i also like most of John Williams work, he's just such a great composer. i was really happy to hear that he is comming back for Deathly Hallows, that made me happy because i didn't really like the last three, Half Blood Prince was pretty good, especially the opening, but it wasn't as good as the first three.

It hasn't been confirmed that he's coming back yet...and personally I'm hoping with all my might that he doesn't. The PoA soundtrack was good, but not as good as the fourth or sixth, the first one was bad, and the second was terrible. I guess I wouldn't mind *too* much of John Williams comes back for DH, and I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that he probably will, since the only news we've had about it is John Williams offhandedly mentioning that he would be interested in doing it.
DH (both parts) just seems like it would have to be too dark, and John Williams is, on the whole, but *edit* er, MUCH, not but....much better at coming up with bright, happy, catchy, (really annoying), themes as opposed to dark and moody stuff. If he goes in the direction he did for SW Ep. III, then it could be good, though. I'm hoping. ^_^

I got the Batman Begins soundtrack for 50 cents, at our library. Our library frequently has books up for sale, and they had quite a good collection of soundtracks which they've been slowly getting rid of over the past year or so, and which I've been slowly hoarding. It's so awesome. ^_^

hmmmm. i see what you mean Mr. Anderson. i just bought the Half Blood Prince soundtrack and it is INCREDIBLE! HBP is quite dark and Nicholas Hooper did a fatastic job putting a good dark, serious set of themes together. there is a great theme through out which is a vocal piece with Latin lyrics that sounds AWESOME, and my other favourite theme is played on guitar (the Track is called Harry and Hermione) and it's so, how do i put it, lovely, but in a dark way (does that make sense?)
i also really liked how Hooper used themes from his last score (Order of the Phoenix) and referenced them, but dicreetly, if you listen carefully to the track titled Living Death you can hear a bit of Umbridge's theme, from the last movie. its really quite cool. i just hope Williams keeps a lot of Hoopers themes, because they were really good.
EDIT:
that track i was talking about is played on harp...not guitar

I love the LOTR, WALL E and Atonement soundtracks,
but I own none of them on CD I prefer to leave those within the context of the movie itself and prefer not to listen to on Cd.

I also like the Harry Potter soundtracks, though not as much as the previous mentioned.

Soundtracks I own:

Narnia: LWW, of course I love it, listened to it all the time in 2005/2006
August Rush, loved the movie and was so it was the second I bought. 2007 I played it out.
Narnia:PC, how could I not go ahead and buy this one as well? 2008 played out.
Where The Wild Things Are, The Karen O and Kids CD haven't bought the other CD. listening to this one as I write this. LOVE it.

i just got the August Rush soundtrack out of the library- I love it!

I think I listened to the Batman Begins soundtrack. I liked it, although not as much as TDK's, and remember that the track names made it difficult for me to figure out what was supposed to be going on in each piece.

The PoA soundtrack was good, but not as good as the fourth or sixth

Is the fourth HP the one scored by Patrick Doyle?

I love the LOTR, WALL E and Atonement soundtracks,
but I own none of them on CD I prefer to leave those within the context of the movie itself and prefer not to listen to on Cd.

Why, exactly? And what makes these three different from the scores you've bought and listened to on CD? Why are you set against listening to them in isolation when you aren't with the others? I guess I don't really understand. I find listening to soundtrack CDs and watching the original movies to be mutually beneficial activities: when watching the movie, you are more accustomed to the melodies and are better able to judge whether they fit the action, and when listening to the CD, you have a better frame of reference for what is going in the music, why it's doing the things it's doing. Generally, if both are good, they heighten my appreciation for each other.

No, Patrick Doyle scored GoF. I've not had a chance to listen to the John Williams' scores, but I have listened to the last three, GoF by Patrick Doyle and OotP and HBP by Nicholas Hooper. I really prefer Nicholas Hooper's work. GoF was a very bland score, with a few brilliants tracks scattered across the meh.

