Exclusive: Pottermore debuts the main theme from the soundtrack for Fantastic Beasts
The Pottermore Correspondent
FRIDAY 7TH OCT 2016
Pottermore is delighted to officially debut the very first track from the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them soundtrack, available 18 November. If you’ve seen any of the trailers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you will have heard little snippets of the soundtrack. You already know how extraordinary it is.
Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer James Newton Howard has done an exquisite job. As you’d expect him to – James has worked on some serious classics, including The Hunger Games franchise, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman and Pretty Woman.
The cover for the original motion picture soundtrack: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We are thrilled to be able to play you one of his new songs. It’s the opening track to the movie and it’s really something.
As you’ll hear, the song starts out with a familiar tune. One that’ll make you shiver with nostalgia: a few bars of 'Hedwig’s Theme', and we’re swept into the new main title track for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Like the movie, it’s epic, dramatic, playful and beautiful. And it’s right here:
James spent seven months writing the Fantastic Beasts soundtrack. For this particular track, as well as Newt Scamander’s theme, he sat down at his piano and just played until it came.
‘You hear the main theme song of the movie play when the main crew arrive at the MACUSA the first time and various other times,’ he tells me. ‘You hear this haunting kind of theme. If you had to say what is the theme for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for now and in the future, it would be that theme. I wrote it on my piano because I believe that if that kind of thing is going to be good, it should be done that simply.’
The interior of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them soundtrack pack. The standard soundtrack is 72 minutes of new music by James, including songs called ‘There Are Witches Among Us’, ‘Gnarlak Negotiations’ and ‘Newt Releases the Thunderbird’.
The deluxe edition, also available on 18 November, is nearly 100 minutes long, with 26 songs. That second album includes songs like ‘The Demiguise and the Lollipop’, ‘I’m Not Your Ma’ and ‘Kowalski Rag’ – all of which seem like they might be clues, if you’re trying to piece together as much information about the film as you possibly can before it comes out.
The packaging for the original motion picture soundtrack for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them soundtrack is now available for preorder from Amazon and iTunes. The track list is as follows:
1. Main Titles - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them 2. There Are Witches Among Us / The Bank / The Niffler 3. Tina Takes Newt In / Macusa Headquarters 4. Pie or Strudel / Escaping Queenie and Tina’s Place 5. Credence Hands Out Leaflets 6. Inside The Case 7. The Erumpent 8. In The Cells 9. Tina and Newt Trial / Let’s Get The Good Stuff Out / You’re One of Us Now / Swooping Evil 10. Gnarlak Negotiations 11. The Demiguise and The Occamy 12. A Close Friend 13. The Obscurus / Rooftop Chase 14. He’s Listening To You Tina 15. Relieve Him of His Wand / Newt Releases The Thunderbird / Jacob’s Farewell 16. Newt Says Goodbye to Tina / Jacob’s Bakery 17. End Titles - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Deluxe: Bonus – Disc 2
1. A Man and His Beasts 2. Soup and Leaflets 3. Billywig 4. The Demiguise and The Lollipop 5. I’m Not Your Ma 6. Blind Pig performed by Emmi 7. Newt Talks To Credence 8. End Titles Pt.2 - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them 9. Kowalski Rag
LOL "serious classics, including The Hunger Games franchise, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman and Pretty Woman"
WOW. He's contributed some seriously classic scores, but I'm not sure about that ranking. Regardless, this is AWESOME news. Still crossing my fingers the score gave him room to do his thing!
But that first track, man. Good stuff =)
So happy they've kept classic orchestral music for the series.
I'm surprised on how well the score sounds. The choir is audible (I was dreading given that Deathly Hallows part 2 had the choir mostly buried under the orchestra and JNH's recent scores suffered of this that it might happen with this one), and the orchestra doesn't sound compressed as hell. Newt's theme is very catchy, and seems like JNH brought some of the electronics from Maleficent to represent the otherworldly tone of MACUSA (I wouldn't be surprised if that middle part it's for Newt being brought to MACUSA for his trial). All JNH's fantasy scores used synths to give a out-of-this-world vibe so it kind of fits in here.
