Track Listing

1. Lumos! (Hedwig’s Theme)
2. Aunt Marge’s Waltz
3. The Knight Bus
4. Apparition On The Train
5. Double Trouble
6. Buckbeak’s Flight
7. A Window To The Past
8. The Whomping Willow And The Snowball Fight
9. Secrets Of The Castle
10. The Portrait Gallery
11. Hagrid The Professor
12. Monster Books And Boggarts!
13. Quidditch, Third Year
14. Lupin’s Transformation And Chasing Scabbers
15. The Patronus Light
16. The Werewolf Scene
17. Saving Buckbeak
18. Forward To Time Past
19. The Dementors Converge
20. Finale
21. Mischief Managed!
22. Exclusive Screensaver
23. Wallpaper
24. Photo Gallery

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4482 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Soundtrack

Amazon.co.uk Review
If the commercial constraints of genre and chronic Hollywood sequelitis threaten to musically straitjacket even a legend like John Williams, the veteran playfully rebuffs such cynicism in his rich, mirthful score for this third chapter of the Harry Potter cycle. Whether inspired by a wilful desire not to repeat himself, the continued reinvention of his jazz roots that brightened his scores for Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, or the story's requirement for a handful of fresh themes, Williams informs his work here with an often dizzying range. The warm mysticism of "Hedwig's Theme" and classical farrago of "Aunt Marge's Waltz" can scarcely prepare one for the swinging, off-kilter "Knight Bus," a romp that suggests a head-on collision between the big-band bombast of 1941 and the loopy, Cantina Band kitsch of Star Wars. From there Williams skips back a half-millennium or so for inspiration, conjuring the ancient children's chorus "Double Trouble" (its text adapted from no less than MacBeth), a medieval theme that becomes one of the score's inspirational foundations. Those with a taste for the composer's patent orchestral thunder won't be disappointed either, as the Herrmann-influenced percussion/brass bombast of "Buckbeat's Flight" and "The Whomping Willow" attest with rousing zeal. It's arguably Williams' best Potter score to date, a soundtrack whose inspirations sprawl across six centuries--and as many disparate musical styles. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description
Oscar and Grammy Award-winning composer John William returns with an enchanted score inspired by the magic of the blockbuster film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The score is sure to be a hit with fans of the enormously successful Harry Potter films, as well as fans of John Williams--one of the most popular and successful American orchestral composers of the modern age. The set includes extras, enhanced with exclusive wallpaper and screensaver, flip book of stills from film, exclusive link to demo of new EA Harry Potter video game, Golden Ticket Contest (winner receives trip to Hollywood to tour WB lot and museum) and pull-out poster.

Customer Reviews

the score of the film, rather flat and nondirectional
While the philosopher's stone score is amazingly original and frankly a work of pure musical genius, the score to the prisoner of azkaban lacks any real direction and serves as a pure bare bones narrative to the visuals and additional audio. The minimum any score should provide is a narration of the emotions of the characters, and generally reveal the structure of the film in order to pace the audience, and that's all you get here.
The best scores ever written, which includes several by the genius mr williams, have to have a strong direction, unifying universal themes, and powerful rhythm forcing the audience to cry, laugh and jump at all the right moments, unfortunately the score neither achieves or approaches any of these.
Generally deflated when compared to the philosopher's stone and the chamber of secrets.
While several tracks on this disk are interesting, even enjoyable, overall the score is poor in comparison to some of his more famous works.
The prisoner of azkaban film is slower paced than the first two and suffers from a general lack of direction and meaning itself, resulting in quite a significant pacing problem, i'm sure this greatly affected mr williams when he was writing, as there was very little inspiration to be gained from the edit.

So i give the score to the prisoner of azkaban a 3. Average, some good tracks, but otherwise generally indifferent. Majority woodwind score, so lacking necessary force of emotion.
Do yourselves a favour and buy the philosopher's stone!

More of the John Williams class
This is a classic John Williams soundtrack. He's the best, simple as. Why he's the best is probably evidenced by the sheer number of brilliant scores he's composed and how many of them are memorable and popular beyond the boundries of the film, yet remain forever conncted with the characters they help to portay. It works brilliantly here, the score just feels magical and slightly mischievous. I tink the overwhelming theme throughout is the tragedy of Harry mixed with the excitement of his time at Hogwarts.
One for the fans maybe, but I think anyone who loves classical music will enjoy this.

brilliant
I'm a big fan of John Williams, less so the Harry Potter films. You don't need to know anything about HP to enjoy this, which I think is among JW's best works. Just relax and enjoy the quirky variety of instrumentation and mood. The whole thing has a Christmassy or holiday feel to it, and features maybe JW's best piece ever, A Window to the Past. Brilliant.