Hunchback of Notre Dame Soundtrack
Hunchback of Notre Dame Soundtrack
Is it me or does this movie have an awesome soundtrack? The songs are just amazing
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The Little Merman
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Re: Hunchback of Notre Dame Soundtrack
MB wrote:I love the Aladdin trilogy. I just recently watched the original and Return of Jafar. I will soon be getting the third installment. I find these movies very interesting. They are such great films.
While I do agree with you, MB, you shouldn't be making post consisting of "I love [insert title]" or "Is it me or does [insert title] have an awesome soundtrack?" Since you're very new to the boards, the fault cannot be entirely blamed on you, considering the fact that you have (most likely) no idea what the posting guidlines are here.MB wrote:Is it me or does this movie have an awesome soundtrack? The songs are just amazing
Regardless, I'm always glad to see a new member on our boards!
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DARTH KNITE
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Kossage
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack is truly a wonderful one, having both a truly epic score and memorable, often quite dramatic songs. The choral bits with their Dies Irae type of chanting are both epic and beautiful and also manage to create excitement and dread in the listener, not to mention both the score and the songs work very well in the film, supporting it. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz did well indeed.
The powerful opening song "The Bells of Notre Dame" is definitely one of Disney's most memorable openings, instantly plunging the listener into the Middle Ages with a very powerful, Gothic choral presence, creating the sense of drama and darkness in a very haunting way, also explaining the setting in a clever way. It also gives us a few hints of several of the film's instrumental and choral themes along the way.
"Out There" is yet another outstanding piece, showing us a bit more of Frollo and Quasimodo's relationship and Quasimodo's secret wishes. It starts out as quite a sinister piece of music with some haunting and cruel lyrics but then turns into a heroic piece and introduces us to one of the most memorable themes in the film. Both the English and the Finnish versions of this particular song are very good, giving us that "Disney magic" and sense of beauty we've been looking for, and the song also serves its purpose by making us symphatize with Quasimodo as he wishes to go "out there".
"Topsy Turvy" shows us the comical side of the story and has some crazy lyrics, a welcome relief after the dark prologue and the heroic "I want" type of theme. The big choral sound compliments the crowd scenes and the overall song enhances the on-screen visual splendour quite well.
"Humiliation", on the other hand, is a stark contrast to the previous song as events turn out to be quite dark and dramatic for Quasimodo. The sinister Latin choir comes in during this horrible scene and shows us more of the dark side of the film, but then we get a new, serene theme to contrast all this as we see Esmeralda's kind side in a pivotal scene.
"God Help the Outcasts" is one of the most memorable scenes in the film and definitely one of the most touching, and the singers do a good job in creating this beautiful and divine feel of this prayer. The lyrics have a point, and overall the song serves the story well.
"The Bell Tower" continues with hinting at a few recognizable themes, most notably "God Help the Outcasts" and "Someday", in a very beautiful and subdued way. However, the listener is in for a treat as the beautiful choir steps in as the secrets are revealed in the Bell Tower sequence and then the track moves back to some beautiful instrumental magic as we begin to feel how Quasimodo is feeling for Esmeralda.
"Heaven's Light/Hellfire" is yet another dramatic song but this time it has a twist. It starts out with "Heaven's Light", a beautiful contemplating moment as Quasimodo ponders if he ever finds someone to love and starts to think of Esmeralda, and we can feel that Quasimodo is heading for a bright future. A small church motif then follows but quickly moves on to Frollo's chamber where the "real fun" begins as we are presented to one of the most memorable and horrifying villain themes named "Hellfire". This scene is still a jawdropper and the epic and dark choral presence with all the "Kyrie eleison!" moments makes this song an outstanding piece. It's nice how this song shows two aspects of love: the caring, compassionate way Quasimodo feels and then the gnawing lust Frollo feels for Esmeralda.
"A Guy Like You" is an almost surprising twist in the soundtrack after all the heroic, beautiful and dark moments, and as odd as it sounds in the middle of this epic story it does serve the story in making a contrast to the following, heartbreaking scene (if you've seen the film you know what I mean: the whole love triangle thing). The song has a French feel and quite funny lyrics, parodying several music pieces, and in my opinion works well in the story's context even though it does stick out from the rest of the songs and the score in the soundtrack.
"Paris Burning" brings us back to reality and serves as a stark contrast to the previous song, in a sense following the instrumental heartbreaking love triangle moment which unfortunately isn't on the soundtrack. Anyway, "Paris Burning" uses the Hellfire theme from the first song and the "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" sequence in a very dramatic way as we see the city in flames. At this time the dark side reigns supreme, and the music represents this and Frollo's growing madness, and the track ends up with a powerful "Kyrie eleison!" moment which is truly a memorable one in the film with the wide shot of Paris.
