Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Nicholas Hooper)
(2009)
After a somewhat disappointing score for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Nicholas Hooper returned again to score the sixth film in the series – The Half Blood Prince. Fortunately, it is a vastly superior score to its predecessor and there’s not really any part of it that I didn’t enjoy listening to.
Doubtless however, the many film score fans that are unable to imagine the music of Harry Potter as anything but being composed by John Williams, will be disappointed. Taking a minute to separate this score from the other films in the series might change their minds however, because Hooper has this time, delivered a generally top-notch score.
Having said that, Hooper does actually pay a little more attention to Williams’ themes than he did with the previous score. The first cue begins with the famous Hedwig’s Theme, and is this time played again on a celeste, a choice of instrumentation that hadn’t been heard for that piece since Williams’ last score for the series. It’s heard only for a few seconds, with a light string accompaniment, but it reminds us that we’re listening to a Harry Potter score. The cue then becomes a violent brass and percussion performance representing the Death Eaters (Voldemort’s servants). The orchestration for the various other action cues is pretty much the same. In addition, Hooper’s adaptation of Williams’ Quidditch theme from the third film is heard in ‘Ron’s Victory’. Personally, I think it would have sounded better had he left it be, but it sounds pretty good nonetheless.
We hear little of Hooper’s creations for The Order of the Phoenix, which is on the whole, pleasing. New themes he has created however are wonderful. The second cue on the album introduces a beautiful choral piece in Latin, which becomes a leitmotif for Dumbledore, and is also heard later in ‘Dumbledore’s Speech’ and ‘Dumbledore’s Foreboding’.
‘The Story Begins’ is a mainly string-based piece, beginning with march-like cello performances. Towards the end of the cue the rest of the string section joins in with horns, featuring some beautiful melodic content. An acoustic guitar is used to lovely effect in the cues ‘Ginny’ and ‘When Ginny Kissed Harry’.
The album also has a couple of jazz pieces to offer. Anybody who read my review of the Order of the Phoenix will know how much I hated the ‘Fireworks’ cue – mainly due to the fact that electric guitars absolutely ruin what would otherwise have been a pleasant Irish-jig like piece. ‘Wizard Wheezes’ doesn’t make that mistake – it starts right off as a jazz piece, and is actually quite enjoyable. It wasn’t actually used in the film, so will be a first time listen for anybody who hasn’t heard the score yet. The second is ‘The Weasley Stomp ‘, which is again very enjoyable, and much more like an Irish jig. The piece used to represent Professor Umbridge in the previous film is heard in a slightly altered form in the cue ‘Living Death’. ‘Farewell Aragog’ brings a sense of Scottishness to the score with its bagpipe performances.
The two highlights of the album are near the end. The first, ‘Journey to the Cave’ is a soaring orchestral piece complementing the sweeping cinematography over a wild ocean. The second, ‘The Friends’ is a lovely string piece played during the final scene of the film.
The death of Dumbledore is possibly the most important moment of the entire series to date. Sadly however, the music that accompanies it is nothing but a set of underwhelming string performances which are completely insufficient to portray the level of emotional devastation required.
Albeit a few disappointing moments, Hooper’s music for this film is a vast improvement over his previous efforts, and whilst personally, I’d have been much happier Patrick Doyle continued or John Williams had returned, the more I listen to this score, the more I admire what Hooper has done here. Definitely recommended.
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Track Listing
1 – Opening
2 – In Noctem
3 – The Story Begins
4 – Ginny
5 – Snape & The Unbreakable Vow
6 – Wizard Wheezes
7 – Dumbledore’s Speech
8 – Living Death
9 – Into the Pensieve
10 – The Book
11 – Ron’s Victory
12 – Harry & Hermione
13 – School!
14 – Malfoy’s Mission
15 – The Slug Party
16 – Into the Rushes
17 – Farewell Aragog
18 – Dumbledore’s Foreboding
19 – Of Love & War
20 – When Ginny Kissed Harry
21 – Slughorn’s Confession
22 – Journey to the Cave
23 – The Drink of Despair
24 – Inferi in the Firestorm
25 – The Killing of Dumbledore
26 – Dumbledore’s Farewell
27 – The Friends
28 – The Weasley Stomp
Credits
Composed & Produced by Nicholas Hooper
Orchestrations by Jeff Atmajian, Alastair King, Geoff Alexander, Simon Whiteside, &
Daryl Griffith
Conducted by Nicholas Hooper & Alastair King
Performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London
Awards
Nominated for a Grammy Award
Insert Notes
Contains lists of credits, and notes from the director and composer.
All images and artwork are Copyright © Warner Bros.
