John Williams makes Harry Potter sound Good

I've been obsessed with John Williams and his work since I was in middle school, and I've recently uploaded my Harry Potter soundtracks onto my computer and found that they were all labeled and everything, which excited me a little too much. To share the excitement, here are a few selections from the Harry Potter OSTs.

Mr Williams' themes are gorgeous, rich, exciting, emotionally powerful. The world over knows the theme for Star Wars and Jaws and Indiana Jones - what is the probability that the same man is responsible for giving our generation so many memorable and famous themes?

Quality of the films notwithstanding, the Harry Potter scores introduced many new and lovely themes, including the famous Hedwig's theme. I remain convinced that Azakaban is one of his best recent works; the diversity of the score, ranging from the swinging, jazzy Knight Bus theme to the bubbly Aunt Marge's waltz to the gorgeous, powerful flying theme make for a high quality ost and a return to old school, lush, romantic scoring (versus, say, the soundtrack for Catch Me If You Can, which was different, and though for good reason, not entirely to my taste).

Every summer (except this past one, damn orientation week) I see Mr Williams conduct at the Hollywood Bowl, and every summer, am reminded how amazing this dude is. So download these HP tracks to see how you like his stuff. I didn't include a few of my favorite tracks- I'm saving those for later, so keep an eye out. If I get enough requests, for more, I'll see what I can do about getting the whole album up. But remember, if you like it, buy it, and I promise any John Williams soundtrack is worth the price. These are for sampling purposes, and so forth. If you even vaguely remember that the music was pretty fucking awesome, check these out.


from the Sorcerer's Stone
Christmas at Hogwarts
Hedwig's Theme - with the famous celeste theme, then up to a wonderful tutti restatement of the film's theme.


from the Chamber of Secrets
Fawkes is Reborn



from Azkaban
Aunt Marge's Waltz
Buckbeak's Flight - i love the drums and then we go right into a lush statement of the flying theme. One of my favorite Williams leitmotifs.


*as always, please let me know about dead or misdirected links. thanks dudes.