Doctor Who
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Doctor Who Strikes Gold
By: Randall LarsonDate: Thursday, March 08, 2007
THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Nicely coinciding with the release of the second season DVD from the revived Doctor Who TV series is this soundtrack CD from Silva Screen, featuring Murray Gold’s wonderful music from the first two seasons of the show’s latest incarnation. Known for its creativity and vitality despite a severe low budget than hampered set-design and special effects, the revived series, launched by the BBC in 2005, brought all that was revered about the original show (which ran from 1963 to 1989, rotating through several different incarnations of the titular “Time Lord” as various actors passed through the role) with an updated look for the 21st Century – including visual effects and a modernistic verve.
Ron Grainer (1922-1981) scored much of the original series and composed its signature title theme, assisted by BBC electronic music wizard Delia Derbyshire. Composers Dudley Simpson, Dominic Glynn, Peter Howell, Malcolm Clarke, Roger Limb, and Jonathan Gibbs contributed to the show’s musical sound as it developed over the years. Add Murray Gold to the list – his dramatic new take on the 2005 reinvention of Doctor Who benefits from the show’s larger scope and larger budget – with a full-blooded orchestral approach (beautifully performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales), enhanced by choir. Those who remember only the original show’s electronically-based scores
After a new, updated version of Grainer’s Doctor Who Theme, Gold’s “Westminster Bridge” opened the new series as well as its 2005 Christmas Special. According to Gold, the music here was inspired by a Pixies tune called “Cecelia Ann.” Opening with a dramatic up swell of orchestra, the tune morphs into a modern rock instrumental, which both suggests the dominant electronic sensibility of the original series’ music and immediately gives the new show a modern, driving aural vitality. Gold’s new theme for Doctor Who (the character, as opposed to the series; it’s initially associated with his dark and private history) is a persuasively mystical tune, sung by Melanie Pappenheim over softly furtive strings and flutes, nicely suggestive of unspoken elements in the Time Lord’s previous lives (Melanie returns with two other gorgeous vocal melodies in “Seeking the Doctor” and the haunting lyrical theme, “Doomsday.” “Cassandra’s Waltz” is a theatrical and playful tune associated with one of the new show’s early villains, reflecting her space age vaudeville attitude toward her villainy. For “Slitheen,” the bombastic action music heard when these green mercenary villains invade London, Gold pulls out the stops and concocts a vivid and vast high adventure theme, loud and lavish and enormously energetic.
“I’m Coming to Get You” is a huge orchestral panorama, powerfully conveyed with full orchestra and choir; one of the show’s and the album’s highest dramatic points. Nicely sequenced to follow the former’s bombast, “Hologram” is an eloquent melodic track, culminating in a gorgeously romantic, richly Hollywood crescendo. “Rose Defeats the Daleks” is a magnificent triumphant track, massive with symphonic orchestration and powerful choral accompaniment. “Clockwork Tardis” is a quirky motif, taking the clockwork idea and transforming it into a fast-moving and clockwork-like progressive riff. “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister” is distinguished and subtly powerful motif heard under dialog as the PM addresses her people, opening up into a great, dramatic crescendo. “Rose’s Theme” is a gorgeous, lyrical melody for strings and winds, very gentle and very elegant. A pair of beautifully poetic piano melodies are captured in “The Face of Boe” and “Madame De Pompadour,” while “Unit” contains a wonderfully crafted rhythmically pulsating melody for orchestra and synths, musically delineating another set of Who villains – unfortunately the cue stops abruptly and, at least on the CD, would have benefited from a properly composed resolution. “Tooth and Claw” is an inventive action-filled sequence for percussion and chanted voicings, pure aural onslaught until Gold’s orchestra comes in to save the save in a very satisfying musical moment. The contrast between the heavy drum-laden werewolf attack music and the triumphal cadence of the orchestra provides one of the album’s finest tracks. This is followed, in another example of very satisfying sequencing, by the eloquent and honorable music for “The Lone Dalek,” a very moving and compelling composition, and very much in contrast with Gold’s darker and more malevolent music for “The Daleks” as a whole. Another terrific example of Gold’s ability to enfold energetic action writing within compelling emotional drama is “The Cybermen,” a brutal attack track with frequent elements of thoughtful orchestral reflection. The album closes with an extended version of Grainer’s Title Theme, enhanced with strings and horns and arranged by Gold to fit the 2005 Christmas Special episode.
Gold’s Doctor Who soundtrack has many splendid moments – it’s a thoroughly likable and frequently very stimulating score with a gorgeous orchestral sound throughout, very nicely sequenced and preserved by Silva Screen. The CD proffers up 31 tracks at 75 minutes of music. The package includes notable track-by-track notes by the composer. Two pop songs used in the show, performed by Neil Hannon (replacing Tim Phillips' vocals on one of them, “Song For Ten”), are also included.
