Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Soundtrack Review

• 30th Jun 2011

So it’s all come to this. Eight films, Eight soundtracks – with various composers contributing to Hogwarts’ world of magic! For the final effort we get Alexandre Desplat. He opens the score beautifully with Lily’s Theme which is far from the world of magic. Clearly emotionally tugging with Gallic undertones.

The thrill-ride aspect of the score isn’t far behind though in both The Tunnel and Underworld. Both tracks are pretty much what you would expect for any tense scene from a Hollywood score.  Serviceable for sure without making their presence known too much other than it’s exciting music you are hearing.

You can pretty much expect the quieter moments to remain with you longer than the action beats – pretty much until you reach the (hor)crux of the action in Courtyard Apocalypse which really does soar. And from here to the end of the soundtrack (bear in mind it’s track 15 at this point and there are 25 in total) we’re given perhaps most of the better material as the film is clearly settling all of its scores (so to speak) and tying all the loose ends and each requires their own identity.

Anyone looking for much of a recall to the work John Williams did on the initial films won’t find any here. Desplat is working largely with his own material – and happily with this final adventure he’s given all the right moments in which to provide something with impact.

It also seems that CDs are very much going the way of bonus content these days. This disc includes a digital download in 5.1 surround sound and also behind the scenes footage from the scoring sessions.

Steven Hurst