"The Court of Miracles" goes back to the comical side of the story and in a sense is a welcome relief after the dark moments in the film, and it has some morbidly funny lyrics, ending in a cliffhanger of a sort.
"Sanctuary!" is an outstanding piece of music that Menken composed for the dramatic and pivotal scene in the film as Quasimodo makes his choice and the battle begins. Several of the film's themes are touched upon in a clever way, woving them together, and the choral presence is there in the dramatic moments (especially during the climactic "Sanctuary!" moment in the film). This score track does suffer a bit from Mickey Mousing, (what I mean by that is some of the silly pieces that are played when comical battle scenes take place), but most of the time the track keeps its dramatic approach and outstanding, epic choral performance in a truly rousing way worthy of an epic film.
"And He Shall Smite the Wicked" is the continuation of the previous track, but it deceitfully starts out in a victorious mood, only to turn sad as the events unfold on screen. It has a dramatic rendition Esmeralda and Quasimodo's themes with a nice children's choir but soon turns dark and dramatic as Frollo approaches. After some dissonance the track turns into a sinister "Dies irae" chanting as the final battle begins, and this time the rendition is even more dramatic at times than it was in "Sanctuary!" The organ gets its moments during this track and a final, vengeful choral motif is quite fitting for the scene when the villain gets what he deserves.
"Into the Sunlight" is a beautiful piece of music that reprises many of the themes of the film in a nice way, leading to a heroic rendition of Phoebus's theme and eventually paving way for a children's choir which stands in a stark contrast to the epic, dark male choir heard in many of the battle scenes. We get to a beautiful version of the "Out There" melody and leads to the next song.
"The Bells of Notre Dame (Reprise)" acts as the epic and rousing choral finale of the film and continues straight from the previous track. It ends in a Disney type of fashion with full choral outbursts and orchestra which rivals even the opening of the film.
The soundtrack also has "Someday" and "God Help the Outcasts", the first is a pop version with lyrics and it has the theme which has a few moments in the actual score. The "GHtO" version here is a pop rendition of the song heard in the film, and both are quite nice.
If you didn't figure it out while reading this quick analysis of mine, I consider "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" soundtrack to be one of the best soundtracks of Disney's animated films, having the beautiful Alan Menken style we all love and yet it also has a very dark, brooding sense beneath in some ways similar to the score of "The Black Cauldron". It does have some flaws, but the overall experience is a wonderful one. I really like all the choral moments in THoND score as it gives us both beautiful serene moments and some truly dramatic scenes, and the songs serve the story well, sometimes being dark and dramatic and other times silly or heroic. The soundtrack's a stellar effort and definitely worth a listen to anyone who's interested in hearing how epic Disney animated film scores can really be.
The powerful opening song "The Bells of Notre Dame" is definitely one of Disney's most memorable openings, instantly plunging the listener into the Middle Ages with a very powerful, Gothic choral presence, creating the sense of drama and darkness in a very haunting way, also explaining the setting in a clever way. It also gives us a few hints of several of the film's instrumental and choral themes along the way.
"Out There" is yet another outstanding piece, showing us a bit more of Frollo and Quasimodo's relationship and Quasimodo's secret wishes. It starts out as quite a sinister piece of music with some haunting and cruel lyrics but then turns into a heroic piece and introduces us to one of the most memorable themes in the film. Both the English and the Finnish versions of this particular song are very good, giving us that "Disney magic" and sense of beauty we've been looking for, and the song also serves its purpose by making us symphatize with Quasimodo as he wishes to go "out there".
"Topsy Turvy" shows us the comical side of the story and has some crazy lyrics, a welcome relief after the dark prologue and the heroic "I want" type of theme. The big choral sound compliments the crowd scenes and the overall song enhances the on-screen visual splendour quite well.
"Humiliation", on the other hand, is a stark contrast to the previous song as events turn out to be quite dark and dramatic for Quasimodo. The sinister Latin choir comes in during this horrible scene and shows us more of the dark side of the film, but then we get a new, serene theme to contrast all this as we see Esmeralda's kind side in a pivotal scene.
"God Help the Outcasts" is one of the most memorable scenes in the film and definitely one of the most touching, and the singers do a good job in creating this beautiful and divine feel of this prayer. The lyrics have a point, and overall the song serves the story well.
