Top Film Scores: 5-2

5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone/Chamber of Secrets (2001, 2002), John Williams. I’m speaking specifically about SS and CoS; but, I would also like to throw in PoA, GoF and OotP for discussion since they’re all part of the series. I think that SS and CoS are musically superior and of the five, they’re the ones that truly merit the #5 spot.

At this point, I think it is important to introduce the term leitmotif into the discussion since it will play a crucial role in the analysis of the next films as well. A leitmotif is a recurring musical theme, often associated with a character, place or idea. The term in classical music came to be associated with Richard Wagner, who used it extensively as a story-telling device in his epic operas. A good example of the use of leitmotifs can also be heard in Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” where each character has its own theme played on a specific instrument. When you hear it, you know exactly which character the story is focusing on.

In the world of cinema, leitmotifs have become widely used; and no one uses them more often, or perhaps to greater effect than John Williams. This is arguably best seen in the “Star Wars” saga, but we’ll talk about that shortly.

In the first two Harry Potter movies, Williams has masterfully crafted some of the most memorable leitmotifs. When you hear “Hedwig’s Theme” (the main theme of the entire series) you are transported back to that night when Harry looks up at Hogwarts for the first time from a tiny boat in the lake. It has become the chief leitmotif of the series (even though Williams hasn’t scored every movie).

SS and CoS are very similar movies in style. Both are directed by Chris Columbus and scored by Williams; and they are overflowing with leitmotifs. If I go into great detail about any one of them I might be talking for hours. Williams introduces us to a magical world with SS; the music is both dark and mysterious, bright and imaginative. He lays a solid foundation for later films.

5a. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Nicholas Hooper. Outside of SS and CoS, Hooper’s score is probably my next favorite. It is an imaginitive, vivacious and entertaining piece of work, but also has moments of serene and reflective beauty. One of my favorite musical moments is the broom ride from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place at the start of the film. There is also a great motif for Dolores Umbridge, and a very exciting bit of music for strings that accompanies the incantation of patronuses in the D.A. lessons.

5b. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), John Williams. Williams’ score for PoA is vastly different from the first two. The music doesn’t have nearly as many themes; perhaps it isn’t quite so necessary since we’re somewhat familiar with the magical world at this point. The primary theme is very wistful, and it can be heard while Lupin is telling Harry about his parents out on a beautiful covered bridge at Hogwarts.

5c. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Patrick Doyle. Doyle composed a very stirring theme in the strings; it is most effective when Harry comes back from the graveyard clutching Cedric’s dead body. Cedric’s father’s realization of his son’s death is heart breaking, and this moment in the film just about brings me to tears every time I watch it.

4. The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003), Howard Shore. I ‘ll be honest. I wasn’t overly impressed by the music when I first heard it. I thought it was rather unimaginitive at moments and too simplistic. But that was before I saw the movie about twenty times in the theatre and listened to the soundtrack two million times. Inevitably, the music grew on me; and I finally realized what Shore was aiming at. In an interview he gave a while back, I vaguely remember him saying something about trying to write music that came from an ancient time and an ancient place. It was supposed to be like something discovered from a lost world.

That’s when it hit me. The simplicity of the music is just the thing that makes it so perfect. In a world where the line between good and evil is so clearly drawn, the music must dilineate this just as clearly. Where the flourishing and colorful orchestrations of “Harry Potter” paint the magical world so vividly, in Middle Earth it is the noble sound of horn and strings that captures our imagination and brings us into Tolkien’s world.

Shore wrote a great many themes that appear all over the trilogy. There are too many to talk about (e.g. Hobbits, Fellowship, Rohan, Gondor, Uruk Hai, Ring Wraiths, Morder, the Grey Havens, etc.) LOTR is one huge 12-hour movie; amazingly, there are hardly any moments without music. Can you imagine writing 12+ hours of music for one movie??? That’s mighty excessive for any film, and Shore’s accomplishment is impressive. Through the use of leitmotifs, Shore is able to keep a unified whole, while doing justice to Tolkien’s characters and ideas. The music of the Elves, for instance, always bears a sadness and longing thoughout the trilogy; if you’ve ever read “The Silmarillion” you’ll understand why this is.

