Following its CD and digital album release last year (2018), The Music of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child gets a limited edition, 2-LP deluxe vinyl release. It represents music from the internationally acclaimed stage production, and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl for maximum audio fidelity. The set arrives within a gatefold jacket featuring gold foil artwork and embossed lettering, as well as an 8-page, large-format booklet containing production shots and commentary from Imogen Heap and key members of the production’s creative team...

Whether you're going to enjoy this comes down to whether or not you're a Harry Potter fan or have seen the stage production. Not being a huge fan of the series and not having seen the stage play, I was surprised at how bland and rather flat the music was. It could be that I've been spoilt with John Williams's scores, but this just didn't feel like Harry Potter at all... or anything magical, to be honest.

The music felt like it had been composed for something else and then someone had slipped it into the Harry Potter stage production as a last minute replacement. It sounds more like the sort of music you'd expect to be playing in the background as you walk around a haunted house attraction at a theme park or a yawn-some documentary about the growing of award winning fruit and vegetables.

Yes, I know I'm probably in the minority, as everyone seems to lap up anything with a Harry Potter label on it. But I found the music, on the whole, to be uninspiring and instantly forgettable.

The album contains 42 tracks (1 hr, 17 min, 51 sec) and the only real track of merit is the 'The Forbidden Forest', which is a beautifully reflective melancholic piece. Meanwhile, 'St. Oswalds' sounds like a poor man's attempt at paying homage to Danny Elfman's score for Beetlejuice.

This could have been special, but ends up being something of a missed opportunity.

3

Darren Rea