Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
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Free Music Notes for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Free Music Review: Diverse and brilliant!
Hit: 5 Stars
As both a classical musician and a huge Harry Potter fan (of both the books and the movies), I truly enjoyed John Williams's contribution to the Prisoner of Azkaban. For me, the soundtrack of a movie is as important as the screenplay, acting, and cinematography. Music can either kill or enhance the mood that the film is trying to communicate to the audience. In Prisoner of Azkaban, the music brilliantly and consistently does the latter.
It is evident that John Williams paid close attention to both the big picture (no pun intended) and the nuances that Alfonso Cuarón hoped to convey in the third Harry Potter film. As you likely know, the tone of the story of Harry's third year is darker and more complicated than that of his first two years. There were moments of bittersweet reflection, such as Lupin's reminiscence of Harry's parents, as well as moments of sheer beauty, such as the conjuring of the patronus that saved Harry and Sirius from the dementors. But at the same time, there were many fantastic moments of comic relief, such as Aunt Marge's unfortunate, but well-deserved, incident, the snowball fight between an invisible Harry and his unsuspecting nemesis trio, and Harry's deranged journey on the Knight Bus. John Williams does an excellent job of bringing life to each of those scenes through his diverse and imaginative score.
I appreciate that this soundtrack, instead of being constrained by the previous two, reflected the changes in mood and tone that the new director brought to this film. It takes a highly talented and flexible composer to pull that off, and John Williams stepped up to the challenge. (See, for example, Leonard Bernstein's influence in the Knight Bus track!)
For the record, my favorite tracks are (2) Aunt Marge's Waltz, (6) Buckbeak's Flight, (7) A Window to the Past, and (21) Mischief Managed! (a medley of all of the major themes).
Free Music Review: They just keep getting better and better...
Hit: 5 Stars
John Williams saved the day when he signed on to add to his presigious repertoire and score the incredibly popular Harry Potter films thus far. The first two soundtracks captured exactly what the story required, the exact charm, magic and mischeif drawn from J.K. Rowling's brilliant books, from dark and ominous to light and enchanting, and the third time around is no exception. Williams seems to have expanded his Harry Potter style a little, adding some Tchaikovsky-esque brilliance with Aunt Marge's Waltz and some frantic jazziness with The Knight Bus, all of which prove to be welcome changes and additions as Harry Potter's story becomes ever more complicated and teenage angst begins to take hold. Still, the true magic of Harry Potter remains, as it starts with the timeless and enduring theme at the outset, and continues to add themes throughout, notably the cousin to Hedwig's Theme, Double Trouble, sung by the Hogwarts Choir and their toads... Timpanis exclamatorily announce the arrival of one of the film's most incredible themes, Buckbeak's Flight, and Window to the Past is one of Williams's most poignant and moving pieces to date; it almost seems Lily and James Potter finally have a theme. Also, in Harry's third year, Quidditch has become increasingly more intense, and appropriately Williams has responded superbly, while The Patronus Light is an ethereal piece of choral and orchestral work. Saving Buckbeak and Forward to Time Past expertly weave execution dirge beats and ticking clocks to truly tell the story the film so excellently weaves, while Mischief Managed is an extended medley of several of the film's themes that run over the credits. Here's hoping that Williams will continue to add his genius to the rest of the Harry Potter franchise.Free Music Review: 'Scoring' outside of the box
Hit: 5 Stars
To all the John Williams fans out there, you know that Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban is a much different approach of how Williams usually scores for movies. This CD captured me from the moment I listened to it! What makes this soundtrack so unique from the previous two movies is that this one does not rely so much (barely at all) on the repetitive themes throughout each track. Each track almost tells a different story for the listener. Now visualize the entire movie's storyboard just listening....very unique. Prisoner of Azkaban had a new director and filmed it in a similar but fresh approach compared to Chris Columbus. John Williams has performed the same task with this soundtrack. I let you decide on what the pieces mean to you but the three tracks that stood out the most were the "Knight's Bus" which was so jazzy, contemporary, and upbeat and just forced me to listen to it at least two more times before I could continue with the rest of the CD, "Buckbeak" which has a different melodic progression than on "The Chamber of Secrets" this track was orchestrated beautifully with lush strings and a gorgeous climax which makes me feel like I am flying over the mountains and clouds, and last is "Patronus" (sorry for any spelling errors?) this is simple but yet so mysterious and free. The voices just make time stand still-Kudos to the Boys London School Oratory. You can feel the rush of power as Harry stops the dementors from getting to him and Sirius. As for the rest of the tracks, they all were orchestrated without the reoccuring themes over and over which made me have to listen precisely to every second that was composed. I personally enjoyed listening to this soundtrack as well as every other soundtrack that John Williams has done.Free Music Review: BUY THIS 5 Stars
Words do not even begin to describe the absolute beauty and wonder of this music. And despite the fact that I'm anti-Potter all the way, when I saw that John Williams did the music for this movie, I had to get the music.It would seem to me, that the more recent the movie, the better Williams gets. I highly recommend him to anyone who even has a slight interest in movie scores and usually they are not disappointed.
My favorite songs include Lumos!, Double Trouble, Buckbeak's Flight, WIndow to the Past, Secrets of the Castle, The Werewolf Scene, and Finale.
However, none of these come close to the final song on this Album, Mischeif Manage. This is most certainly the reason Mr. Williams has been nominated for countless awards.
My friend and I especially love the song "Double Trouble" set to the famous words of the witches of "Macbeth". In fact it is the song we either start to sing or hum everytime a certain person we do not like passes by. The only problem is, we burst out laughing before we're even halfway through.
"A WIndow to the Past" is the new main theme for this particular album and is the most breathtakingly beautiful song I have ever heard, Hands down. IT begins with an alto recorder solo (and being among the few that play this instrument I instantly gave a little cheer when I first heard it), and slowly builds into the orchestra. The song builds into a darker, mysterious feel and seems to stop suddenly with a bang! Then it continues, repeating the melody once more in a haunting refrain.
Each song is elegantly gorgeous and so awe inspiring, I always stop whatever I'm doing, just to listen to the climax of each one.
Free Music Review: With sincerest apologies to James Horner!
Hit: 5 Stars
In an earlier review of Horner's score for the movie "Troy," I criticized the composer for heavily "borrowing" from his other works. I failed to acknowledge that composers have singular orchestrations that separate their compositions from others in the field.
A trained ear could recognize, without reading the credits, the music of Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Miklos Rozsa, or Alfred Newman because each, respectively, possessed a sound that was unlike the other.
And John Williams is no different.
Even though there are strains reminiscent of themes used in the "Star Wars" series, "The Witches of Eastwick," "Hook," "Jane Eyre," "Superman - The Movie," as well as countless other William's works, there is enough that is "new" to make "The Prisoner of Azkaban" one of the composer's best.
"Aunt Marge's Waltz" is beautifully executed with a touch of whimsy while "The Knight Bus" is justly frenetic as is the on-screen drive through the streets of London. "Apparition on the Train" is as ominous as it should be. With its percussion intro, "Buckbeak's Flight" takes wing majestically. Beginning with a celeste solo "A Window to the Past" is reflective and lilting.
"The Patronus Light" awes, a la "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Dementors Converge" is possibly one of Williams' most haunting compositions.
And to top it off, the "Mischief Managed" compiles all the major themes into a twelve-minute example of why Williams is a multiple Oscar winner.
Alas, the Academy didn't recognize him in this year's awards with the little golden guy.