Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Alexandre Desplat has once again created a wonderfully lyrical and dramatic score for the last in the series of the Harry Potter movies. HARRY POTTER and THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, has been eagerly awaited by Potter fans and also the music has been equally anticipated and awaited by film music aficionados all over the world. Desplat has achieved something of a coup with his scores to the last two movies in the Potter series, the composer has not only managed to retain the wistfulness, playfulness and also the darkness that was originally created by John Williams all those years ago, but he has also interwoven his own unique style and musical stamp into the scores creating pulsating and surging themes which accompany and carry the action along and enhance and elevate all of the movies components to higher level. HARRY POTTER and THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, is in my opinion one of, if not the best Potter score written, the composers use of frantic brass and booming percussion is breathtaking, these elements combine with the driving strings and wistful sounding woods to create something that is not only riveting but also a sound that is special. LILLY’S THEME is the opening track on the compact disc, a low key female voice is utilised in a near Gaelic fashion creating an atmosphere that is emotive and solitary. The composer embellishes the voice with low strings that perfectly support the plaintive vocal and create further a feeling of loneliness and sadness. Track two is a rather more energetic affair, the composer employing those Williams sounding strings as the foundation to the composition and adding brass flourishes and trills and stabs courtesy of the woods, THE TUNNEL is an urgent if not short lived sounding piece and one which grabs the attention of the listener from beginning to end. There are a number of musical sounds and passages within this score that can be likened to other composers styles who have worked in film, for example in track three UNDERWORLD, there is a definite resemblance to the driving and strident style of composer Woljech Kilar, this particular track did somewhat evoke memories of that composers excellent work on DRACULA, strings dominate as percussion supports and brass rasps in and out of the proceedings creating an urgency and also a sense of impending doom.
Track four GRINGOTTS is low key and has about it a rather spidery sound, as in a cue that contains no theme as such but is purely tension and highly atmospheric. Track 5 is my own personal favourite from the score, Desplat launches us into a good old piece of film scoring with this cue DRAGON FLIGHT, the music actually creates the feeling of flying its lush and windswept in its style and a grand exhilarating composition. The actual theme that we all associate with Harry Potter does not appear in the compact discs running order till track number seven, A NEW HEADMASTER, but this is a fleeting and rather sparse version of the theme performed on horn and enhanced by chimes and underlying strings, which pass the theme to the woodwind, nevertheless one immediately tunes into the John Williams original composition as it is as familiar amongst film music collectors as Star Wars, Jaws or any other theme that the multi talented Mr Williams has created for the cinema. Desplat interweaves and integrates the original and familiar notes of the Williams composition with his own original music and creates a poignant, emotive and haunting piece of film scoring.
This in my opinion is one of, if not indeed the best score from a Harry Potter movie, wonderfully written meticulously orchestrated and performed with gusto and passion. The composer employs a style that is reminiscent of Delerue that is tinged and infused with snippets of Williams and also has an air about it that harkens back to the days when film scores were large, bold and romantic..