CLASSICAL
The Houston Symphony finds magic in “Harry Potter.”
The wizarding world of Harry Potter is wrapped into a single musical phrase written by John Williams, the first of four composers involved in the collection of eight films.
Released in 2001 as part of the soundtrack for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the eerie, yet captivating leitmotif, which was not intended to be a standalone piece, became just that. Even today, the delicate sound of the celesta heard in the iconic tune, titled “Hedwig’s Theme,” is instantly associated with the series by listeners who are even only slightly familiar with the worldwide phenomenon that follows “the boy who lived” and his comrades through their academic years at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Still, the work behind the music that is hummed by so many had often remained overlooked, until recently.
In 2016, CineConcerts, in partnership with Warner Brothers Consumer Products, brought the behind-the-scenes action to the forefront. In a global concert tour, musicians perform the scores live while the movies are projected on a 40-foot screen above them. By the end of this year, the series of film-with-live-orchestra concerts, which celebrate the story by author J.K. Rowling, will have reached more than 1.3 million fans in 1,000-plus performances across more than 48 countries worldwide.
Three such performances will take place Friday through Sunday, as the Houston Symphony presents “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Concert” at Jones Hall under the baton of Keitaro Harada, associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Directed by David Yates, the fifth installment in the series, which premiered in 2007, features a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg, in which Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger tackle their fifth year of studies at the boarding school. As the Ministry of Magic denies the return of
HOUSTON SYMPHONY WILL PERFORM LIVE DURING SCREENINGS OF “HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.”
Voldemort, the beloved trio prepare themselves for battle, working around the sinister new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Dolores Umbridge, who later becomes the school’s High Inquisitor and Headmistress.
Different styles, instruments
As in the preceding films, the music plays a major role in intensifying the extraordinary magic and chilling adventures within the story. British composer Nicholas Hooper, who scored both the fifth and sixth movies, contributes a distinct style full of rhythm and playful melodies, such as in the recurring theme of Professor Umbridge.
Hooper uses different instruments, including Japanese Taiko drums, to create the desired mood, but he also incorporates an electronic sound from, for instance, a synthesizer that provides more “oomph” to the magical spirit of the score, Harada explained.
Still, despite the differences of each composer, there’s a consistency in the music throughout the series.
“I think that’s the beauty of it,” Harada said. “There’s this common denominator that each character has their own theme and each character has this special harmony that people can immediately, instantly recognize. Of course, with the books, you have to imagine it, but with the movies, you have the added benefit of hearing the sound of the music.”
Leading such productions is a new skill set that is required of modern-day conductors, Harada continued, but the job doesn’t come without its challenges.
“The score of the movie has already been recorded by the studio when the film was produced, so the conductor and the musicians have to replicate that exact timing of the music and the exact interpretation of the music from the movie that the fans are so used to hearing,” he said.
‘It hits your soul’
To do so, Harada has a small screen situated next to his music stand, on which the film plays in sync with what the audience sees on the large screen. The difference is that additional marks called streamers and punches — or lines and circles that identify important information about the score, such as tempo changes — are layered over Harada’s screen, offering him guidance in timing the music.
The result is a hit among the massive following of Harry Potter fans. Those who grew up with the young wizard as a child are now adults, Harada explained, but the story is universal and enduring.
“It’s hard to describe it in words but there’s definitely something magical about hearing a performance live with an orchestra,” he said. “You can physically feel the vibrations of the sound. It hits your soul. It hits your mind. It’s something that is felt and something that is real. From the first note of the music, you’re immediately taken into the novel itself.”