Soundtrack Review: Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup (2003)

Posted by Jon Blough

July 22, 2009

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This is a review of the video game score Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup by Jeremy Soule.

“If only Soule’s other Potter scores had such ambition and extended energy.”

Even though all of Jeremy Soule’s scores for the Potter film companion video games have had their respective moments of glory and excitement, none of the themes expanded such thrills and majestic bombast beyond the constructs of 90 seconds. Whether a score comes from a film or a video game, it should be able to form its ideas into fully-realized statements if it wants to merit repeat listens a few weeks after you’ve purchased it. Soule’s four companion scores, though likeable, fail to accomplish that task, and many listeners will be discouraged from trying to expand their Soule collections. That would be a huge, huge mistake (and one I almost made), for Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is clearly the best of the bunch.

Rampant Ruckus

The easy starting point for praise is the album’s cues for the matches. Both “The Magic Match” and “International Match” maintain an impressive, rampant ruckus throughout, always pushing forward with immense brass statements and a very a exuberant percussion section. For the first time in the saga, the “that’s it?!” feeling that has come after every action cue is thankfully absent; finally some action cues that create a cohesive, lengthy whole rather than pasting parts together. Both cues would have found an appropriate home in any of John Williams’ scores for the actual films. In fact, this is the only Soule Potter album where the composer’s nods to the maestro sound both fully-formed and refreshingly original, along the same level of engaging quality as Michael Giacchino’s efforts in the Medal of Honor franchise. The third match cue, “Field Match”, is not as sensational as the aforementioned cues, but its Irish festival atmosphere proves likeable and a good change of pace from the rest of the “this one goes to 11” cues.

Unique Stylistic Feel

Perhaps more appropriate is the unique features thrown into each of the nine regional marches. Rather than simply changing the theme or adding a few instruments, Soule gives each one a unique stylistic feel, as if a composer from that country or region could have created it. Listing all the marches would be pointless as you all can read, but a few standouts emerge. The English get a big “welcome home boys!” march, full of relentless. trumpeting heroism, while the French get a lighter, more sparkling nod and America gets a peppy Sousa-like march. My personal favorites are the march for Australia with its brass exaltations backed up by various thwacking percussion and didgeridoos, the march for Japan that starts off with a beautiful tapestry of Oriental instruments, and the energetic “Spanish Anthem” that could have fit comfortably into a Zorro film. Please note that my ear for classical composers is not as finely tuned as my ear for film scores; I may be missing out on references to, for all I know, Beethoven.

Conlusion

Considering its wealth of strong passages and styles, the score should be a very strong release. Alas, each march is kept solely to one cue, and none of the match cues reference any familiar themes. Had there been thematic interaction (e.g. a track with the English march battling the French march), the score could have been far more “competitive” and sensational. The abrupt endings from Sorcerer’s Stone pop up in a few of the marches, and with the somewhat synthetic “The Challenges” they make the album drop a bit further in overall quality. Still, of any Soule Potter album it is the only one likely to bring me back in, say, a month. If only his other scores had such ambition and extended energy.

Album (31:44)
1.   The Magic Anthem (1:03)
2.   The Magic Match (5:09)
3.   Australian Anthem (1:11)
4.   Bulgarian Anthem (1:10)
5.   English Anthem (1:06)
6.   French Anthem (1:05)
7.   German Anthem (1:12)
8.   Japanese Anthem (1:47)
9.   Nordic Anthem (1:50)
10.   Spanish Anthem (1:08)
11.   USA Anthem (1:07)
12.   International Match (6:56)
13.   Field Anthem (0:37)
14.   Field Match (3:53)
15.   The Challenges (2:34)