Soundtrack Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Posted by Jon Blough

July 10, 2009

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Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone by john williams Soundtrack Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (2001) This is a review of the motion picture score Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by John Williams.

“Even if a bit on autopilot it is still a rich, dense, and wonderfully mysterious work.”

If any strong score were to suffer from too much hype, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would be the one. Even casual fans were salivating over the prospect of the composer injecting vibrant magic into another lengthy saga, a hope fed two years prior by the spectacular score for The Phantom Menace. When the film hit theaters it was a rampaging financial success (and thankfully not critically crushed like TPM), but the score’s obvious similarities to previous works by the composer led many to bemoan the score as lacking that “Williams magic”. Coming out in the same season as the generation-defining fantasy debut of The Lord of the Rings didn’t do it any favors either.

Unfair Comparison

While in retrospect the comparisons to LOTR are unfair, the Williams on autopilot claims are certainly on point. Many moments recall the styles of Hook and Phantom Menace, like the “The Gringotts Vault”, “Entry into the Great Hall”, and “The Norwegian Ridgeback” reprising the latter’s woodwind bouncing and mysterious tones. Ditto the action. “The Chess Match” pulls percussion from Star Wars as well as some brass statements from Saving Private Ryan, while the “The Quidditch Match” even lifts an entire motif from The Lost World’s “Visitor In San Diego”. Obvious instrumental nods are all over the place: the racing xylophone parts to Home Alone, the harp plucking to “ET”, the choir in “Moving Stairs” to the underwater music in TPM. I’m not opposed to stylistic similarities (such hallmarks are why we all have favorite composers), but here the uses are a bit too familiar. The score fails to consistently sound like its own world, and while it is certainly strong, its sameness holds it below classic status.

Still, even if Williams may have been operating a bit on autopilot he still managed to produce a rich, dense work that puts most other film music to shame. Hedwig’s theme (and its more soaring bridge statement) is wonderfully mysterious, while the friendship theme soars with the grace of some of the composer’s best material in the suite “Harry’s Wondrous World.” Both sound beautiful due to the rich orchestrations thrown behind them, especially the sparkling, vibrant nature of that last cue. A few other secondary motifs delight as well. A racing motif gives off a joyful rush in all instrumental uses, while the more regal fanfare for the school in “The Banquet” and “Hogwarts Forever!” (pleasant even if its second half is heavily indebted to Anakin’s theme) sadly fell off the later albums.

Ton of Fun

Plus the score can be a ton of fun. The opening minute of “Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters” exudes the kind of musical joy the composer does best. The choral explosions are downright awesome, like the powerful statement of the Hedwig bridge in “The Arrival of Baby Harry” and “Journey to Hogwarts” and the ominous Voldemort statement at the end of “The Gringotts Vault”. If building, dark grandeur is your idea of fun, Voldemort’s theme will be a delight as it always moves from minimal moments of suspense into fully formed announcements of menace, sometimes complete with a more expanded theme that closes in similar fashion to the imperial march. The thematic juxtaposing and dark buildup would define the composer’s approach for the Crystal Skull music in Indy 4. Honestly, it does feel a bit average by the composer’s standards in the climactic “The Face of Voldemort”, but on the whole still a good creation. I suppose we couldn’t have a Williams fantasy score without quirky source cues, as “Diagon Alley” (oddly yet effectively) mixes demented fiddle work from “The Witches of Eastwick” with bouncy woodwinds the Ewoks would have loved. The ghostly moaning in “Christmas at Hogwarts” does prove a bit too jarring, but the rest of the above paragraph shoulds dismantle silly claims that the music is “without magic”.

Conclusion

Disappointments still linger even with all that praise. For many listeners the exhilarating approach to the action will be enough atonement for the obvious stylistic reprises, but even they will feel internally divided, as cue assessments will bounce back and forth between “Star Wars?” and “heck yes!”, something this reviewer did multiple times over the course of his last listen of “The Quidditch Match”. “In The Devil’s Snare/Flying Keys” also recycles Indy suspense music. Thankfully the album closes with two gorgeous final cues, filled with numerous melodic explosions of the two primary themes, to leave one all happy inside. A strong score for sure, but despite what the Potter diehards may proclaim, Sorcerer’s Stone doesn’t shine as bright as you’d expect it to.

1. Prologue (2:12)
2. Harry’s Wondrous World (5:21)
3. The Arrival of Baby Harry (4:25)
4. Visit to the Zoo and Letters from Hogwarts (3:22)
5. Diagon Alley and The Gringotts Vault (4:06)
6. Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters and the Journey to Hogwarts (3:14)
7. Entry into the Great Hall and The Banquet (3:42)
8. Mr. Longbottom Flies (3:35)
9. Hogwarts Forever! and The Moving Stairs (3:46)
10. The Norwegian Ridgeback and A Change of Season (2:47)
11. The Quidditch Match (8:28)
12. Christmas at Hogwarts (2:56)
13. The Invisibility Cloak and The Library Scene (3:15)
14. Fluffy’s Harp (2:38)
15. In the Devil’s Snare and The Flying Keys (2:20)
16. The Chess Game (3:48)
17. The Face of Voldemort (6:10)
18. Leaving Hogwarts (2:13)
19. Hedwig’s Theme (5:09)