Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

One often wonders how John Williams is consistently able to take themes from his previous films and incorporate them into his new scores in fresh, enchanting new ways. Williams has certainly done all this and more with his score for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", the sequel to last year's blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
Unable to complete the score to "Chamber of Secrets" on his own due to previous commitments with George Lucas's "Star Wars: Episode II" and Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" and "Catch Me If You Can", William Ross was brought in to adapt the new themes Williams had created for the film as well as to supply a large number of underscore based on Williams's material. The collaboration was very much a success, and this album is proof of it.
"Chamber of Secrets" is a much darker film than "Sorcerer's Stone", and the CD is full of cues that are much darker than cues from the previous album. As conducted by Ross and performed by the unparalleled London Symphony Orchestra, the score for "Chamber of Secrets" is one of the most original and best sounding scores I have heard in a long time.
The album begins with "Prologue: Book II and The Escape From the Dursleys". This track features a compilation of many of the themes from "Sorcerer's Stone", beginning with "Hedwig's Theme" on celesta (once again played by Randy Kerber), then transistioning into the music from "The Arrival of Baby Harry" on the last album. The "Flying Theme" and "Harry's Wondrous World" round out the familiar themes in this track, which provides a wonderful re-introduction to the world of Harry Potter and John Williams.
The next track, "Fawkes the Phoenix", is a wonderful new theme that has an uplifting feel similar to "Harry's Wondrous World". Track 3, "The Chamber of Secrets", is appropriately dark, ending with chords punctuated by heavy trumpets.
"Gilderoy Lockhart", the theme for the pompous, arrogant character of the same name, is an appropriately pompous, arrogant track. The use of harpsichord gives this theme a sort of stuck-up Baroque feel that is perfect for Lockhart's character.
Other tracks worth noting include "Fawkes Is Reborn", featuring the "Fawkes The Phoenix Theme" from track 2. "Meeting Tom Riddle" features a prominent reindition of "Voldemort's Theme" from "Sorcerer's Stone." "Cakes for Crabbe and Goyle" is an amusing, light cue featuring bassoon and pizzicato strings.
"Reunion of Friends" brings back many of the themes we know and love, ending with a triumphant version of "Harry's Theme" similar to the end of "Sorcerer's Stone."
With "Chamber of Secrets", Williams has once again brought to life the world of Harry Potter in a way no other composer can. Although it probably won't win the Academy Award, "Chamber of Secrets" is a very good score and belongs in the collection of any John Williams fan.

Once again, John Williams has come through with a wonderful, magic-filled soundtrack for Harry Potter. The Chamber of Secrets score is even more expressive and noteworthy (pun not intended); if you've seen the movie (or even if you haven't), you can almost pick out the scenes from the movie by listening to the music. I especially love the "Fawkes the Phoenix" theme. "The Dueling Club" always gives me chills--mostly because of the ending part (I remember Harry's Parseltongue in the movie--it still creeps me out!) The only "nitpick" I can lodge, as far as the arrangement of the CD, is the songs are not in actual sequence, but that's okay.

There is a cool extra available with the CD, for those who play piano: the sheet music for Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets is available NOW for download. You can actually print out sheet music from this movie to play, and if you have the Music Notes player utility (you need to download it from the site in order to print the music, anyway), you can use the CD to "play" the sheet music on your computer. That is, when you have the sheet music on the screen and the CD in your computer, the selected piece will play and light up the notes on the screen in sequence. It's neat and helpful to hear and see it this way, as a musician. Otherwise, if you "play" the sheet music on the screen without the CD, the player does an adequate job of playing the piano version for you. However, it only plays it "mathematically" correct; it doesn't accent the notes or notation parts correctly, but at least you get the gist of what the piece is supposed to sound like on the piano. Another note: when you play the music with the CD, the notes will sometimes stop in the middle of the song (example: the "Chamber of Secrets" score does this). On PC/Windows computers, don't worry too much about this; it only means that that part of the score wasn't written for piano. The notes will start up again.

As of my last viewing of the site, The Music Notes utility now lets Macintosh users view and print sheet music from the site, but they still don't have the actual player available yet. The company FAQs section for Macintosh assures us that they are currently working on the issue, but a compatible program is not expected to be released until 2004. (Say WHA-A-T?!)

In summary, WONDERFUL CD, WONDERFUL and SURPRISING extras.(Get the CD, anyway. Hogwarts Forever!)

The new Harry Potter soundtrack returns us to the world that was created by J.K. Rowling and given musical life by John Williams. While revisiting old themes that are already beloved, there are new themes that are introduced for the first time. The wonder Fawkes the Phoenix seems to be the dominant theme and will be cherished as much as Hedwig's Theme from the first movie. Then there's the dark Chamber of Secrets, filled with mystery and suspense. The other track are exciting, like The Flying Car and The Spiders. Harry's Wondrous World from the first movie concludes this installment of what is sure to be one of the best movie series ever, if not for anything else but Williams' wonderful score.

