Release date: 11th July 211
Running time: 68:22 minutes
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Review
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Review
French composer Alexandre Desplat has scored for some of the most remarkable and moving films over the years. That they also happen to be among my favourites is no coincidence either.
David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011) are great examples of why film composers should be regarded as filmmakers in the same way as a writer or director.
Yet Desplat, with his Golden Globe for The Painted Veil (2006) and BAFTA for The King’s Speech (2010), as well as a cluster of other nominations, isn’t a composer who just writes for one type of film or is happy to play it safe.
New challenges and taking risks have their rewards and his score for action thrillers such as Hostage (2005), Firewall (2006) and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer (2010) proved that as they also earned him a wider audience. Tension, action and emotion surge in these films through the music as much as they do through the visuals and performances and with his score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), this was also the case.
It’s no surprise then that director David Yates would choose to bring him back for the final film to be adapted from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.
Desplat began writing the score early in 2011 and once again teamed up with conductor Conrad Pope to record with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. As the films progressed they began to take a much darker tone; as the characters matured, so too did the many aspects of the films and what we have with the score for Deathly Hallows 2 mirrors that. It’s a much broader and epic score as it brings the story to a close and together with a selection of new cues, there are also some familiar ones too.
TRACK LIST:
“Dragon Flight”, “A New Headmaster”, “In the Chamber of Secrets”, “The Diadem”, “Snape’s Demise” and “Procession” all contain elements of John Williams’ instantly recognisable “Hedwig’s Theme” which fans will remember from the very first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001).
The emotional “Lily’s Theme” straight away gives you sense of finality and things to come. With its strings and featuring the vocal talent of Mai Fujisawa it’s a tearful and immediately memorable piece of music.
“Courtyard Apocalypse” is also another favourite for me, it comes at the moment when Hogwarts lies in ruins as an epic battle rages and as heroes and villains fall Desplat creates something that not only puts you in the middle of this, but leaves you emotionally shattered. “A New Beginning” is definitely something Harry Potter fans will be clinging to, not just because of the scene the track is tied to, but because it’s also a reminder that while the books and films have now ended, we can relieve the magic any time we want.
The disc comes with an option to download the tracks as high quality WAV files and you can also access a video which goes behind the scenes with Desplat as “A New Beginning” is recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
All that’s left to say now is that the soundtrack for Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a fitting end to a hero’s journey and something that fans will enjoy and cherish as much as the books and films.
The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.
Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.
Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.
Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.
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