John Williams, William Ross - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Free Music Notes for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Free Music Review: Another Enchanting & Memorable Soundtrack by John Williams
Hit: 5 Stars
The much-anticipated film sequel to the 2001 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was a delight. The 2002 film version of J.K. Rowling's second book, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", began with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) actually having a real bedroom and no longer living beneath the stairs of the home belong to his Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw), Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) and his cousin Dudley (Harry Melling). Uncle Vernon warned Harry to not make any noise or be seen while he, Petunia and Dudley entertained some very important people; but a mysterious house elf named Dobby (voice of Toby Jones) unexpectedly appeared in Harry's bedroom. Dobby warned Harry to not return to Hogwarts that year because something horrible was going to happen, but wouldn't tell Harry what it would be. He did tell Harry, however, that he was responble for taking the letters that Harry's friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) had sent to him during their summer break from their first year at Hogwarts. To punish himself for revealing too much information to Harry, Dobby began to hit his head against various objects, then ran from Harry's bedroom to create havoc if Harry didn't agree to not return to Hogwarts. Harry, of course, refuses, and gets into trouble for Dobby's actions; but is rescued from the Dursley's home by Ron and two of his brothers in their father's flying car. Thus began Harry's first experience at the Weasley's home before returning to Hogwarts for his second year: a year in which many terrible things began to happen.
As John William's wonderfully enchanting and memorable music helped to set the mood for the 2001 film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", his modified music for the 2002 film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was equally wonderful in setting its even darker mood. This was exemplified with musical arrangements such as "Knockturn Alley", "Meeting Aragog" and "Dueling The Basilisk". There were also some fun musical arrangements used such as "Gilderoy Lockhart ", "The Flying Car", "Cornish Pixies", "Reunion Of Friends" and the closing credits with the score entitled "Harry's Wondrous World". Though veteran composer John Williams did not receive an Oscar nomination for his work in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as he had a year earlier for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", he did win the BMI Film Music Award from the BMI Film & TV Awards for this film's soundtrack.
Overall, I rate the wonderful soundtrack for the 2002 film of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. I also highly recommend the soundtracks for the 2001 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the 2004 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". I can't wait to hear what composer John Williams has written for the upcoming release of the 2005 film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".
Free Music Review: Great Album! A John Williams/William Ross Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great album. It's a lot better then the Sorcerer's Stone Soundtrack. There are many new great themes. There are also kind of remixes of old themes. "Harrys Woundrous World" comes back with a different ending. "Fawkes The Pheonix" is a great theme. It repeats in some other songs. I like "Cornish Pixies" which is a very exiting song. Here are my reviews of the songs:1.Prolouge Book II and Escape From The Dursleys: It is a lot more exiting then the Sorcerers Stone verson of the Prolouge. It has the part where Ron comes with the flying car.4/5 3:31
2.Fawkes The Pheonix: This is the best new theme. It is great. The middle part is great right before the evil part of the song. It has a four note beginning reminding you that this is a great song.5/5 3:45
3. The Chamber Of Secrets: It sounds a little like the beginning of Fawkes The Pheonix. It is one of the evil themes on the album.4/5 3:49
4. Gildoroy Lockhart: A silly theme. It's not that great.3/5 2:05
5. The Flying Car: I love this one. It's very exiting. It's my favorite tied with "Deuling The Basilisk".5/5 4:08
6. Knockturn Alley: It's very short. It goes to the Diagon Alley theme after a minute. 4/5 1:47
7. Introducing Colin: Another very short one. It is mostly the part when Hermionie feels bad because Malfoy called her a mudblood.3/5 1:49
8.The Deuling Club: This is o.k. At some points it gets exiting then it dies down. 3/5 4:08
9.Dobby The House Elf: I like this. It really reminds you of Dobby.4/5 3:27
10.The Spiders: Very exiting. It ends like the flying car. It's great after they play the main theme once.4/5 4:32
11.Mouning Mytle: This is a ghost type of theme. It reminds you of all the ghousts in the school.3/5 2:05
12.Meeting Aragog: Not as exiting as The Spiders but it's o.k.3/5 3:18
13.Fawkes Is Reborn: This is played a lot in the movie. It also plays the Fawkes theme more then Fawkes The Pheonix does. 4/5 3:19
14.Meeting Tom Riddle: Sort of boring. At the end it gets to the loud Voldemort theme.3/5 3:38
15.Cornish Pixies: I love this. Although The Flying Keys on Socerers Stone was a little better. This one is more exiting.5/5 2:13
16.Polyjuice Potion: The beginning is really when Harry first enters Knockturn Alley. Then it goes to when Harry turns into Goyle.4/5 3:52
17.Cakes For Crabbe And Goyle: It's funny at the beginning. Then it gets evil when Justin and Headless Nick get petrified.4/5 3:30
18.Deuling The Basilisk: This is great. As I said before it is tied with The Flying Car as my favorite song.5/5 5:02
19.Reunion Of Friends: I love this one. This is like a longer version of Leaving Hogwarts on the Sorcerers Stone. There is more of a big ending at the end though.5/5 5:08
20.Harry's Woundrous World: The same as Sorcerers Stone till the end of the song. I think it's a little better.5/5 5:02
Total Time:70:17
Free Music Review: Wonderful Soundtrack & Extras!! (except for Macs - Boo!)
