Time Past (2:34) 19. The Dementors Converge (3:13) 20. Finale (3:25) 21. Mischief Managed! (12:11)
Produced by John Williams Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams Performed by The London Studio Orchestra Choirs: London Voices & The London Oratory School Schola London Voices Director: Terry Edwards London Oratory School Director: Stephen Grahl Celeste Solos by Randy Kerber Early Musical Instruments: The Dufay Collective Orchestrated by Conrad Pope & Eddie Karam Edited by Peter Myles & Ken Wannberg Engineered by Shawn Murphy Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London Atlantic/Warner/Sunset, 2004 (CD 83711)
musically straitjacket even a legend like John Williams, the veteran playfully rebuffs such cynicism in his rich, mirthful score for this third chapter of the Harry Po...
musically straitjacket even a legend like John Williams, the veteran playfully rebuffs such cynicism in his rich, mirthful score for this third chapter of theHarry Pot...
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