''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' is the soundtrack to the 2007 film of the same name, based on the

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

Nicholas Hooper Nicholas Hooper is a British film and television composer and guitarist. He has scored the award-winning BBC productions ''Land of the Tiger'' and '' Andes to Amazon'', as well as the TV movies ''The Girl in the Café'' and ''My Family and Other ...

composed the film's score, following

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

, who scored the first three films, and Patrick Doyle, who did the fourth. Though new to the series, Hooper had worked with director

David Yates David Yates (born 8 October 1963) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter, who has directed feature films, short films, and television productions. He is best known for directing the final four films in the ''Harry Potter'' ser ...

before. The soundtrack was released 10 July 2007, the day before the film's release.

Development

Hooper incorporated "

Hedwig's Theme The soundtrack to ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (titled ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' in the United States) was released on 30 October 2001. The film's score was composed and conducted by John Williams. The soundtrack w ...

", the series' theme originally written by

for the first film and heard in all subsequent entries, into the score. In March and April 2007, Hooper, conductor

Alastair King Alastair King (born 1967) is a British composer and conductor, perhaps best known for his musical contributions to film and television. He frequently collaborates with composers Charlie Mole, Geoff Zanelli, Nicholas Hooper and Rupert Gregson- ...

and the Chamber Orchestra of London recorded nearly two hours of music at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...

in London with orchestrations provided by King, Geoff Alexander, Julian Kershaw, Bradley Miles and Simon Whiteside. Two new main themes were made to reflect the new character

Dolores Umbridge Dolores Jane Umbridge is a fictional character from the ''Harry Potter'' series created by J.K. Rowling. Umbridge is the primary antagonist of the fifth novel of ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' and has been stationed at Hogwar ...

and

Lord Voldemort Lord Voldemort ( , in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of '' Harry Potter'' novels. The character first appeared in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's S ...

's invasion of Harry's mind. A Japanese

Taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

drum was used for a deeper sound in the percussion. The trailer contains a track by X-Ray Dog, entitled "Divine Crusade", which first appeared on the album ''K-9 Empire'' before being licensed to Order of the Phoenix. Hooper said he reviewed the previous soundtracks of the Harry Potter films by John Williams, particularly the third soundtrack, but ultimately "decided that it was best if I moved into my own way of composing rather than trying to emulate John Williams, which is impossible."

Release

The soundtrack was also released in a special edition, with a custom hinged box with Navy velveteen fabric. Inside the box is a 20-page booklet with a foil-embossed front cover.

Reception

Critical reaction to the score was fairly mixed compared to the previous four scores in the series. Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks awarding the score three stars out of five, saying "...it fails to provide continuity within either its own confines or those of the franchise as a whole". Archie Watt of MovieCues said "This isn’t a bad score by any means, but there can be little argument that it is the weakest of all the Harry Potter scores to date".

Chart performance

The soundtrack debuted at number 43 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 16,000 copies in its first week and has since sold a total of 356,000 copies in U.S. and a million copies worldwide. The soundtrack also charted at five on the Top Soundtracks Chart.

Track listing

* "Dumbledore's Army" was used in the Quidditch trials scene in ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''. * "Another Story", "Hall of Prophecy", "The Room of Requirement", and "A Journey to Hogwarts" contain samples of "

" written by

. * "The Kiss" was heard in the viaduct scene during the end of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Soundtrack) 05 2007 soundtrack albums 2000s film soundtrack albums Fantasy film soundtracks