Let’s come back to Richard Wagner for a moment; his most famous work Der Ring des Nibelungen (or “The Ring of the Nibelung”) is a collection of four operas based on Norse and Germanic mythology. While Tolkien denies that he was influenced by “Der Ring”, it seems fairly obvious that much of his inspiration for Middle Earth came out of Norse mythology. (I found this also interesting, with regards to the significance of “the Ring”.)

Shore introduces a couple of themes in FOTR very subtly that don’t come to full fruition until ROTK. The two most notable of these are

1) the Gondor Theme: heard as a simple horn solo in FOTR as Boromir stands up to speak at the council in Rivendell, and reappearing as a full-fledged call to battle as Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith with Pippen in ROTK.

2) the Anduril Theme: it is heard faintly in FOTR as Boromir and Aragorn are talking in Lotholorien, and it bursts forth in ROTK as the Sword of Elendil is reforged.

This shows that Shore had it all planned out beforehand; he wasn’t just composing as he went along. There was a vision from the beginning, just as director Peter Jackson had a vision, and just as J.R.R. Tolkien had a vision for his entire world, mapped out in his mind before he even began writing FOTR.

The thing that is most amazing to me about the music of LOTR is the integrity of the whole trilogy. We have three long movies telling a very lengthy and complex story with multiple characters; and yet the music seems to be spun from the same common thread. This common thread is the Ring Theme. It is the first music we hear in the FOTR Prologue, a distinctive and captivating rising minor second. It is the very essence of LOTR, the simplest of elements that becomes the prime ingredient for the entire musical saga; and you will hear it nearly everywhere if you are paying close attention.

3. Braveheart, (1995), James Horner. I made a last minute switch. This movie was originally #2, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put it above “Star Wars”. Nonetheless, #3 is not half bad on a list of seventy-four.

I fell in love with the music from the very moment I saw the mountain covered in fog and heard the bagpipes playing a solemn tune. The music just gets better and better as we follow William Wallace’s journey from an orphaned child to a young man with dreams of settling down and starting a family, to the leader of the great revolution against England, and finally the heroic martyr who gives his life for the freedom of his country.

Okay…I uh…just sort of summed it all up there. There’s a lot more I could say about the music; I’m sure you’ve seen it and you know how awesome it is, so I won’t bore you with any more description.

2. Star Wars (1977, 1980, 1983), John Williams. It would be utter blasphemy to not mention this film in a list of the greatest film scores of all time. I like to think that it is the very best from Williams, at least in terms of its scope and grandeur. He has written for hundreds of movies over several decades, and many consider him the best in the business; yet, I still think “Star Wars” is his defining achievement.

I remember getting chills down my spine as I sat in the dark theatre for “The Phantom Menace” several years ago, and I heard that triumphant brass fanfare in Dolby Digital, as the text of the story slowly scrolled up the screen and disappeared into space. That epic theme has become monumental, recognized everywhere, even spoofed over and over again (see Bill Murrary as the Lounge Singer on SNL.)

(This is good, too.)

I haven’t included the prequels here, but from Episodes 1-3 I think the best themes are the battle with Darth Maul in “Phantom Menace”, the love theme of Anakin and Padmé in “Attack of the Clones”, and the tragic choral music that accompanies the last twenty minutes of “Revenge of the Sith”.

Of all the great motifs from this score, I think my favorite is the Jedi Theme. I love the moment in “A New Hope” when Luke is standing on a desert dune in Tatooine looking out at the double sunset. The f-horn plays that solemn and haunting melody, and then the strings soar upward, foretelling Luke’s destiny. What a moment.

This trilogy is a monumental achievement, and I believe it helped pave the way for the future of film music; and it will continue to inspire for generations to come. (Man, that is so cliché)

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Okay. The moment we’ve been waiting for. Only one film remains. What could it be…?