Why, exactly? And what makes these three different from the scores you've bought and listened to on CD? Why are you set against listening to them in isolation when you aren't with the others?

good question, and honestly I can't answer that either.
I don't actually know what makes these three different than the others.
If I said anything to try to answer this question it would come out confusing 'cause even I don't understand.

I just prefer it this way for some odd reason even I can't explain.

yeah i saw that in the GoF soundtrack too. Nicholas Hooper did brilliantly with HBP and i really wish he was coming back for DH, he is defintely the best for the job, it is the darkest book, and Hooper's strength is dark themes here is my one of my favorites from that soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoUeS27A9Xo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lisaha9Z6XY

and heres another fav

Popping on to ask this: I don't have any Harry Potter soundtracks, and would like to purchase one. Which is the best of the lot?
*is hoping she won't get 20 different opinions*

I don't think I need to voice my love of the Narnia, PoTC or LoTR scores. We all agree on that, I think.

Not necessarily.

*echoes lys' sentiments* There are some lovely highlights in LWW and I will listen to it now and then, but as for PC I was/am so not impressed, as it's just a re-hashing, and even exact repetition at times, of LWW. I'm glad a different composer, David Arnold, has been hired for Voyage and I sincerely hope he can bring some uniqueness and memorability to the score. We have all three PotC CDs and they are a lot of fun with some notable themes, to be sure. But topping my list way above anything else is Howard Shore's The LotR Complete Recordings. *floats away*

I particularly love The Passion of the Christ soundtrack by John Debney.
*Goes off humming Fiddler On the Roof music*

Yes, The Passion is really beautiful. The use of Middle-Eastern instruments naturally add so much to the emotion of this score. As for "Fiddler on the Roof", what a wonderful musical! Gotta love that Jewish music!

lysander mentioned The Village soundtrack, a favourite of mine. Oooh, those strings! *melts* James Newton Howard simply captures the essence of the story in this beautiful score.

if you want a good HP soundtrack buy half blood prince. i would say it is the best of all six movies. click on the links from my previous post and you can get an idea of what it is like (actually th user a posted from includs all the tracks from that album on his/her youtube)

Yeah. Half Blood Prince is most definitely the best soundtrack. The soundtracks have been getting very slowly and rather unsteadily better, and I'm hoping the DH soundtracks won't be a letdown... (Of course, for me that means "Please, no John Williams", which is unlikely to happen because if John Williams comes back, everyone in the world will be happy...except for me. XD)

yeah...i'm not sure about John WIlliams coming back, i wouldn't mind for a movie like GoF or OotP but DH is the climax and it needs to be PERFECT. we'll see, maybe he will go in the direction he did for SWIII

Really quick: I would say either HP5 or HP3. I love the medieval influences on the latter

*drags this thread back to the first page*

I can't believe I'm actually about to say this, but seeing as how New Moon is coming out this upcoming weekend, I checked out the score clip previews and actually found it to be really good. *hides from the glares of some members* The first score was composed by Carter Burwell and sounded like a typical teen drama score. New Moon is composed by Alexandre Desplat and has a more traditional orchestral sound to it.

Of course, I'm no fan of Twilight but seeing as how the production company was able to hire a well known composer for the film, I had to check it out.

---------------------------

In other news, I'm highly anticipating the release of Avatar on December 9th. I'm hoping James Horner will deliver a score on the level of his 1980's work..... *crosses fingers*

Hopefully this is not spamming, if it is please let me know and I'll take this down, but I've started a blog on film scores! Here's the link: http://bennettsreviews.blogspot.com/

After finally being able to see the second half of 'Red Cliff', I've been trying to seek out different tracks from the score. I found a couple here and there and have been listening to a few samples. I was so thrilled to find out that the soundtrack is now available on iTunes. I highly recommend both this movie and its soundtrack to those who enjoy epic, historical fiction films. Really good stuff here.