Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Soundtrack]

Nicholas Hooper | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: New Line Records
• ASIN: B0028EQMW6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,223 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The sixth installment in the film franchise. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same. The score features music by Nicholas Hooper, who took the reigns as composer during the last film, "Order Of The Phoenix".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly Beautiful, August 4, 2009

By 

fshepinc - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Audio CD)

Nicholas Hooper's score for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is his best work to date. The score is as complex, and ultimately as moving, as the original novel. Hooper uses a different palate from the original John Williams score, which is appropriate for story and the film that it is meant to serve. The string work is particularly effective. Those who claim bitter disappointment simply haven't been paying attention. There is melancholy aplenty here, with unsettling dissonances that reflect the moods of the characters and the film. And the final tracks speak of grief and acceptance that evoke the end of the novel -in spite of the very different ending to the film. I left the local cineplex delighted with the film, and fully intending to buy the score (which I now have).

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wide variety of styles, listeners should be objective, August 10, 2009

By 

Antarctica "antarctica" (Huntingdon, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Audio CD)

If you are only ever going to listen to "John Williams Soundtracks", you will be close-minded to a number of soundtracks that are very good for what they are supposed to be. Nicholas Hooper has had to struggle with the ominous shadow cast by Mr. Williams, and his soundtrack should be judged not by comparing said composers, but judging whether the soundtrack itself is good, and this soundtrack is very good, and stands on its own. It has a wide variety of styles, from acoustic guitar, to orchestral, to choral, to celtic, to folk, to big band, to jazz, while still incorporating the major themes consistent with the series of films it is meant to represent. I have to say, if you are going to compare, when compared to the "Chamber of Secrets" soundtrack by Williams, which only really has one theme - the Fawkes theme - stand out, the "Half-Blood Prince" soundtrack dances circles around it, with standout tracks such as "The Weasley Stomp", "The Slug Club," "In Noctem," "The Book", "School!," "When Ginny Kissed Harry", and "Slughorn's Confession", many more tunes have a melody that can get "stuck in your head." I find it much more memorable. There are a number of reviewers who automatically pan anyone who isn't John Williams; I suggest that fans of the films be objective and judge the music for themselves, and not automatically be swayed by naysayers.

37 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A functional Harry Potter score that's lacking in emotional appeal, power, and memorability., July 14, 2009

By 

R S (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Audio CD)

The Harry Potter movie franchise has traditionally been graced by great film scores. First came John Williams, who scored the first three films masterfully and established a great number of themes, including the famous Hedwig's Theme. Then came Patrick Doyle, who left behind most of Williams' themes but retained his spirit and creative energy.

Enter Nicholas Hooper for Order of the Phoenix. Getting a Harry Potter film scoring assignment would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a middling composer like Hooper; even for Doyle it would have been a rare opportunity. Hooper, like Doyle, managed to retain most of Williams' energy in his score for Order of the Phoenix.

Here, Hooper branches out a bit more and creates a kind of film score that is less thematic than William's or Doyle's, but more atmospheric. There's nothing wrong with that kind of approach: a great film score from 2008, The Dark Knight, didn't have many fully fledged-out themes either.

Unfortunately, the score for Half-Blood Prince not only has less thematic material than past Harry Potter scores, but it's less memorable and less powerful as well. Listen to tracks like "Opening", "The Story Begins", "Harry and Hermione", and "When Ginny Kissed Harry". Tracks like those are almost entirely consumed by simple chord progressions that leave no lasting impression on the listener. They lack complexity and development, and so they often tread in the waters of--I hate to say it--boringness. I'm a composer myself, and I know that it probably took Hooper only about a couple of hours to write a cue like "Harry and Hermione", which is inexcusably lazy on his part. I can't see how Hooper listened to a cue like that and said to himself "Yes, I'm finished here. There's nothing I could do to further perfect this track." The cue is begging for more orchestration and development, and Hooper doesn't deliver it. If you want an example of a good Harry Potter character theme, listen to "A Window to the Past" from Prisoner of Azkaban or "Harry in Winter" from Goblet of Fire, both of which leave far more powerful impressions.

Lack of memorability and emotional power are thus my main complaints about Hooper's otherwise passable score for Half-Blood Prince. But there are a few stand-out tracks worth mentioning:

"Wizard Wheezes" is a jazzy cue that seems appropriate for the Weasley twins' joke shop, and while it is quite simple, it's memorable, and maybe even catchy. "Farewell Aragog" is appropriately played on a somber violin, and it seems to be a good match for the would-be-tragic scene in the movie when two drunken men mourn the death of a giant spider. "Malfoy's Mission" is Hooper's atmospheric writing at its best, and its the best "theme" on the album. It's not memorable, but it's decently chilling.

Again, Hooper has done okay work for Order of the Phoenix and now Half-Blood Prince, but one HAS to compare his work to that of Doyle and, especially, Williams. Those two masterfully handled their film scores, which is a compliment that I can't bestow on Hooper. But Hooper has nevertheless once again produced a blockbuster film score that is considerably better than most others (I'm looking at you, Transformers 2), and that can be commended. I'm still hoping that Williams makes a surprise move and returns for Deathly Hallows, but if Hooper is again hired, it wouldn't be so bad.

If Hooper is returning for Deathly Hallows , I hope he can produce a truly great film score (or 2 film scores, since Deathly Hallows is being split). I think the days might be gone where I can listen to a new Harry Potter soundtrack and be blown away, but I'll be giddy if Hooper can prove me wrong.