Hit: 5 Stars
Once again, John Williams has come through with a wonderful, magic-filled soundtrack for Harry Potter. The Chamber of Secrets score is even more expressive and noteworthy (pun not intended); if you've seen the movie (or even if you haven't), you can almost pick out the scenes from the movie by listening to the music. I especially love the "Fawkes the Phoenix" theme. "The Dueling Club" always gives me chills--mostly because of the ending part (I remember Harry's Parseltongue in the movie--it still creeps me out!) The only "nitpick" I can lodge, as far as the arrangement of the CD, is the songs are not in actual sequence, but that's okay.There is a cool extra available with the CD, for those who play piano: the sheet music for Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets is available NOW for download. You can actually print out sheet music from this movie to play, and if you have the Music Notes player utility (you need to download it from the site in order to print the music, anyway), you can use the CD to "play" the sheet music on your computer. That is, when you have the sheet music on the screen and the CD in your computer, the selected piece will play and light up the notes on the screen in sequence. It's neat and helpful to hear and see it this way, as a musician. Otherwise, if you "play" the sheet music on the screen without the CD, the player does an adequate job of playing the piano version for you. However, it only plays it "mathematically" correct; it doesn't accent the notes or notation parts correctly, but at least you get the gist of what the piece is supposed to sound like on the piano. Another note: when you play the music with the CD, the notes will sometimes stop in the middle of the song (example: the "Chamber of Secrets" score does this). On PC/Windows computers, don't worry too much about this; it only means that that part of the score wasn't written for piano. The notes will start up again.
As of my last viewing of the site, The Music Notes utility now lets Macintosh users view and print sheet music from the site, but they still don't have the actual player available yet. The company FAQs section for Macintosh assures us that they are currently working on the issue, but a compatible program is not expected to be released until 2004. (Say WHA-A-T?!)
In summary, WONDERFUL CD, WONDERFUL and SURPRISING extras.(Get the CD, anyway. Hogwarts Forever!)
Free Music Review: Brilliantly orchestrated, masterful, wonderful!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
What is wrong with people? This soundtrack is, without question, one of John Williams' very BEST soundtracks, if not my favorite out of all of them.
One of MY favorite tracks is the "Cornish Pixies" one. The wild strings/woodwinds capture that scene in the movie BEAUTIFULLY and effectively. Similarly, the "Moaning Myrtle" voices and accompaniment TRULY capture the movie magic of that character (Nobody else but John has such a talent for capturing the essence of the movie scene). My other favorite is "Reunion of Friends", which builds up through increasing crescendos with the strings to a magnificent ending. This track is thoughtful, rich in musical gems, and inspiring. Truly, the orchestrations on this CD are brilliant, astounding, and moving. How could people trash this soundtrack? I don't understand it at all.
People always totally TRASH John Williams when he isn't doing a Star Wars, Superman, or Raiders of the Lost Ark kind of movie. Why in the world should this be so? In this movie, he is subtle, a bit dark, and without question, wonderful. Some of his most subtle music is his BEST. I cannot believe one of the reviewers said, "John Williams is on his way out." I have no idea why anyone would say that. As a string player for long years (having played in dozens of orchestras and ensembles), I think that over the years, his orchestrations simply get better and better.
I also have to mention that Fawkes the Phoenix is a great theme, but because of the richness of the strings. The triplets in the background strings are what make this track so RICH in orchestral color.
I'm one of the few people who has NOT heard the CD from the first movie, but I suspect if it is anything similar to this soundtrack, it is wonderful.
To anyone reading reviews, be advised that this is one of John's BEST. (John Williams DOES have two or three soundtracks out there that are disappointing, but this really is NOT one of them.) If you truly love good full orchestral pieces, you will LOVE this CD, no question about it.
Free Music Review: And you thought you liked "Sorcerer's Stone"...
Hit: 5 Stars
After being disappointed by many of John Williams' recent movie scores (most notably the two new "Star Wars" tracks), I was delighted to find that he hasn't lost his touch. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" more than lived up to my expectations!As with most Williams scores, "Chamber of Secrets" is lengthy. It clocks in at around 70 minutes, which I think is the ideal soundtrack length. You feel like you've gotten your money's worth and can really get a feel for the movie.
Like "Sorcerer's Stone," "Chamber of Secrets," on the whole, is a relatively "quiet" soundtrack, not something that is suited to car-listening. However, there are more exciting moments and themes on this soundtrack that make it much more enjoyable and interesting to listen to. This time around, Williams had more action scenes to write music for, and this is very obvious as one listens to the CD. The mood is much less subdued than that of "Sorcerer's Stone," and the moments of excitement somehow ring truer.
I only have one complaint about this soundtrack, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the music: The tracks aren't in chronological order. However, this is one very minor irritation on an otherwise remarkable soundtrack.
Standout Tracks:
"Fawkes the Phoenix" and "Fawkes is Reborn"~ beautiful, excellent new theme; by far the best additions to the Harry Potter music library
"The Dueling Club"~ fantastic mood music; I can see Harry and Malfoy facing each other on the table each time I hear it
"Reunion of Friends"~ another take on the "Fawkes" theme
"Dueling the Basilisk"~ the scariest most exciting track with a little of the "Fawkes" theme thrown in for good measure
Bottom Line: A must-have for Harry Potter fans and John Williams fans alike! A highly enjoyable, especially on repeated listenings.