It's not as "more of the same" as I think so many have been expecting. Whilst themes are repeated I think the score is going to please a lot of people.

Dan

np: Chamber of Secrets

Ross is gonna be a good thing everyone

--The Seeker of MM.com

--Brian

Things are getting dark at the mid way point and there is much less repetition from Philosopher's stone as many (including myself if I am honest) perhaps expected in some instance. Early on so far some parts have remined me of Indy and the Last Crusade.

There is a very sweet new theme which kind of touches on Clones' love theme if only in the orchestration and not the theme itself. This is heard early in the CD, and again I am hearing it a lot now at the half way point.

I'm very happy so far...

Dan

Dan

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Oooh, first apperance of you know who's theme at around 42 mins.

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Oh, good. I've been worried about people who said it wouldn't show up this time. Unless you are referring to the Philosopher's Stone's theme, which supposedly appears in the new score as well - something that annoys me.

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There's repetition of a "build up to the bad guy" motif heard in Philospher soon after that never made it onto the CD of the first film's score

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Hmm...if you're referring to that "secondary" Voldemort theme which is used a lot in the film, it does show up on the CD, but only once in the climatic track.

Myself, I can't give any comments about the new score, since I'm not going to listen to it until I've seen the film.

--Brian

The layout of the score seems very consistent with that of the first. The final track as I listen to it now is much akin to The Prologue. If pushed actually I'd say it's the very same cue, not even re-orchestrated as there's no hint of any of Chamber's themes in this last track although it does end differently to the original rendition.

I LOVED this, it's got me all excited like a ten year old who really should serve as the only audience for Potter but it just isn't so. Delightful. I'm about hit 'play' again.

Dan

Glad you liked it, I think its better then Philosopher/Sorcerer's

--Brian

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Oh, good. I've been worried about people who said it wouldn't show up this time.

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Mr V's theme is very much present.

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Hmm...if you're referring to that "secondary" Voldemort theme which is used a lot in the film, it does show up on the CD, but only once in the climatic track.

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No, the one I mean I only recall popping up in the film once. It was a fleeting little thing that I really liked in the last score, not present on the last CD but present here (in a somewhat alternate form).

Dan

PS: Brian, I agree. It is a superior score in my opinion too, and I was really fond of the last one.

It's interesting, our thoughts on the score seem to meet the thoughts of those who made and have seen the film in that it essential builds well upon the blueprint that the first film served as.

Those involved took elements of what worked best first time round and expanded on those, and took more risks with elements they didn't feel they exploited well enough last time. I've heard Chris Columbus an producer Mark Radcliffe say this, and I feel it's true of the music as it's taken what we knew and greatly expanded on it and in some places taken it to nice new directions.

54min mark

As I leap back to the 42 min mark briefly, the Philosopher's Stone theme is present. At least, if what you refer to as being that them is that "bah baaaaaab baaaaahhhh" one, it's here. It's posisbly the makers actually wish for the theme to be associated with danger/you know who, not just the stone. Or it could be that Harry has an acid, I mean, stone flashback.

In retrospect here listening to the mid way point I associated that theme with Voldermort before and not the more widely used theme for him, which I am pretty sure did pop up here on this CD. Brian correct me if I am wrong.

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Holy **** ! The house cup cue is on the CD! YES!!

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See. Repetition has it's uses.

Regards,

Tom Riddle, er, I mean, Dan....

And yes, repetition does indeed have it's uses

--Harry Potter, err, Bri Guy

NP: Chamber of Secrets (*****)

Dan

--Brian (who can't stop playing the House Cup cue)

--Brian

Go direct to Chapeter 30 on the DVD. That starts IMMEDIATELY with the little ditty I love so much not on the last CD but here on Chamber. Very sinister little tune...

Wonder what that new theme is for? Guess we'll find out

I haven't touched a drop of it.

Hope online bro!

