Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Soundtrack

John William's scores for The Sorcerer's Stone and The Prisoner Of Azkaban both garnered Oscar nominations. In this light, Patrick Doyle faced a daunting task when enlisted by director Mike Newell to score the latest Harry Potter fantasy, The Goblet Of Fire. Doyle has several light comedy scores to his credit, and collaborated well with Newell on dramas Donny Brasco and Into The West, but Goblet is most reminiscent of his Quest For Camelot score. The elaborate fantasy themes subtly interwoven into an epic filmscape resurfaces here, in what will surely be a more commercially viable venture. This Potter is darker and more nuanced than the earlier story lines, and Doyle's score is appropriately English and dire.

With "Harry In Winter," Doyle introduces a mature and very British theme for Harry himself. The soundtrack CD allows this cue to develop as a concert piece, and it has hints of Doyle's earlier work on Sense And Sensibility. He states the theme in the violins, and relies on the upper strings for drama and beauty, in a score dominated by the dark side. The epitome of the dark side of Doyle's score is "Voldemort." Beginning in the low strings and creeping ominously upward, this cue is filled with dramatic brass accents and sinister diminished transitions. Both examples of character painting are effectively subtle and musically substantial.

While dominated by short cues, which string together in a programatic structure on the CD, a few longer pieces stand out. This is a "through composed" film score, a la Bernard Herrmann, not a song collection. The aforementioned "Voldemort" is certainly a well-developed selection, and clocks in at nine minutes. "Golden Egg" appears late on the disc, but has all the formal elements of a symphonic overture. After a boisterous opening accentuated by timpani and crash cymbals, the development exposes sinuous string lines underpinned by bass trombone accents. Heroic horns, swirling strings and intensely sincere trumpets abound. This is dramatic/heroic writing at its best.

If you thought rock and roll was all that was missing, you're in for a treat. As a dramatic conceit, a British pop dance track, "Do The Hippogriff" incongruously appears in support of a bit of stage (film) action. Jarvis Cocker and Radiohead's Phil Selway off this diversion, and their three cuts appear in the score as if belonging to characters in another play entirely. In a sort of "London's Calling" meets "The Time Warp," these tracks act as musical releases. Unfortunately, they all appear at the end of the disc, which gives them a disjointed context. The closing track is "Magic Works", and it's an unapologetic love song, full of yearning and touching string support. Here the placement and sentiment are fairy tale perfect. "I do believe in magic, I do, I do, I do!" That's the whole point, isn't it?

By Dave Morgan