My mom has an obsession with movie soundtracks. Even if she hasn’t seen the movie, you can count on her to have the soundtrack.
For years this compulsion annoyed me. I hated walking into a music store and watching her fill her cart with the music from movies I had never even heard of. It was mortifying!
However, my disposition eventually changed, and I started to enjoy soundtracks.
I stopped thinking of the music as a lesser part of a movie, and started thinking of it as its own separate piece of art.
This new approach gave me the chance to relish a whole new genre of music, one that often combines two of my favorite types of music: classical and modern/pop.
Over the past couple of years, I have developed a few favorites, including the soundtracks to the James Bond movies, “Lord of the Rings,” “Schindler’s List” and “Star Wars” and basically anything by John Williams.
Nonetheless, my preferred soundtrack for as long as I can remember is that of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (parts 1 and 2).
Coming from a classical background, I find these songs easy to relate to and understand. There are obvious melodies and harmonies along with great contrast in both tone and emotion.
But despite these great qualities, the best part about this soundtrack is that it can stand apart from the movie and still be engaging.
A couple of weeks ago, I was working in the Cave and someone decided to turn on “Obliviate” from Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat.
I was stunned that other people actually listened to soundtracks; I had always assumed my mom and I were out of the ordinary in that way.
Seconds later, and even more to my surprise, the whole room exploded with praise for the song choice.
While Desplat’s popularity shocked me that day, it doesn’t anymore. Why shouldn’t everyone love “Obliviate,” let alone the other great songs on the soundtrack?
I mean, anyone who has seen the movie must have realized how much the music added to it.
It’s like a new form of being hipster. Except now the cool kids listen to soundtracks.
