Ahh, I always appreciate intelligent responses ^_^.

> First of all, LOL to those people's comment. Could they be any more
> obvious? Secondly, it's not very hard to be "epic" with music,
> if that term even applies here. It's just loud strings in this case.

Firstly, whether they were obvious or not isn't really a big deal. What I guess I was trying to illustrate is that the music ultimately is meant to impact its listeners in some way, whether by standing out on its own, augmenting the on-screen happenings, or preferably, both. That I head people saying that, and that I was thinking so myself, along with my partner, stood out to me. Admittedly once more, Imax makes everything seem better lol.

> And I don't know if this part is really appropriate. It's too adventurous,
> and Harry and Dumbledore aren't exactly going on an adventure, are they?
> This is a dangerous mission. I think Hooper should have played up the
> "Dumbledore's doom" aspect of the story at this point (as the
> cave scene does ultimately lead to the headmaster's fate) with a sorrowful
> but epic theme - a sort of withering grandeur. His choice of melody here
> just sort of meanders back and forth with no sense of direction, which I
> suppose you could argue represents the waves at sea, but the sea itself
> shouldn't be the focus. Just when you think a part of the melody should
> end, he adds a note or two. And of course, playing up the doom aspect
> would require that the scene before this set the tone, which it does not.
> So my theory wouldn't really work in the film, but I thought I'd say it
> anyway.

Hmm, I don't really get the overly adventurous feel from that part. Adventurous I get from say, "Buckbeak's Flight" in Prisoner of Azkaban. Which, does indeed fit the scene where it is played perfectly. Or parts of "Golden Egg" in the Goblet of fire soundtrack, a track which though pleasant to listen to, I feel was overdone in terms of relating to the movie. That piece of Journey to the Cave though, I thought was perfectly fitting, and I actually feel it describes much of what you said you would have preferred. I don't get an "adventurous" feel from it, but rather I get one of impending doom. The repetitive, rapid string strokes before 1:34 build up the tension of the journey to come, and once 1:34 comes around, well, I get that feel of someone headed towards something immensely dark and powerful, on a remote location. And again, it feel personal. More complicated instrumentation or more prominent melodies I honestly feel would take away from the importance of it being Harry and Dumbledore's journey alone.

> Why not? It's not like every moment, or even most moments, of the music
> were epic.

I'm really not so sure about that. Epic is too broad a term I guess, though its my fault for introducing it. Listening back on the soundtracks, and having watched the previous 5 movies over in anticipation for HBP, I do often feel like things were overdone at times, which I never felt this time around(though you could argue that was because they were underdone, lol). Examples would be in the more "actiony" music of Prisoner of Azkaban, such as "The Werewolf scene" or "Monster Books and Boggarts". On the other hand, the Azkaban score also contained some of my favorite pieces of music. A Window to the Past was probably my favorite track on the album, because it embodied perfectly how intimate Lupin and Harry's conversation was, and the music represented exactly what it was titled, a window to the past.

> I think that soundtracks driven more by underscore than by melody or
> themes (like HBP) tend to give the illusion that they better fit their
> visuals. This is simply because they so easily blend into the background
> due to their lack of focus on melody and to their simple constructs.
> That's not to say that a simple score like this never works wonders; often
> they do, but I just happen to dislike this particular one.

I agree completely with this, except I don't find it to be really an illusion in this case. The reason I say this is that the magic in this movie is tremendously less "in your face" than in any other iteration. Except for the Quidditch scene, Dumbledore going Gandalf on us at the end, and a select few other pieces, this movie is very little about the magic, and very much about the emotions going on in the minds and hearts of the characters. Harry and Hermione I felt perfectly conveyed the feeling of someone comforting his heartbroken best friend. In short, this movie is nothing like the first.

I find it quite funny that the reviewer mentions the reintroduction of Hedwig's theme in "Ginny" being a "breath of fresh air", because watching the movie, I can clearly recall thinking "that was so out of place". Don't get me wrong, Hedwig's theme will forever live as one of the most iconic themes in film history, but for that moment, it was inappropriate.