Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

What would the multi-award-winning Titanic composer James Horner have brought to director Chris Columbus's 2001 film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s bestseller? We’ll never know, as Horner turned the project down, leaving it to Hollywood’s safest pair of hands, those belonging to John Williams, to build the musical foundations of Warner Bros.’ franchise-in-the-making. And Williams did what Williams does best, producing a sweeping Romantic score with global appeal. Magic is conjured with sparkling touches of orchestration—hear the darkly alluring waltz of “Hedwig’s Theme”, with its music-box-like mysteriousness provided by the celesta alongside strings in full flight. Written when the fashion for wall-to-wall music was at its height in Hollywood, this 73-minute score draws on tried and tested ideas, with the battle of good versus evil inspiring hints of E.T. and Star Wars in the strings of “Harry’s Wondrous World”, The Empire Strikes Back in “The Chess Game” and Raiders of the Lost Ark in his choral crescendos for “The Stone” theme. Williams relinquished overall responsibility for the scores after movie No. 3, passing the baton to Patrick Doyle, with Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat composing for later instalments.