The Boston Globe is reporting today that film score composer John Williams will be leading the Boston Pops in a concert series starting this Tuesday ,featuring new pieces of his score to the upcoming Indiana Jones film, as well as selections from his scores of Star Wars and the Harry Potter series. The paper notes “actress Lynn Redgrave will join in each night to narrate what’s being called the “Harry Potter Grande Suite.” Of interest, the article then goes on to mention that the legendary composer is not slowing down, as Mr. Williams has work remaining on “soundtracks for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “Jurassic Park IV,” and “Superman: Man of Steel” all scheduled for his touch.”
As readers will recall, in a formal press release issued in November of last year by Warner Brothers, it indicated the score for HBP was to be composed by Nicholas Hooper, who scored Order of the Phoenix. However we do not know if this new report (if accurate) just means John Williams will be contributing a few pieces to the overall score of HBP, or will now be handling the entire music for the sixth Harry Potter film. We are working to find out more about this, and will of course update with more when we can.
Either composer is amazing, John Williams is one of the many composer-geniouses there are, BUT Nicolas Hooper is great too, i really loved his score one the OOTP movie – specially when they are on their way to hogwarts in the train and when they run down to Hagrids hut!
NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT! Williams contrinutes cliche scores (like star wars- type themes) which completely detach from the stories’ seriousness. (I mean, I don’t mind variations on Hedwig’s Theme, but seriously, it’s just childish). Hooper was awesome! HOOPER ALL THE WAY!
It’s true that Williams repeats himself in a lot (not all) of movies. But that doesn’t mean that Hooper is the best way. Personally (that doesn’t mean it’s true) I think Hooper did the worst soundtrack. If you were musicians, like I am, you would notice that Hopper’s music is absolutely simple so everyone could have done it better and I hope he improves it for HBP, because he has talent but he has a lot to learn.
I think Nicholas Hooper did a wonderful job on the Order of the Phoenix – some genuinely stirring and haunting moments in the score. Personally, I often find John Williams’ work a little saccharine and predictable, but the title theme for Harry Potter is a master piece, and the last 3 films have very much underused it to their detriment (especially Goblet of Fire, scored by Patrick Doyle).
Personally, I would love to see Ennio Morricone or Michael Nyman score the Deathly Hallows, but it would never happen. I think it is clear however that Nicholas Hooper (David Yates’ composer of choice) will score the Half-Blood Prince, and I look forward to hearing it.
John Williams is semi-retired. He hasn’t scored any movie not made by Stephen Spielberg in over 3 years. Muddtallica is correct: neither Jurassic Park IV nor The Man of Steel are in production yet, and due to legal/licensing issues, The Man of Steel may not ever get made.
In all likelihood the reporter just looked at Williams’ IMDB listing (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002354/) and saw those movies listed as not having been released yet. But IMDB lists any movies that have any credit listing, and Williams will always be credited in Harry Potter because he wrote “Hedwig’s Theme.” (and similarly always gets a credit for the Superman and Jurassic Park themes)
Obviously I’m in a minority of 1 here, but I like Patrick Doyle’s work for Goblet of Fire the best. Williams, while still one of the greatest pure composers alive, seemed to move from thematic composition to writing music for scenes late in his career. As a result, his HP music, while consisting of individually astounding pieces, seemed disconnected somehow and not part of a greater whole. For example, “Buckbeak’s Flight” is an incredible piece of music but you never hear even a single bit of it again in the movie. (I am aware that “Window to the Past” pops up again in “Finale”, but it doesn’t seem connected to a particular person. Can you imagine if, during the climactic Death Star battle in Star Wars, you never heard Luke’s theme (the Rebel Fanfare) or the Force theme? It just seems not right.
Doyle on the other hand wrote wonderful themes for both Harry and Voldemort, which carry through the films’ key moments (most especially showing up in opposition in “Voldemort”). I was skeptical when he was brought in to succeed Williams, but I thought his score seemed much more connected and whole than Williams’ efforts, and equal to it in beauty if not in complexity (no one but no one matches Williams for the intricacy of his compositions)
I thought Hooper did alright for Order of the Phoenix, Professor Umbridge’s theme was great, other cues like “Ministry of Magic”, “Flight of the Order” and “Room of Requirement” were very good, but nothing quite matched “Harry In Winter” or “Voldemort”. He definitely had the tone of the movie (which was a bit lighter than the book) down pat. I won’t mind him coming back at all for Half-Blood Prince, especially since it should be a more light-hearted score than Order of the Phoenix was.
