Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [SOUNDTRACK]

William Ross, John Williams (Composer)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 12, 2002)
• Original Release Date: November 15, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B00006IR5S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,063 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Another multi-gazillion-dollar Hollywood franchise, another chapter in the remarkable career of John Williams. Though he's already been responsible for scoring some of the most overwhelmingly successful film series of all time, in tackling the second installment of the Harry Potter saga, Williams once again proves why his name is held in such high regard in scoring circles. While he utilizes the themes he established in Sorcerer's Stone, Williams's restless inventiveness still manages to cast this chapter in a fresh new musical light. Since many of the cues here are action or atmospheric-oriented, and thus lacking in need for strong melodic hooks, the veteran composer's mastery of orchestral color--and no small amount of stylistic reinvention--infuses the proceedings with a sense of wholeness and a surprising maturity that's a key element in conjuring up the film's crucial suspension of disbelief. Harry Potter may be but a fictional wizard, but John Williams proves yet again he's the real thing. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Full Title - Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. Composed by legendary film composer John Williams. Available in five different collectible covers. All editions will feature a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets mini-poster. Atlantic. 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!!!!!!!!!, November 13, 2002

By	Brett (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A darker score for a darker film, November 16, 2002

By	"ebounder620" (Marion, OH United States) - See all my reviews

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Soundtrack & Extras!! (except for Macs - Boo!), December 1, 2002

By	T. Greer (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!)