Featuring 26 compositions by Golden Globe winner and Oscar- and Grammy Award-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat, the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 provides the listener with over 70 minutes of music from the new film. In addition the CD comes with a free download of the entire soundtrack in 5.1 Surround Sound Audio.

I have to admit that when I heard Alexandre Desplat was scoring the latest Harry Potter soundtrack I was a little surprised. While I have enjoyed some of his scores over the years (Birth and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button spring to mind) I didn't think he really had the experience or raw talent to carry off the score for such a strong movie series. Sadly my fears were founded as there is very little of interest in this soundtrack.

There are huge segments where absolutely nothing is going on - the music ambles along rather painfully. 'Godric's Hollow Graveyard' is one such example, and I couldn't believe how many missed opportunities there were.

'The Deathly Hallows' is the only track that shows some spark, and even tracks like 'The Will' which lightly references Williams's original score end up sounding dull and lifeless.

It's functional and nothing more. Sadly this is a rather bland offering when compared to the previous Harry Potter scores.

I was so not blown away that I couldn't even be bothered to download the free 5.1 surround sound version of the score.

3

Darren Rea