Well it's not John Williams (no one is) but Pat Doyle's score for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is pretty awesome. The score is energetic, exciting, dramatic (nearly to a fault...nearly) and brilliantly scored (kudos to his orchestrators). The most unbelieveable cue is "Voldemort" clocking in at just over 9 1/2 minutes and is an orchestral tour-de-force which covers, I assume, the entirety of Harry's confrontation with Voldemort during the competition. He only uses preexisting themes of John Williams' twice (at least on the album) and mercifully the three pop songs are at the end of the album and only consume 11 minutes of the CD's 76-minute running time. There's this quintessential British-ness about the score (which you would expect since JW was about the only non-British cast/crew member in the first three; the exceptions being the directors).
The Pikey and I have had conversations where the following has been the focal point: John Williams on a bad day is better than every other film composer on a good (or even great) day. That being said this is a terrific effort from Patrick Doyle (whose music I've admired all the way back to Henry V). Kudos to Mr. Doyle, this is a great score!
3 comments:
Yes, I skimmed over the score today, and came to mostly the same conclusions.
Overall, the score fits well with the first three, stylistically. It sounds like someone trying hard to be John Williams, so it works. They didn't take it in an entirely new direction (which would have SUCKED). But the total absence of the original themes is a severe disappointment. Great music, and perfectly appropriate, but not quite familiar enough. They certainly could have obtained the rights to use the material, so what's the issue? For the fifth movie, John Williams is already credited on IMDB for the themes. Let's hope they at least bring back the Phoenix theme from the second film.
Ok, since most of that blog regarded J.W., when does the Munich score come out? Not only am I excited about another wonderful Spielberg film, but I can't wait to score.
I don't know when Munich comes out. JW's in the middle of recording it right now. His Memoirs of a Geisha score comes out soon, too. Munich may not be out in wide release until early next year.
Post a Comment