This is a great album. It's a lot better then the Sorcerer's Stone Soundtrack. There are many new great themes. There are also kind of remixes of old themes. "Harrys Woundrous World" comes back with a different ending. "Fawkes The Pheonix" is a great theme. It repeats in some other songs. I like "Cornish Pixies" which is a very exiting song. Here are my reviews of the songs:
1.Prolouge Book II and Escape From The Dursleys: It is a lot more exiting then the Sorcerers Stone verson of the Prolouge. It has the part where Ron comes with the flying car.4/5 3:31
2.Fawkes The Pheonix: This is the best new theme. It is great. The middle part is great right before the evil part of the song. It has a four note beginning reminding you that this is a great song.5/5 3:45
3. The Chamber Of Secrets: It sounds a little like the beginning of Fawkes The Pheonix. It is one of the evil themes on the album.4/5 3:49
4. Gildoroy Lockhart: A silly theme. It's not that great.3/5 2:05
5. The Flying Car: I love this one. It's very exiting. It's my favorite tied with "Deuling The Basilisk".5/5 4:08
6. Knockturn Alley: It's very short. It goes to the Diagon Alley theme after a minute. 4/5 1:47
7. Introducing Colin: Another very short one. It is mostly the part when Hermionie feels bad because Malfoy called her a mudblood.3/5 1:49
8.The Deuling Club: This is o.k. At some points it gets exiting then it dies down. 3/5 4:08
9.Dobby The House Elf: I like this. It really reminds you of Dobby.4/5 3:27
10.The Spiders: Very exiting. It ends like the flying car. It's great after they play the main theme once.4/5 4:32
11.Mouning Mytle: This is a ghost type of theme. It reminds you of all the ghousts in the school.3/5 2:05
12.Meeting Aragog: Not as exiting as The Spiders but it's o.k.3/5 3:18
13.Fawkes Is Reborn: This is played a lot in the movie. It also plays the Fawkes theme more then Fawkes The Pheonix does. 4/5 3:19
14.Meeting Tom Riddle: Sort of boring. At the end it gets to the loud Voldemort theme.3/5 3:38
15.Cornish Pixies: I love this. Although The Flying Keys on Socerers Stone was a little better. This one is more exiting.5/5 2:13
16.Polyjuice Potion: The beginning is really when Harry first enters Knockturn Alley. Then it goes to when Harry turns into Goyle.4/5 3:52
17.Cakes For Crabbe And Goyle: It's funny at the beginning. Then it gets evil when Justin and Headless Nick get petrified.4/5 3:30
18.Deuling The Basilisk: This is great. As I said before it is tied with The Flying Car as my favorite song.5/5 5:02
19.Reunion Of Friends: I love this one. This is like a longer version of Leaving Hogwarts on the Sorcerers Stone. There is more of a big ending at the end though.5/5 5:08
20.Harry's Woundrous World: The same as Sorcerers Stone till the end of the song. I think it's a little better.5/5 5:02
Total Time:70:17

After being nominated for an Academy Award for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, John Williams returns once again to score Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, which I think is a better score than the first. Brought in to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra, due to John Williams caught up in other projects is William Ross who is also a great film composer. Some of the music from the first score is brought back, but a lot of the music is brand new. Harry's theme is brought back and is present in "Prologue and The Escape From the Dursley's" and "Harry's Wondrous World", and other tracks which quote his theme in various places. One of the new themes added is the theme for Fawkes, which is an outstanding theme that reminds me a little of Home Alone. It is heard in "Fawkes the Phoenix" (the best track on the album), "Fawkes Is Reborn", and "Dueling the Basilisk". The other theme that occurs is found in "Gilderoy Lockhart" and "The Dueling Club", which is very similar to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Another theme was found throughout that reminded me a lot of Hook. The recording is top notch as well as the LSO and voices performances. This should receive a nomination for the next Oscar, which will probably end up competing with Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. We'll see! In the mean time, get this score as it is even better than the first one.

John Williams is, hands-down, the finest composer of our time. Given the sheer volume of his work, it's amazing how consistently good he still is after so many years. His score for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is just as good as the first, carrying over the light bells and woodwinds he employed to craft Harry's theme and charging it with excitement that brought the scenes from the book to mind even before I'd seen the movie.

Williams has crafted some of the most recognizable heroic themes in movie history. Think about it -- Superman. Indiana Jones. Luke Skywalker. And now Harry Potter. Each has a brilliant, distinctive theme that brings his story to mind the minute you hear it, and all of them came from the baton of John Williams.

