Something most people do not know about me is that I like animated cartoons. People frequently suggest certain television shows to me that I should really watch, but to be honest I am enjoying these animation shows more, with their less complex and more light-hearted stories. While I was browsing Netflix around a year ago, one of the suggestions on the platform was The Dragon Prince, and after one episode I was hooked and hungry for more. Not only did I like the show, I also enjoyed the music written by Frederik Wiedmann. After two successful seasons, The Dragon Prince: Season 3, was recently released on Netflix and the release included a soundtrack that was again composed by Wiedmann.
After three seasons, the highlight of the score is still the main theme, which can be heard at the beginning of the album in “Ultimatum.” It is a very short theme, with a gorgeous melody played mostly on a flute, and it appears occasionally on the album. The melody of the theme is played by a solo instrument most of the time, like the flute or the cello, for example after some battle music in “The Fall of Sol Regem.” An uplifting version of the theme can be found halfway through “Katolis Sunrise / Everywhere You Look.” There is also a gorgeous version, starting big with the brass and transitioning into a more emotional version, in “The Leap.” Finally, in the show’s finale “My Hope, My Love” the melody is played by the piano, and the track ends on the climax of the theme, informing the audience that this part of the saga is over.
The album for this season is one hour and forty minutes long, and together with the two albums from previous seasons, it is an almost impossible task for me to find all the beautiful themes that Wiedmann has created for each character, but I managed to find two. The first one is the gorgeous melody Wiedmann has written for the Moonshadow elf Rayla, which can be heard in two very prominent places. One is in “Because She’s Rayla” with an astonishing emotional version of the melody by viola (or a violin) and piano. The second one can be found in “Silvergrove”, where the theme is more of a foundation of a very melodic and beautiful piece. The second theme I recognized from the previous seasons is for the antagonist Aaravos, containing an unnerving piano pattern with a cello melody laid on top of it, which can be heard in “Noble Aims.”
In addition to reusing old themes, the third season also introduced new characters, which is a good opportunity to write new music. There is at least one new theme that gets introduced, and it is created for the country Neolandia and its prince, with a solo for the cello, which you can find in “The Prince of Neolandia.”
The most fantastic part of this season is the finale. Not only can you find the most emotional musical pieces at the end, as I mentioned with “The Leap” and “My Love, My Hope,” but it also contains the music for an epic battle, which you can hear in the three “Battle of the Storm Spire” pieces. You can keep track of the battle perfectly through the music. In “Hold the Line” the battle starts with very fast notes and patterns, together with percussion. In “Fading Hope” you can hear a lot of emotional despair, with the main theme in the middle by a duduk and a flute. Finally, you can hear the victory in the music in “The Tide Turns”, with marvelous big orchestral sounds.
In general, the music is just wonderfully implemented to support the images of a wondrous fantasy world. Wiedmann has created an amazing pallet of sounds for the show, and with the music from the first two seasons, he has a solid foundation to work with. There is so much going on in the show. There are moments of love, hate, betrayal, desperation, death, battles and hope, and everything is supported brilliantly with beautiful melodies. The most emotional moments in the music are done by one single instrument like the duduk, cello, violin, piano or flute. What I love about these solos is that you do not only hear the emotion of the melody, but also the skill that the player puts into his instrument to bring the music to an even higher level. In contrast to that, the first thing I noticed when listening to the music is that many sounds are computer samples. Except for all the solos and some of the very emotional pieces, which are done by musicians, the quality of the sound is too methodical and bland, especially when the music involves brass. There can be many reasons for this decision, of which I have no knowledge, and if you are watching the show you would probably won’t even notice. But if I am honest, this gorgeous melodic music with its themes needs real musicians and a choir to flourish to its full potential. It looks like the show will be continuing with at least a fourth season, which means more stories in this fantasy world, including more music from Wiedmann, and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing more from this brilliant show.
Listen or buy
- Buy this soundtrack digitally from Amazon.com or iTunes
- Listen to this soundtrack on Spotify
Tracklist
The highlights are in bold.
- Ultimatum (2:34)
- The Fall of Sol Regem (2:15)
- A Lesson in Stealth (2:50)
- Hand in Hand (2:20)
- A Stupid Idea (2:14)
- The Breach / The Scarf Trick (2:39)
- All Hail King Ezran (0:59)
- Katolis Sunrise / Everywhere You Look (2:43)
- The Prince of Neolandia (0:40)
- Hold On Tight (1:20)
- The Weight of the Crown (1:17)
- Adoraburrs (1:28)
- The King’s Verdict (3:25)
- Silvergrove (1:53)
- Heartbloom (1:17)
- A Human With a Pure Heart (1:41)
- There You Are (2:42)
- Trustworthy Allies (3:55)
- Understanding, Love, And Jelly Tarts (1:29)
- One Feeling Too Far (1:41)
- Bringer of Tarts / Beneath the Sands (3:14)
- Shadow of the Ambler (1:31)
- Broken Links (2:59)
- Because She’s Rayla (1:05)
- A Single Drop of Blood (2:14)
- Weary Wings (1:28)
- Thunderfall (1:33)
- His Name Will Be Vengeance (1:16)
- Ghost Feather (2:25)
- A Way Forward (2:55)
- Noble Aims (1:20)
- The Eclipse of Lux Aurea (3:30)
- Midnight Sun / Draw Your Last Breath (2:34)
- Don’t Make Me Choose / Hearts of Cinder (2:21)
- The Queen’s Slumber (3:24)
- Manus Pluma Volantis (1:58)
- Prelude to War (2:04)
- Battle of the Storm Spire: Hold the Line (2:54)
- Battle of the Storm Spire: Fading Hope (3:33)
- Battle of the Storm Spire: The Tide Turns (2:45)
- Aftermath (1:04)
- How Could You? (3:34)
- Nowhere to Run (1:49)
- The Leap (3:03)
- My Love, My Hope (2:24)
Total length: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Lakeshore Records (2019)
