Whilst not attracting as much attention to its release as the movie itself or the video game, the soundtrack for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part Two was released yesterday morning and quickly snapped up by fans of movie scores, myself included.
The score has been composed and conducted by Alexandre Desplat whose past works include some modern classics such as The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The King's Speech. Desplat has also worked on a number of films of interest to the geek community including Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Twilight: New Moon and of course, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One. He took the reigns for the final two Potter scores after a number of notable composers had also worked on the franchise including Nicholas Hooper (Order of The Phoenix and Half Blood Prince), Patrick Doyle (Goblet of Fire) and of course, the much loved John Williams (Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban.) Each composer has brought their own unique sound to the Potter films and Deathly Hallows Part Two continues in a similar style to Part One, the music in turn painfully melancholic and gloriously determined as the film flits from painful recollections of the past to epic battles.
Those wishing to avoid spoilers as to the exact timeline of the film and new scenes that do not exist in the book, should probably avoid looking at the soundtrack's track listing until they have seen it. The titles of the tracks and the order in which they appear give clues as to when certain scenes will take place, as well as exactly what may have been added in and where. However if you are happy to find out, the album track listing does offer some tantalising clues about what we will see on Friday, as did the track listing to part one back in November when much speculation centred on the title of track one: "Obliviate".
This final Harry Potter soundtrack certainly lives up to the quality of all its predecessors, taking the franchise out with a bang. If you have never been a soundtrack geek then this is unlikely to sway you to the charms of incidental music, but if like me your life is scored to the background music from your favourite movies and shows, then this is certainly another great album to add to your collection. Thirty second previews to all the tracks are available to listen to on iTunes and the album is also available to legally stream in its entirety at We7.