"The Bell Tower" continues with hinting at a few recognizable themes, most notably "God Help the Outcasts" and "Someday", in a very beautiful and subdued way. However, the listener is in for a treat as the beautiful choir steps in as the secrets are revealed in the Bell Tower sequence and then the track moves back to some beautiful instrumental magic as we begin to feel how Quasimodo is feeling for Esmeralda.
"Heaven's Light/Hellfire" is yet another dramatic song but this time it has a twist. It starts out with "Heaven's Light", a beautiful contemplating moment as Quasimodo ponders if he ever finds someone to love and starts to think of Esmeralda, and we can feel that Quasimodo is heading for a bright future. A small church motif then follows but quickly moves on to Frollo's chamber where the "real fun" begins as we are presented to one of the most memorable and horrifying villain themes named "Hellfire". This scene is still a jawdropper and the epic and dark choral presence with all the "Kyrie eleison!" moments makes this song an outstanding piece. It's nice how this song shows two aspects of love: the caring, compassionate way Quasimodo feels and then the gnawing lust Frollo feels for Esmeralda.
"A Guy Like You" is an almost surprising twist in the soundtrack after all the heroic, beautiful and dark moments, and as odd as it sounds in the middle of this epic story it does serve the story in making a contrast to the following, heartbreaking scene (if you've seen the film you know what I mean: the whole love triangle thing). The song has a French feel and quite funny lyrics, parodying several music pieces, and in my opinion works well in the story's context even though it does stick out from the rest of the songs and the score in the soundtrack.
"Paris Burning" brings us back to reality and serves as a stark contrast to the previous song, in a sense following the instrumental heartbreaking love triangle moment which unfortunately isn't on the soundtrack. Anyway, "Paris Burning" uses the Hellfire theme from the first song and the "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" sequence in a very dramatic way as we see the city in flames. At this time the dark side reigns supreme, and the music represents this and Frollo's growing madness, and the track ends up with a powerful "Kyrie eleison!" moment which is truly a memorable one in the film with the wide shot of Paris.
"The Court of Miracles" goes back to the comical side of the story and in a sense is a welcome relief after the dark moments in the film, and it has some morbidly funny lyrics, ending in a cliffhanger of a sort.
"Sanctuary!" is an outstanding piece of music that Menken composed for the dramatic and pivotal scene in the film as Quasimodo makes his choice and the battle begins. Several of the film's themes are touched upon in a clever way, woving them together, and the choral presence is there in the dramatic moments (especially during the climactic "Sanctuary!" moment in the film). This score track does suffer a bit from Mickey Mousing, (what I mean by that is some of the silly pieces that are played when comical battle scenes take place), but most of the time the track keeps its dramatic approach and outstanding, epic choral performance in a truly rousing way worthy of an epic film.
"And He Shall Smite the Wicked" is the continuation of the previous track, but it deceitfully starts out in a victorious mood, only to turn sad as the events unfold on screen. It has a dramatic rendition Esmeralda and Quasimodo's themes with a nice children's choir but soon turns dark and dramatic as Frollo approaches. After some dissonance the track turns into a sinister "Dies irae" chanting as the final battle begins, and this time the rendition is even more dramatic at times than it was in "Sanctuary!" The organ gets its moments during this track and a final, vengeful choral motif is quite fitting for the scene when the villain gets what he deserves.
"Into the Sunlight" is a beautiful piece of music that reprises many of the themes of the film in a nice way, leading to a heroic rendition of Phoebus's theme and eventually paving way for a children's choir which stands in a stark contrast to the epic, dark male choir heard in many of the battle scenes. We get to a beautiful version of the "Out There" melody and leads to the next song.
"The Bells of Notre Dame (Reprise)" acts as the epic and rousing choral finale of the film and continues straight from the previous track. It ends in a Disney type of fashion with full choral outbursts and orchestra which rivals even the opening of the film.
The soundtrack also has "Someday" and "God Help the Outcasts", the first is a pop version with lyrics and it has the theme which has a few moments in the actual score. The "GHtO" version here is a pop rendition of the song heard in the film, and both are quite nice.
If you didn't figure it out while reading this quick analysis of mine, I consider "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" soundtrack to be one of the best soundtracks of Disney's animated films, having the beautiful Alan Menken style we all love and yet it also has a very dark, brooding sense beneath in some ways similar to the score of "The Black Cauldron". It does have some flaws, but the overall experience is a wonderful one. I really like all the choral moments in THoND score as it gives us both beautiful serene moments and some truly dramatic scenes, and the songs serve the story well, sometimes being dark and dramatic and other times silly or heroic. The soundtrack's a stellar effort and definitely worth a listen to anyone who's interested in hearing how epic Disney animated film scores can really be.
Some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart.
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CurleysMartini
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