The soundtrack to ''

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, a youn ...

'' (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 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 ...

. The soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Score at the

74th Academy Awards The 74th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 24, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly ...

. The film introduces many character-specific themes (leitmotifs) that are used in at least one sequel as well, although most of the themes are only used again in ''Chamber of Secrets.'' These themes include two themes for Voldemort, two themes for Hogwarts, a Diagon Alley theme, a

Quidditch Quidditch is a fictional sport invented by author J.K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). It is a dangerous but popular sport played by wi ...

theme, a flying theme, two friendship themes, and the main theme ("Hedwig's Theme"). This main theme was reprised and developed in all eight of the main Harry Potter films, as well as the spinoff films ''

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (often referred to as simply ''Fantastic Beasts'') is a 2001 guide book written by British author J. K. Rowling (under the pen name of the fictitious author Newt Scamander) about the magical crea ...

'' and its sequels, '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' and '' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore''. The soundtrack was certified gold in Canada (50,000 units) by the

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It ...

on 14 December 2001. It was also certified gold in Japan for 100,000 units by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

. In 2002, the soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Score at the

in which Williams took part in conducting the ceremony. However, Williams lost to

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and '' The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...

score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian ...

of '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. The score was performed by the London Session Orchestra at Air Lyndhurst Studios and Abbey Road Studios in London with orchestrations provided by Williams,

Alexander Courage Alexander Mair Courage Jr. (December 10, 1919May 15, 2008) familiarly known as "Sandy" Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme musi ...

, Conrad Pope, John Neufeld, Eddie Karam, Pete Anthony,

Benjamin Wallfisch Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and producer of film scores. Since the mid-2000s, he has worked on over 75 feature films, including composing original scores for ''Blade Ru ...

and Larry Rench. It entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at 48 and also charted at 2 on the Top Soundtracks Chart. In UK, the album charted at number 19. In 2018, the soundtrack was released by La-La-Land Records as a 3-Disc CD set encompassing the complete score of the film as part of a limited edition box set featuring the scores for the first three Harry Potter films.

Track listing

Original Release

Harry Potter - The John Williams Soundtrack Collection: Disc 1

Harry Potter - The John Williams Soundtrack Collection: Disc 2

Harry Potter - The John Williams Soundtrack Collection: Disc 3

Critical reception

Critical reactions to the soundtrack were almost universally positive, praising the score's central themes. However, some critics felt that the score lacked originality and repeated its themes excessively.

Behind the scenes

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

was approached to compose the score for the film but he turned it down. "Hedwig's Theme" is the

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglic ...

for the

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

. Often labelled as the series's main theme, it first appeared in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' in the track "Prologue". A concert arrangement of the same name is included in the end credits. "Hedwig's Theme" has been interpolated in the fourth through eighth ''Harry Potter'' film scores, including in those by Patrick Doyle,

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 ...

, and

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and '' The Shape of Water'' ...

and the spin-off Fantastic Beasts scores by

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

. It also appears in the scores to the last four ''Harry Potter'' video games, all composed by

James Hannigan James Hannigan (born 23 July 1971) is a British composer with credits in the ''Harry Potter'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''Command and Conquer'' (including Red Alert 3's well-known Soviet March), ''Dead Space'', ''Warhammer'', ''Cloudy With ...

. "Hedwig's Theme" has achieved significant pop culture status, being featured as ring tones, trailer music, and other forms of multimedia. Track 10 concludes with "A Change of Season," although in the film, the season's change had occurred before the Norwegian Ridgeback had hatched. Track 18 is also included in the epilogue of ''

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'' is a 2011 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The film is the second of two cinematic parts based on the 2007 novel ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow ...

'' as a tribute to Williams and the series' end.

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Soundtrack) 01 Harry Potter 1 2001 soundtrack albums 2000s film soundtrack albums Albums with cover art by Drew Struzan Nonesuch Records soundtracks Atlantic Records soundtracks Warner Records soundtracks La-La Land Records soundtracks Fantasy film soundtracks