Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack, James Hannigan, 2009
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix turned out to be industry veteran James Hannigan’s breakthrough work: a delectably lush orchestral game score that surpassed Jeremy Soule’s earlier contributions to the franchise and could stand proudly alongside the Harry Potter soundtracks of John Williams and Patrick Doyle. It is no surprise, then, that Hannigan’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack does not abandon that winning formula. His follow-up is every bit as riveting as Order of the Phoenix, though it does introduce a few noteworthy shifts of emphasis.
The most important point first: Half-Blood Prince once again features near-symphonic depth in its orchestrations and counterpoint. And, of course, its melodies are once more gorgeous, full-bodied creations. Like Order of the Phoenix, it stands near the top of orchestral game soundtracks. The most significant difference between the two scores is a greater sense of breadth and scale. Outside its roaring battle cues, Order of the Phoenix largely moved between light-hearted mischief and hushed nocturnal wonder. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack tips the balance more decisively towards a sweeping sense of adventure.
“Return to Hogwarts” begins proceedings with an all-guns-blazing opening that catapults the listener into the skies above an immeasurably large fantasy world, bursting with joy and anticipation. As always in Hannigan’s first two Harry Potter scores, the cue rarely stays in one place for long. The Friendship theme from Order of the Phoenix returns and is led through a series of permutations, from bombastic statements to a solo flute rendition set against humming choir.
Arguably, Half-Blood Prince, like Order of the Phoenix, does not offer especially strong thematic coherence. Once one is caught up in the score’s orchestral splendour – an easy enough thing to be – such concerns matter rather less. After the spectacular curtain-raiser of “Return to Hogwarts”, “Quidditch Tryouts” bursts forth with youthful energy and a dancing spirit that can still erupt into bombastic, more combative strains. Again, Hannigan and orchestrator Allan Wilson handle these rapid shifts in atmosphere with absolute ease through their dazzling orchestral palette. “Race Ginny”, with its whirlwind of instrumental colour, offers the most impressive display of their virtuosity.
From the score’s more serious inclinations, Hannigan derives licence to indulge more frequently in long-breathed, emotionally charged string melodies. Compare “Hogwarts by Night” with the similarly nocturnal pieces in Order of the Phoenix. As a calm string adagio with harp accompaniment, “Hogwarts by Night” is allowed to revel in its melodic beauty. Like “Boathouse at Night”, it presents Hogwarts after dark as a place of restful serenity rather than one of intertwined tension and wonderment.
This greater melodic emphasis also allows Hannigan to tug at the heartstrings more directly when the narrative demands it. One need only hear how “Loss at Hogwarts” makes its case through a sorrowful yet noble variation of the Friendship theme. That emotional openness is the main reason the album’s finale lands so powerfully. “Sadness at Hogwarts” is one of the soundtrack’s melodic high points, beautiful in its calm sorrow and yearning. At the same time, it avoids the mistake made by Nicholas Hooper’s film score of underplaying the tragedy at the heart of Half-Blood Prince. Album closer “Friendship Theme” is even on a level with the finale of Patrick Doyle’s Goblet of Fire. Both works manage to wrest hope and optimism convincingly from the jaws of death and defeat.
Another difference between Half-Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix lies in the way each score functions as an album. The Order of the Phoenix album was clearly arranged to move from light towards darkness and then towards a blazing finale. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack is more flexible in its progression, but also less focused. As the album unfolds, there is less of a sense of urgency or momentum steadily accumulating. The transition from “Wandering Day 1” into “Final Battles”, in particular, is somewhat baffling, so abrupt is the leap and so little is the sense of build-up towards the final battle cue.
Still, one positive consequence of Half-Blood Prince’s more varied sequencing is that Hannigan’s outstanding battle music appears earlier. “Duelling Club” arrives near the beginning and immediately announces the score’s stronger rhythmic emphasis in its action writing. Here, it is the constantly shifting orchestrations that keep such potentially repetitive material fresh. On “Slytherin Combat”, the same feat is achieved through the awe-inspiring intensity Hannigan draws from relentlessly hammering ostinati. He avoids listener fatigue by turning those ostinati into genuinely catchy hooks that drive the cue forward with white-hot single-mindedness. The result is a triumphantly gigantic climax that is impossible to resist.
Even “Final Battles” does not quite reach the same monumental heights. Still, ninety-nine per cent of game soundtracks would be grateful to call its crashing waves of brass, choir, and percussion their own. The same goes for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack as a whole. It falls just short of perfection, but it still outguns almost everything else in its genre.
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