But for Deathly Hallows I’d prefer to have Doyle back.
With regard to Williams’ always sounding the same, look: all composers go through periods of style in their work. For a guy who works for as long and as much as Williams has, you’re going to get some stuff that sounds similar. Try listening to “Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Phantom Menace” back-to-back. They sound very similar. The “Kids At Play” cue from Episode 1 could easily have part of the Harry Potter soundtrack. OTOH, other than themes that carried over I don’t think the Star Wars prequel scores sound much like the original trilogy at all. Why would they, they were composed 16 years apart! At least Williams doesn’t just copy himself over and over, like James Horner or Hans Zimmer. (not to say that those guys can’t write great scores, but theirs do all tend to sound alike)
I do feel that from the late 90’s on Williams seemed to focus on making ever-more intricate scores, sometimes sacrificing thematic coherence to do so. There’s only so many sounds the human ear can hear at a time before one’s head explodes. sometimes simpler can be better.
By the way, if you’re into movie scores, check out http://www.filmtracks.com
Wow… went to the Boston Pops concert last night with John Williams conducting… fantastic performance and wonderful to see the great man himself. We barely managed to get tickets, and drove down from Vermont (about a 3-1/2 hour drive) but it was worth it. I hope many other fans here are getting this rare opportunity!
He did music from other great film composers, with music from Dr. Zhivago, Sabrina, and Lawrence of Arabia, then after the intermission, they did the “Harry Potter Grand Suite”.
He started with Hedwig’s Theme, and included “Harry’s Wondrous World”, “Diagon Alley”, “The Knight Bus”, “Fawkes’ Theme”, and “The Quidditch Match”. (Hope I remembered all of them). Vanessa Redgrave did a brief introduction to each of the pieces to set the stage. They also projected some film montages on big screen panels that lowered from the ceiling over the orchestra.
At the end, while there was a standing ovation, someone presented Vanessa Redgrave with a Nimbus 2000. We were fortunate that Williams and the Orchestra came out for three encores, which included the Indiana Jones and E.T. themes.
A very special night! There are performances through Saturday night, but tickets may be hard to get. Best of luck to everyone who tries!
God I hope not. His music is way too friendly for these later movies. The movies are darker, thus the music should be darker. I like John Williams as much as the next guy, but having a different composer allows for a fresh feel to the score of each of the movies.
I just prefer Hooper or even Patrick Doyle to John Williams.
To Dan:
You’re not the only one who thinks Doyle should be pretty good fer DH. ; )
To Keith:
You’re right ; ) Williams is too “familiar” or childish, and the soundtracks sould become more darker… but I think Hooper didn’t compose in a darker tone than Doyle.
Doyle, although he repeats himself sometimes, would be faaaaar better than Hooper. I’m not saying that Hooper is bad but he is very strange… for the darkest moments he used only strange sounds, like atmospheres, but Doyle knows how to create a dark theme with a concrete melody. Just listen to GoF opening.
I hope he does the whole score, but it’s probably just some tweaking of the theme (which he originally created in the first film). I may be alone in this, but I didn’t particularly like Hooper’s score of OOTP. I thought it was kind of dull. Williams, on the other hand, is a legend who gave us that memorable Harry Potter theme in the first movie and it would be great if he could finish out the last two.
Yes! JOhn Williams made the original Harry Potter theme. All the other composers had different versions of that in the other movies. He composed a lot of music for great movies.
Wow – if it were only true. I actually went to the concert in Boston at Symphony Hall. What a great performance! The entire second half of the concert was devoted to Mr. William’s HP creations, from Harry’s Wonderous World, the Knight Bus, to Hedwig’s Theme (10 songs in all). Standing ovation at the end!!! Included as encores were a piece from the new Indian Jones movie, the Indian aJones Theme itself, and capping off the night, the E.T theme! If not HBP, then Leaky fans should petition for Mr. William’s to do the last two movies and send HP out on a great note.
Awsome :D
Either composer is amazing, John Williams is one of the many composer-geniouses there are, BUT Nicolas Hooper is great too, i really loved his score one the OOTP movie – specially when they are on their way to hogwarts in the train and when they run down to Hagrids hut!
Gah the whole score is fantastic :D