All in all, we've got a total running time of 70:17 and I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I'm pretty sure there are 19 tracks the way they sounded on the RealAudio stream. The themes that return from the first Potter soundtrack amount to this:

Prologue Theme
Hedwig's Theme
Voldemort's Theme (only one tiny time though)
Harry's Wonderous World theme (or just Harry's theme I guess)
Sorcerer's Stone theme (the 3-note mysterious one)
The Devil's Snare/Flying Keys motif

New themes that I could pick up on include:

Chamber of Secrets main theme
Dobby's (the elf) theme
Descending "impending danger" high chromatic string motif (perhaps for the snake?)
Extension of Hedwig's Theme

Now, based on what I heard and what I've read (it's been a long time now since I read this book), I've come up with what I think just might be some possible track titles along with their times based on how it appeared on the RealAudio stream. This is in NO WAY official, I'm just guessing on all of this, but here it goes:

1. Overture/Prologue - 3:31
2. Chamber of Secrets theme (concert arrangement) - 3:49
3. Extension of Hedwig's Theme (sounds like a concert arrangement) - 3:48
4. Dobby's Warning - 3:07
5. Flying Car and the Whomping Willow - 4:09
6. Diagon Alley (?) - 1:46
7. The Great Hall/A New Mystery - 1:50
8. ? - 2:31
9. Professor Lockheart's Class - 3:28
10. The Quidditch Match - 4:32
11. ? - 2:07
12. The Basilisk - 3:19
13. Ginny Weasley (?) - 3:18
14. The Chamber has been opened - 3:39
15. Who is Tom Riddle? - 2:14
16. Slytherin Impersonators - 7:21
17. Battle in the Chamber - 5:05
18. Leaving Hogwarts...again - 5:05
19. End Credits - 5:02

Some of my names and stuff might be a bit off too...like I said, I haven't read that book in quite awhile. As for the music itself, I love it. The old themes come back just enough to tell the story and keep the series together, but the new main theme is very beautiful and does a great job of driving all the new action...especially in the last battle track. I really don't know where the John Williams material ended and where the William Ross material began...and I think that's a very good thing. Ross did a fantastic job of staying true to style and true to all the themes we've come to love in this series.

There is plenty of atmospheric and mysterious sounding music in this score, but unlike the last Potter score, this one doesn't seem to slow down as much in the middle and things stay interesting. The action music in this score I feel is even better than the first Potter score. And the new Leaving Hogwarts cue (which was my favorite cue of the last score) is so unbelieveably great, I can't wait to grab this on CD the very day it comes out.

So there you go. Fanboy rantings, a possible track list and my own little humble opinion. I'm excited!

Also people let's not forget "The Two Towers"

--Brian

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Originally posted by Crono/Kyp:
Also people let's not forget "The Two Towers"
[/B]

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Yeah, and why can't AOL have a "listening party" for that one too?

Oh well.

-Brendan, who wishes there were a BIT more choir in Chamber of Secrets, but still content with what he's got...

quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
The "duh, duh duh duh duh duh du, da do da do dee do dooooooooo" theme.

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Yes, that seems to be what I call the "primary Voldemort theme". He's got a second theme that's used equally often in the film, but I think it only appears in Face of Voldemort on the CD, between the Stone theme and this primary theme. And yes, I'm still convinced the 3-note motif is the Stone theme. It's ALWAYS used in association with the stone in the film. There's one interesting bit when it appears for the first time, because that's exactly when Harry's vault is opened and we see his pile of gold - but immediately after that, we see the packaged stone in the other vault, and the theme gets a lot more prominent. So I do feel somewhat uneasy about it appearing again.

Regarding the forest music...cool. It's a shame the original cue wasn't on the first disc.

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Chamber of Secrets main theme

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Brendan, do you not think the theme is a bit too light and innocent to represent the Chamber? When I first heard it, and as I conintue to hear it, it feels like a theme of innocence representing the bond between our band of intrepid you wizard heroes.

About to stream off COS asgain.

Dan

SFT

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Originally posted by Dan Brecher:
Brendan, do you not think the theme is a bit too light and innocent to represent the Chamber?

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Indeed I do...however, I was just kind of calling it the "Chamber of Secrets theme" since it seems to be the MAIN theme of this new film and "Chamber of Secrets" is the film's title and all.

But yes, I agree that the new main theme that appears here is most likely used more to illustrate the growing bonds of friendship and knowledge as Harry and company make their way through Hogwarts...perhaps the theme has something more to do with Ginny Weasley...who knows?

--Brian

This one is like an imitation of John Williams, without the Williams touch. Though that may come from Ross' conducting abilities and a bored orchestra rather than the composition abilities of Williams adapted by Ross.

HPATCOS: ***/*****

Gae

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinko:
This one is like an imitation of John Williams, without the Williams touch. Though that may come from Ross' conducting abilities and a bored orchestra rather than the composition abilities of Williams adapted by Ross.

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Originally posted by Gae:
quoting the first three ascending notes of "Can you Read My Mind?"

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