John Williams' eagerly anticipated HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE score
© 2001 Wea/Atlantic
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
By: Daniel SchweigerDate: Wednesday, February 13, 2002
If the magic of childhood had music, then John Williams conjures it like no other composer. With heavy doses of strings, bells and brass, his scores are the fairy tale enchantment of films like E.T., Home Alone and HOOK. Audiences the world over lap up Williams' sound like a candy cane, which is what makes the bashing he's taken over HARRY POTTER so astonishing. If a movie called out for roaring cauldrons of orchestral swooshes and heavenly choruses, this is it. Perhaps too much of it for some people.
The fact that John Williams' music is pretty much wall-to-wall in HARRY POTTER is probably no fault of the composer. You might also blame director Chris Columbus (with whom Williams worked with on the two HOME ALONES and STEPMOM) for mixing Harry's score a bit louder than he should have. And if much of HARRY POTTER sounds like recycled Hook, well, you've got to remember that John Williams has a patent on this kind of stuff. And no one does it better, especially here.
Where Williams' music announced the saccharine stage fakery of HOOK (though it's a great listen apart from it), his approach to HARRY POTTER only adds to the wonder that a zillion dollars can buy. And none of Williams' scores for this genre have sounded as "Christmas" as HARRY POTTER - right down to its holiday jingles. That's because the best thing about the film is its continuous unwrapping of magical delights, the energy it gets from the audiences' continued gasps of amazement. And Williams' score works in much the same way, in its wondrous ability to embody flying brooms, chocolate frogs and evil sorcerers in a few, simple gestures.
While Harry Potter is about a young wizard exploring a fantastical new world, John Williams is in complete control of his. He knows melodic construction better than most composers alive or floating about, and ties HARRY POTTER together with a typically beautiful theme. Far from writing "down" to his young characters, Williams orchestrations have an enchanted innocence to them. It knows good and evil, particularly when the going gets sinister for Harry. This is a musical world that's capable of both wonder and the most horrible darkness, the stuff that makes the best musical fairy tales.
With HARRY POTTER, John Williams shows that he's read more than his share of fairy tales. Even if the magic gets just a bit insistent, it's still more than enchanting.
Reviewed Format: CD | ||
Composer: John Williams | ||
Distributor: Wea/Atlantic | ||
Suggested Retail Price: $18.98 | ||
