Nicholas Hooper talks about his most favorite and challenging scores for Half-Blood Prince

Last night we reported that a new issue of the Official Harry Potter Newsletter would be hitting subscriber e-mail inboxes today.

That newsletter has now arrived, and the included interview with Half-Blood Prince composer Nicholas Hooper delves into his favorite songs to score, how long it takes to create a soundtrack, and more:

Q: What was the most difficult scene to score in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

A: There were two that were particularly difficult. Firstly, was the scene where Snape makes the “Unbreakable Vow.” It was a big and vitally important scene – central to the plot – but everyone was very quiet. The music had to almost not be there but build to support the making of the vow while Bellatrix whispered it. Very tricky. The other scene was Dumbledore lying dead in the courtyard. Writing music that communicates such sadness is very, very hard. I think the orchestra at the scoring felt it and I hope that that communicated itself to the audience.