Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban soundtrack

[Jake Lipson]

Well, while I admit that it will probably be overshadowed by the DVD release of The Return of the King, but another fantasy fan must have is out today as well: the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, composed again by John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jurassic Park, etc.)

Harry Potter fans, get this CD! John Williams fans, get this CD! Listening to it now, several things jump out at me. Hedwig's Theme is, naturally, back again, but its presence has been radically scaled down to allow for new themes, tones and music to take the spotlight. It's not just one or two new things, either; it's got a very nice viraity, and the result is the most musically creative and engaging Harry Potter score John Williams has delivered yet. In fact, it's less reliant on themes; though they are here in force when need be, there;s a giiod ammount of incidental music here as well when they're not. And the revelations and viraity on this album are enough to floor you, especially if you're farmilliar with the previous Harry Potter scores. It's as if John Williams decided that he was unhappy with the previous scores and went back to the drawing boards, totally re-envisioning the musical palette he uses for this franchise. In doing so, he's hung onto Hedwig's Theme and a couple other things from the previous scores, but used them a lot less frequently and built his Prisoner of Azkaban score with a totally new framework, selecting the best elements of the previous Harry Potter movies and giving it a new lease on life with a bolder, more ambitious new vision (not unlike director Alfanso Cuaron seems to have done with the motion picture itself.)

Whereas the previous scores (especially Chamber of Secrets) seemed to be built around and glued together by Hedwig's Theme, here there's less glue and a wider range of stuff. There's a hillarious waltz for Aunt Marge's scene, and a very pleasntly suprising jazz for the Knight Bus (I can't wait to see how these two cues are used in the context of the movie); there's also bigger procussions and more than one use of ominous drums. The centerpiece of the score is, obviously, Double Trouble,, the song from the teaser trailer (known to fans before it had an official name as Something Wicked This Way Comes.) The theme from this song is heard in multiple different spots in the score, and the rest of the score seems to share its darkish, midevil nature. Chioral passages are especially strong and haunting, and there are several passages easy to connect with moments in the movie, such as many of these said chloral moments with the appearance of the Dementor(s.) Overall, this is a VERY goodsoundtrack and I CAN'T WAIT to see how it all plays out within the film!

[Ludwig Von Drake]

I/m not sure if I will buy it but I will definetly listen to it. John Williams' music is great and he has the most oscar nomiations of any living person.

[MickeyMousePal]

I won't get the soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
I'm not a big fan of Harry Potter sountracks.

[Disneykid]

I've heard the soundtrack online and was blown away. There's just so much variety, and I think Harry Knowles put it best in his movie review by saying that the score for this film is less like the London Philharmonic style of the first two and more like eerie chamber music, which suits this film's mood. My favorite tracks are Aunt Marge's Waltz, The Knight Bus, and Window to the Past.

[Satoshi]

Got this the other day. I think it's great how much variety there is. Normally I don't pay attention to which track is playing, I just let the whole thing flow together, but A Window to the Past just struck me as absolutely beautiful. The flute solo was wonderful. Let's hope John Williams continues scoring the Harry Potter films.

[Jake Lipson]

The flute solo was wonderful. Let's hope John Williams continues scoring the Harry Potter films.

No need to worry there. He's contracted for Goblet of Fire, I believe, and even after that I have a hard time believing he'd bow out totally. If he's busy he may do something like Chamber of Secrets again where he wrote a few themes and another composer (in that case William Ross) did the arrangements and beefing up. But I don't think he'd ever leave the series completely.