Given that there will be 100 minutes of music on the deluxe edition, I wouldn't be surprised that it has all the music of the movie (since JNH worked 7 months on the score, I can imagine there must be a lot of unused material like in Deathly Hallows Part 1). It's a surprise to hear Hedwig's Theme, I'm pretty sure that it's in there as a reference to Harry Potter, or when J.K. Rowling's name appears on screen. I think the rest of the score will be interesting to hear, given that JNH seems to be channeling both Peter Pan and King Kong, with the blend of fantasy elements and representation of the timeline of the movie (James used a euphonium trio which you can hear on the Kowalski Rag sample). It also helps that the movie seems to be a return to the Wizarding World pre-Voldemort and Yates and Rowling decided to make a emotional and magical film, and not a gritty and dark story like the last HP books and films.
Really? I would have been shocked if it hadn't been used. (Easy to be cocky when you've been already proved correct, I know, but in my defense I think I'd mentioned it in an earlier thread.) It's the melody associated with this world, and that's the world they're selling. If it ever represented Hedwig (and it doesn't seem like it ever really did), it has long since simply meant "here's the wizarding world!"
Well this track certainly makes me more excited for this soundtrack. I was worried this would be a lot of subtle background music with smaller orchestrations, but this track has beautiful and has flair and good character. If this is truly indicative of what the rest of the score will be like, then we are in for a very delightful treat indeed!
Really? I would have been shocked if it hadn't been used.
Also, all the John Williams fans would have a fit if it didn't turn up...
Hedwig's Theme is a representative of the Wizarding World as the movies started to go, but it also represented Harry's story, especially on how it's used in the latter films (Desplat used the theme to represent Harry and his friends losing their childhood). I'm pretty much sure that JNH might either use it once on the main titles as a reference when Rowling's name is on screen, or either use it through the score on scenes where they make references to either Hogwarts or characters from the original books like Dumbledore or Grindewald.
Been hearing the main titles a few more times, the middle section still feels odd (I'm not sure if it was took from another cue of the score or it was originally written in there), but it has an interesting variation of the main theme with the strings that it took a while to recognize (seems like JNH will be using this theme on different variations through the score, to represent both the wonder and danger of the story). And given how CGI-ed the movie is, the use of electronics on the score doesn't seem like unproper (especially since synths have always been used on Potter scores as the same way CGI was used in the movies).
But Williams fans will always find a excuse to bash the score just like they did with the others.
17 End Titles - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them James Newton Howard 2:21
25 End Titles, Pt. 2 - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (Bonus Track) James Newton Howard 1:22
Oh dear.
Might be something like a end credits tag like JNH did in The Last Airbender and Maleficent. Or something like the 10 minutes suite from Mockingjay part 2 that in the film version is basically 4 cues put together as one, and two of them were cues from the other scores with some mix differences (The Tour cue from Catching Fire is used with a original strings and clarinet intro but with a lower choir and the second part of the cue has a children's choir replacing the female ones). I think A Man And His Beasts must be the original suite for Scamander, kind of like the Maleficent and Airbender suites. Especially since it was one of the first recordings of the score.
While I look forward to hearing the score (and maybe watching the film), I was a bit worried when I saw the trailer for this last week and discovered I couldn't understand ONE SINGLE WORD Eddie Redmayne uttered throughout the entire teaser. Everyone else sounded okay, but he just seemed to purse his lips and let out some unintelligible noise!
So this gets a 2 CD release before any of the other Potter scores!? Could this be a hint of things to come?
I'm guessing this is more a 2CD release in the style of Deathly Hallows Part 1...worthwhile tracks, but not much more than an album and some bonus tracks instead of properly filling the 2nd CD...but at least they've done away with the lavish presentation and just made it the cost of a single CD =D
Edit: Yep, 25ish min on the second CD. Still better than Part I though!
Watertower has released the entire first disc on Youtube. I've only skimmed over it but it sounds pretty good. The action music (of which there isn't a lot) is definitely vintage JNH. Rooftop Chase sounds like something out of King Kong.
Finally JNH told Shawn Murphy to raise the volume of the choir. And not just of the boys choir but the adult choir (Even though it's used in a few cues). James definitely brought something unique here, but he respected his predecesors. There's not only homages to Williams (including Hedwig's Theme being actually used on its B section), but also Doyle (the brass writing), Hooper (the jazz pieces, nervous strings and tinkling percussion) and especially Desplat (muted trumpets, shakuhachi, and taiko drums). He even got to reference The Hunger Games in some cues (with the use of the viola da gamba and the cymbalom).
The score has everything. Magic, fun, darkness, wonder, quirkiness, excitement, emotion, tenderness. It's really complex and it will take some listens to unveil the way James develops the themes and styles he brought to the score. The electronics might seem jarring at the beginning, but they represent the dark magic and characters in the same way JNH did in his previous fantasy scores.