I only hope he manages to score the entire Harry Potter franchise (as he's done for "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" thus far). After such amazing work, anyone else would be a disappointment. (For evidence of that, check out the music from "Superman"s II-IV.)

John Williams couldn't have done a better job of building off the Scorcerer's Stone to create one of my favorite soundtracks. The melodies he creates for certain characters in the story are not only perfect, but beautiful. Fawkes the Phoenix is, perhaps, one of the most captivating and glorious pieces...while Gilderoy Lockhart sincerely seems to sound like Lockhart would if he were a song! The soundtrack is packed with beautiful, memorable melodies and will leave you completely satisfied. Purchase this soundtrack with confidence...it's magnificent!

While many of the favorite Harry Potter melodies are all too familiar, John Williams was able to build upon them to bring us an even grander soundtrack. There are many melodies that will distinctly remind one of some of the classical composers of old, such as Bach or Wagner. I also noticed a few that are reminiscent of some tunes from Williams' Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade Soundtrack. I think I enjoyed the "Chamber of Secrets" Soundtrack even more than I did the original soundtrack from the "Sorcerer's Stone" If you are a fan of John Williams' music, this sountrack is a must have!

After being disappointed by many of John Williams' recent movie scores (most notably the two new "Star Wars" tracks), I was delighted to find that he hasn't lost his touch. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" more than lived up to my expectations!

As with most Williams scores, "Chamber of Secrets" is lengthy. It clocks in at around 70 minutes, which I think is the ideal soundtrack length. You feel like you've gotten your money's worth and can really get a feel for the movie.

Like "Sorcerer's Stone," "Chamber of Secrets," on the whole, is a relatively "quiet" soundtrack, not something that is suited to car-listening. However, there are more exciting moments and themes on this soundtrack that make it much more enjoyable and interesting to listen to. This time around, Williams had more action scenes to write music for, and this is very obvious as one listens to the CD. The mood is much less subdued than that of "Sorcerer's Stone," and the moments of excitement somehow ring truer.

I only have one complaint about this soundtrack, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the music: The tracks aren't in chronological order. However, this is one very minor irritation on an otherwise remarkable soundtrack.

Standout Tracks:
"Fawkes the Phoenix" and "Fawkes is Reborn"~ beautiful, excellent new theme; by far the best additions to the Harry Potter music library
"The Dueling Club"~ fantastic mood music; I can see Harry and Malfoy facing each other on the table each time I hear it
"Reunion of Friends"~ another take on the "Fawkes" theme
"Dueling the Basilisk"~ the scariest most exciting track with a little of the "Fawkes" theme thrown in for good measure

Bottom Line: A must-have for Harry Potter fans and John Williams fans alike! A highly enjoyable, especially on repeated listenings.

The much-anticipated film sequel to the 2001 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was a delight. The 2002 film version of J.K. Rowling's second book, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", began with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) actually having a real bedroom and no longer living beneath the stairs of the home belong to his Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw), Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) and his cousin Dudley (Harry Melling). Uncle Vernon warned Harry to not make any noise or be seen while he, Petunia and Dudley entertained some very important people; but a mysterious house elf named Dobby (voice of Toby Jones) unexpectedly appeared in Harry's bedroom. Dobby warned Harry to not return to Hogwarts that year because something horrible was going to happen, but wouldn't tell Harry what it would be. He did tell Harry, however, that he was responble for taking the letters that Harry's friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) had sent to him during their summer break from their first year at Hogwarts. To punish himself for revealing too much information to Harry, Dobby began to hit his head against various objects, then ran from Harry's bedroom to create havoc if Harry didn't agree to not return to Hogwarts. Harry, of course, refuses, and gets into trouble for Dobby's actions; but is rescued from the Dursley's home by Ron and two of his brothers in their father's flying car. Thus began Harry's first experience at the Weasley's home before returning to Hogwarts for his second year: a year in which many terrible things began to happen.

As John William's wonderfully enchanting and memorable music helped to set the mood for the 2001 film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", his modified music for the 2002 film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was equally wonderful in setting its even darker mood. This was exemplified with musical arrangements such as "Knockturn Alley", "Meeting Aragog" and "Dueling The Basilisk". There were also some fun musical arrangements used such as "Gilderoy Lockhart ", "The Flying Car", "Cornish Pixies", "Reunion Of Friends" and the closing credits with the score entitled "Harry's Wondrous World". Though veteran composer John Williams did not receive an Oscar nomination for his work in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as he had a year earlier for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", he did win the BMI Film Music Award from the BMI Film & TV Awards for this film's soundtrack.

Overall, I rate the wonderful soundtrack for the 2002 film of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. I also highly recommend the soundtracks for the 2001 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the 2004 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". I can't wait to hear what composer John Williams has written for the upcoming release of the 2005 film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".