July 23, 2009

  • Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Hooper)

    Nicholas Hooper returns to score the sixth Harry Potter film having managed to receive a resoundingly positive vote of confidence from the last film.  As with director Yates, it seems that Hooper found his groove with this new score.

    This is a darker, perhaps the darkest yet, of the Harry Potter films.  It churns with a sort of inner turmoil that plays out in the lives of the know older teen characters we have watched grow up.  And things are not always as they appear to be.  Hooper masterfully sets this up in the “Opening” where after the darkness broods a thread of Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme” appears only to be slightly transformed towards its ending and taken in a different direction.  It is a bit subtle but when a familiar theme recurs, the same tact is taken.  There is also a beating sound that appears in the “titles’ and elsewhere often simulating a throb that is not quite a heartbeat but whose effect is the sense of one at the very least.  It is often fairly insistent when it does appear perhaps suggesting the inevitable march of time and events in the story. 

    Hooper’s score tends to focus on creating mood and atmosphere for long stretches of specific scenes.  Themes are not what is noticed in his score, but rather larger emotional and often gut-wrenching musical sequences help to give the on-screen imagery an extra power.  It is only afterward, and with more careful listening, that we discover how many thematic threads are pulling the score and story together so masterfully.  The other curious thing is why Williams’ “Quidditch Theme” was used instead of just crafting an action sequence with different music.  That it fits well within the realm of Hooper’s conception for the film without jaunting us out of place musically is a mark of his ability.

    There are still some amazing set numbers.  The first of these is the beautiful “In Noctem” with its gorgeous choral writing and ongoing mysterious quality. This appears in the end credits and was apparently composed early on in the filmmaking.  Its music is woven into most of Dumbledore’s storyline in the film allowing listeners to follow that thread through the music here (which is otherwise mostly in film order).  “Wizard Wheezes” was edited out of the final film (likely later in the final edit), though its big band drum patterns appeared briefly.  Here it is a fun, somewhat odd piece along the lines of the bus music from HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  Hooper’s use of choral backgrounds within orchestral textures manages to create a real epic sense to the music.  It gives the score that feeling that something is about to explode on screen.  For some reason, music that was attached to Umbridge’s character recurs in the score (though she is absent in the film here) in “Living Death.”  “Harry and Hermione” is another beautiful set piece of exquisite beauty that manages to honor the inner frustrations of its title characters.  There is also a great deal of goofiness about romance that Hooper also manages to score with a deft touch.  The more jazzy inflections that appear for some of these moments finds its best appearance in “The Slug Party.”

    Hooper manages to provide the right level of melancholy and sadness to the musical areas dealing with Slughorn and in the many sequences where past mistakes, or inaction, have led to pain and suffering.  These have the sort of epic implications musically that we heard often in Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings which this score feels a lot closer to at many times as it follows a story that is looking at the past and at a future that is being quickly drawn to a close.

    The balance for this New Line CD is among the many highlights of the release giving perfect orchestral detail as well as a strong lower bass presence.  Hooper’s second Potter score may turn out to be one of the favorites of the series which is no small feat.  Even if you did not pay much attention to it during the film, it makes for a very listenable album that works its way through the story perfectly.  “The Weasley Stomp” brings the disc to a perfectly fine conclusion in some very English sounding music indeed.

    Due to a mailing snafu, this was one of the rare times I've had a chance to see a film before hearing its score for review purposes.  I must say that the score album turns out to be a fascinating listen with engaging music that feels like it is far too short even at its 62 minute playing time.