Overview

With the long-awaited sixth chapter of the Harry Potter film series set for a 2009 release, it was a sure bet that a game adaptation would be forthcoming. Sure enough, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince appeared on the release calendars opposite the film. With both the director and the composer of the previous movie returning for the first time since 2002, the game shares a similar sense of continuity, with James Hannigan returning to the series, cementing himself as Jeremy Soule's successor as Hogwarts' composer in residence.

Body

It becomes clear from the outset of the album that Hannigan is interested in maintaining thematic continuity between his scores. The opening "Return to Hogwarts" features creative mutations of the composer's original themes from Order of the Phoenix, with both the friendship theme and the darker menacing/mischief theme combined as a suite. If the new adaptations aren't quite as soaring as the previous ones, they do an excellent job of tying the scores together in a way Soule never quite managed. The friendship theme is given a full performance at the end of the album as well, moving away from the flighty and optimistic into a quiet and downbeat arrangement that's incredibly moving.

The themes are less prominent in Hannigan's sequel outing, integrated more subtly into the music and with significant sections absent them entirely. The album highlight "Race Ginny," for example, cleverly integrates a fragment of the friendship theme into its midsection while relying on a unique piece to carry its first third. Hannigan seems to be trying to find a middle ground between Williams' theme-driven music for the films and Soule's largely themeless work for the first four games; he takes another page from Soule in some other aspects of the score, including some lengthy sections of ambiance across the varied "Wandering" cues.

As before, the music runs the gamut from serious ("More Potions") to silly ("Fred and George Return"), always keeping that delicate magic touch no matter the setting. The action music is once again a highlight, though perhaps not without some reservations. Tracks such as "Slytherin Combat" soar to triumphant heights unequaled in previous Potter scores, but there is also some weaker music as well, with "Bellatrix" and "Fenrir Battle" recalling some of Soule's weaker action efforts.

Astonishingly, Hannigan's score was released months before the movie or game appeared, the only album in the series thus far to become available so early. As with the previous game, Hannigan was allowed to adopt some of John Williams' themes from the original film and a few incidental Soule compositions were recycled. And, as before, all of the Williams adaptations were left off the iTunes album. Luckily, though, Half-Blood Prince also continues the fine production evident in the previous score — the album presentation is superior, with crystal-clear sound, well-mastered tracks, and a pleasing flow with the hideous flaws from the Soule albums a distant memory. Nearly an hour of music is present as well, making this the lengthiest Potter game score to date.

Summary

Half-Blood Prince is another extremely strong entry by Hannigan. While it remains to be seen if the composer will repeat his previous achievement and wind up turning in music that superior to Nicholas Hooper's film score, and the album isn't quite as consistently excellent as its predecessor, the only real disappointment is that Hannigan has at most one or two further games in the Potterverse before him. Highly recommended.