PS: For an interesting background on this soundtrack album, including a list of each episode in which this music appeared (some cues were re-used, as with the original series), see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
FILM MUSIC NEWS
Last Monday evening, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, John Williams conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a special one-time performance. The program for the evening was broken into two parts: A Tribute to Bernard Herrmann, and The Spielberg-Williams Collaboration. It was only fitting, then, that the hosts for the evening were recent Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Opening with Herrmann's "Prelude" from On Dangerous Ground, the audience was hit full force with the ferocity and power of the orchestra. Williams then introduced Scorsese, who talked respectfully and lovingly about the man who he only worked with one time. Three pieces from Herrmann's early years in Hollywood were then performed…. The highlight of the evening was the live-spotting session. The entire opening chase sequence from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade … was shown, without music, as Spielberg described where he would want music, and what stings and beats Williams would be writing to … After describing what he wanted musically, the scene was played back with live orchestral accompaniment… Read the full story at http://www.soundtrack.net/news
The US remake of the 2002 Hong Kong horror film The Eye will get an original score by Angelo Badalamenti, who has just begun work on the project about a woman who receives an eye transplant that allows her to see into the supernatural world. The film is directed by French helmer David Moreau (They) and stars Jessica Alba, Parker Posey and Alessandro Nivola. Lions Gate Films releases The Eye on October 12. – via filmmusicradio.com
The latest release from Intrada's Signature Edition series is Lee Holdridge's score for the miniseries version of East Of Eden. Their disc features the 53 minutes of music included on the original LP release as well as an additional 26 minutes taken from mono masters. The disc is limited to 1000 copies. www.intrada.com
On April 17th, Varese Sarabande will release a three-disc set titled Miklos Rozsa: A Centenary Collection, which will feature previously released music from such classic Rozsa scores as The Thief of Bagdad, The Lost Weekend, Spellbound, Quo Vadis, Ben-Hur, King of Kings, El Cid, and Eye of the Needle, and many others. On April 24th, Varese will release Jonathan Elias’ grand score for Pathfinder, an action-adventure set in the time when Vikings tried to conquer North America. In additional news, Varese will announce their latest limited edition CD Club releases on March 12th. www.varesesarabande.com
Speaking of Rozsa, Tadlow Music has posted on their web site a video showing the rehearsal for their new re-recording of his score to The Private life of Sherlock Holmes. The CD will be available exclusively by mail order and Internet download on April 18th. www.tadlowmusic.com/
Fenomenal © 
Following his latest scores for Seraphim Falls, The Number 23 and the upcoming Shrek the Third, Harry Gregson-Williams will score Gone, Baby, Gone, a crime drama written and directed by Ben Affleck and starring Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck, Robert Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan and Ed Harris. The film is based on Dennis Lehane’s novel and will be released by Miramax on October 5. – via filmmusicradio.com
Silva America has released the compilation album Alexandre Desplat - Jacques Audiard with music by award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Birth, Syriana, Girl With The Pearl Earring, The Queen). Desplat has a long-standing creative relationship with French director Jacques Audiard. This has resulted in four critically acclaimed films Sur Mes Lèvres (Read My Lips, 2005), Un Héros Très Discret (A Self-made Hero, 1996), Regarde Les Hommes Tomber (See How They Fall, 1994) and De Battre Mon Coeur S'Est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped. 2005).
Digitmovies will release for the first time on record the original soundtrack from the 1968 Italian fantasy film, Fenomenal e il tesoro di Tutankamen (aka Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankamen), directed by Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust) under the pseudonym “Roger Rockefeller.” The film was a product of the same year that brought us Mario Bava’s Diabolik, and is about a masked superhero searches for a magical golden relic while trying to prevent the plundering of an Egyptian tomb. Fairly well critically trashed and probably deservedly forgotten, it contains a notable score by Bruno Nicolai, one of Italy’s most prolific composers, after Morricone, and the one who writes closest to Morricone’s own style (they were schoolmates and studied music together). The CD was compiled from the newly-discovered original master tapes; Nicolai composed the score for a small ensemble supported by the phenomenal choir of I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni (Once Upon A Time In The West, etc.) vocalizing throughout the entire score. Digitmovies will release the score on March 26th, along with Carlo Rustichelli’s comedy score for Don Camillo e i giovani d’oggi (“Don Camillo and the young of today,” sixth and final film in the Don Camillo comedy series about a priest who is also a detective), Piero Piccioni’s music for the 1962 Sergio Corbucci peblum potboiler, Il figlio di Spartacus (The Son of Spartacus, aka The Slave), and the Guido & Maurizio de Angelis score for Sergio Martino’s 1973 crime thriller, Milano trema: la polizia vuole giustizia (Violent Professionals in the US).
Recommended Soundtrack sources:
www.arksquare.com/index_main
www.intermezzomedia.com/ (Italy)
www.moviemusic.com
