Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the soundtrack to the 2009 film of the same name, based on the book

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling...

 by J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling

Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...

. The score was composed by Nicholas Hooper

Nicholas Hooper

Nicholas Hooper is a British film and television composer. 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 Animals among others...

 and conducted by Hooper and Alastair King

Alastair King

Alastair King is a British composer, perhaps best known for his music for film and television.He studied music at Bath College of Higher Education, graduating in 1991...

. This was the second Harry Potter film to be scored by Hooper, who also composed the score for the previous film in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Michael Goldenberg and produced by David Heyman and David Barron...

. The soundtrack was released on 14 July 2009, a day before the film was to be released. On 24 June 2009, Warner Bros. announced that the score would be released with a digital code allowing CD owners to download a copy of the soundtrack in 5.1 Digital Surround Sound, plus access other extra content (though this appears to be limited to the New Line Records version, and not available on the DECCA release distributed outside the US).

Marketing

On the Harry Potter website a preview of one of the tracks (Ginny) is played in the background.
On 17 June, a preview for three tracks was played in the background of film's updated official site. A 15 second audio preview for 13 tracks from the soundtrack was released on 19 June via Virgin Mobile's website. The soundtrack runs over 60 minutes in length.

On 30 June, AOL Radio previewed the whole soundtrack online.

Reception

On the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

issue dated August 1, 2009, the album debuted at number twenty-nine on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart, thus making it the highest charting soundtrack among all the six movie soundtracks released. The soundtrack and also charted at three on the Top Soundtracks Chart.

Track listing

The complete track listing of the soundtrack was released on June 5 on Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

.

1. "Opening" - 2:53
2. "In Noctem" - 2:00
3. "The Story Begins" - 2:05
4. "Ginny" - 1:30
5. "Snape & the Unbreakable Vow" - 2:50
6. "Wizard Wheezes" - 1:42
7. "Dumbledore's Speech" - 1:31
8. "Living Death" - 1:55
9. "Into the Pensieve" - 1:45
10. "The Book" - 1:44
11. "Ron's Victory" - 1:44
12. "Harry & Hermione" - 2:52
13. "School!" - 1:05
14. "Malfoy's Mission" - 2:53
15. "The Slug Party" - 2:11
16. "Into the Rushes" - 2:33
17. "Farewell Aragog" - 2:08
18. "Dumbledore's Foreboding" - 1:18
19. "Of Love & War" - 1:17
20. "When Ginny Kissed Harry" - 2:38
21. "Slughorn's Confession" - 3:33
22. "Journey to the Cave" - 3:08
23. "The Drink of Despair" - 2:44
24. "Inferi in the Firestorm" - 1:53
25. "The Killing of Dumbledore" - 3:34
26. "Dumbledore's Farewell" - 2:22
27. "The Friends" - 2:00
28. "The Weasley Stomp" - 2:51

Not included on the soundtrack were Friends And Love (a compilation of When Ginny Kissed Harry and Harry and Hermione, that came with purchasing a ticket for the movie on Fandango) and Big Beat Repeat (heard in the Gryffindor common room after the Quidditch match) by Josh Powell.

Track details

The orchestral ensemble for Hooper in The Half-Blood Prince is the same from the previous score, but a more significant role for light choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 is a prominent addition. Thematically, the composer references his own ideas from the previous score and several elements from Williams' work.

Of the tracks displayed, two do not appear in the final film; "In Noctem" and "Wizard Wheezes". Two tracks from the previous film were added to the final film: "Fireworks" and "Dumbledore's Army". "In Noctem" was scored and filmed for the death at the end of the film, but did not make the final cut.

Hooper stated that "Placing John Williams' themes became obvious as we went along. The beginning of the film has to have at least a hint of Hedwig's Theme".

• "Opening": After a brief quotage of "Hedwig's Theme", in which Hooper lift one note by semi-tone, elements of light choir
  Choir
  A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
  
   are introduced. The use of Hooper's choral theme throughout the score is a reference to Dumbledore and the events that would entail, regarding his character and the climax of the film. A driving theme which reoccurs in "Into the Rushes" is used here to represent the Death Eater
  Death Eater
  In the fictional world of the Harry Potter series, the Death Eaters constitute a group of wizards and witches, led by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, the chief antagonist of the series, who seek to purify the Wizarding community by eliminating the Muggle-borns...
  
  s and the havoc that they inflict in this sixth film. Hooper extends his use of percussion, with violent off-beat
  Off-Beat
  Off-Beat is a 1960 album by American jazz vocalist June Christy, arranged and conducted by Pete Rugolo.The tracks on this album were included in a 1997 double-CD re-issue under the title The Song Is June!.# “Remind Me”...
  
   anvil
  Anvil
  An anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The inertia of the anvil allows the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool...
  
   that cuts through the repetitively propulsive, galvanic string
  String instrument
  A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
  
   figure.

• "Ron's Victory": Hooper uses several variations on themes from Williams' piece "Quidditch, Third Year".

• "Inferi in the Firestorm": Hooper not only utilises whirls of dissonant strings
  String instrument
  A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
  
  , but an orchestral sound that Williams used previously in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (soundtrack)
  The Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban original motion picture soundtrack was released on 25 May 2004. The film's score was composed and conducted by John Williams. It introduced two major themes: "Window to the Past" and "Double Trouble", although neither were featured in the series' other...
  
  particularly in the tracks "The Dementors Converge" and "Finale".

• "Dumbledore's Farewell" is reused in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 theme "Severus and Lily", which is used in the scene where Harry views Snape's memories in the Pensieve.

Awards

Award	Category/Recipient(s)	Result
Grammy Award Grammy Award A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...	Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media	Nominated