How To Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

(2010)

If this doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Score next year, the music branch of the Academy deserves to be burnt down by a group of fire breathing dragons. ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ not only blows everything else written this year out of the water (or sky, as is more appropriate here), but it’s probably the best score I’ve heard since Howard Shore’s music for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. Well maybe not the best, but certainly the most enjoyable.

John Powell is of course a veteran in terms of scores to animated films, ever since he and Harry Gregson Williams scored the first film for Dreamworks Animation, ‘Antz’, back in 1998. Ice Age: The Meltdown and Dawn of the Dinosaurs (20th Century Fox), Chicken Run, Shrek, and Happy Feet are just a few others, and although he’s written some great scores for live-action films, probably most notably the ‘Bourne’ film trilogy, animation is certainly the genre he writes for best. He returns to Dreamworks Animation for the sixth time for this film, although this is the first film for which he is the sole credited composer, and has written the best score for the studio to date, and probably the best score of his career so far.

Fully orchestral (particularly horns and brass) and choral, the score starts with ‘This is Berk’ which introduces the score’s main themes, mainly the ‘flying’ theme, played by horns, on their own at first, and then joined by a male voice choir. This theme is repeated several times in subsequent tracks, most notably ‘This Time for Sure’, and ‘Astrid Goes for a Spin’. The second theme introduced is the love theme for Hiccup and Astrid, and is later heard at its best in ‘Romantic Flight’.

These two tracks are the two that I just can’t stop listening to – ‘Dragon Training’ is where the music of the Highlands is first heard properly in the score: bagpipes and fiddles along with horn performances somewhat reminiscent of a few cues in Ice Age 3 sounds absolutely glorious, and epic in every sense of the word. ‘See You Tomorrow’ is much the same with the whistles and fiddles, reminded me slightly of one of the themes from ‘Chicken Run’, and was probably my favourite track from this score. The bagpipes also appear in ‘Test Drive’, an incredibly exhilarating piece which features some more excellent statements of the flying theme.

After ‘Astrid Goes for a Spin’, which is probably the best performance of the ‘flying’ theme (although it unfortunately lasts around 40 seconds), is ‘Romantic Flight’, which we were briefly introduced to in the first track. It sounded great then, but this time is a fully fledged, epic orchestral piece which sounds absolutely wonderful. ‘Battling the Green Death’ again features the segment of the flying theme present in the first track – a noble horn performance accompanied by a chorus, another great piece, and for some reason reminded me of of parts of the action music in Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s score to Robin Hood.

The track before the final one features a song by Jonsi, which I must admit is very good, but after all the orchestral and choral music the rest of the album consists of, it does feel a little out of place. The piano performances in ‘Where’s Hiccup’ are heartbreaking. ‘Coming Around’, which again features the bagpipes, includes soaring performances of both the ‘Romantic Flight’ theme. And finally, the album concludes with the wonderful whistle and string performances in ‘The Vikings Have Their Tea’

You can probably tell I can’t really say enough complimentary things about this score, but I hope I’ve made the point of what a terrific piece of work it is. Anyone who enjoyed Powell’s earlier work on ‘Antz’ and ‘Chicken Run’ will love it I’m sure. It’s not often that you hear a 70 minute+ score that you can enjoy every minute of, but that is without any doubt the case here, and I sincerely hope that Powell’s work will be rewarded with an Oscar in 2011. It couldn’t be more deserved – the score is by far the best of the year to date, and I can’t foresee any other score taking that accolade from this masterpiece. Glorious.

Purchase from Amazon: CD | Download (UK)

Purchase from Amazon: CD | Download (USA)

Track Listing

1 – This is Berk

2 – Dragon Battle

3 – The Downed Dragon

4 – Dragon Training

5 – Wounded

6 – The Dragon Book

7 – Focus, Hiccup!

8 – Forbidden Friendship

9 – New Tail

10 – See You Tomorrow

11 – Test Drive

12 – Not So Fireproof

13 – This Time for Sure

14 – Astrid Goes for a Spin

15 – Romantic Flight

16 – Dragon’s Den

17 – The Cove

18 – The Kill Ring

19 – Ready the Ships

20 – Battling the Green Death

21 – Counter Attack

22 – Where’s Hiccup?

23 – Coming Back Around

24 – Sticks and Stones (by Jonsi)

25 – The Vikings Have Their Tea

Credits

Composed & Produced by John Powell

Orchestrated & Conducted by Gavin Greenaway

Awards

BAFTA Award for Best Music (nominated)

Academy Award for Best Original Score (nominated)

Insert Notes

None – Purchased as MP3 Download

All artwork and images are Copyright © Varèse Sarabande.