The 2012 IFMCA Award winners are…

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION HONORS MULTIPLE FILMS; “LIFE OF PI” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR BUT DESPLAT, ELFMAN, GIACCHINO, NEWMAN, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS ALSO WIN

http://filmmusiccritics.org/2013/02/ifmca-winners-2012/

FEBRUARY 21, 2013 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. Unlike in previous years, where one score has taken multiple victories, the main film prizes are split equally between 11 different movies and composers, the greatest spread in IFMCA history.

The award for Score of the Year goes to Canadian composer MYCHAEL DANNA for his score for director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI. Danna’s dramatic and beautiful score made use of a large number of Indian musical elements in addition to a traditional western orchestra, capturing through music one the film’s key ideas, the collision of different cultures to form the large, ethnic melting pot from which the lead character, Pi Patel, originates. This is the first Score of the Year award from the IFMCA for Golden Globe winner and double-Oscar nominee Danna, who had never previously been nominated in this category, although he did receive five previous nominations in genre categories for scores such as BEING JULIA, THE NATIVITY STORY and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.

Reel Music gets involved in the inaugural IFMCA Radio broadcast

The IFMCA is proud to announce the launch of IFMCA RADIO. The first show celebrates the music nominated for the 2012 IFMCA Awards. A number of members were asked to introduce a few tracks from nominated scores that they felt were particularly worthy of being highlighted. The couple of cues that I chose to be included in the show are from scores nominated in the “Best Original Score For A Television Series” category: “The Fallen” from John Lunn’s DOWNTON ABBEY and “I Am The Doctor In Utah” taken from Murray Gold’s score for Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO.

Please take a listen to the show at the IFMCA website. Below is the IFMCA announcement of the first show of IFMCA Radio. Enjoy!

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES IFMCA RADIO WITH A LOOK AT THE BEST SCORES OF 2012

The International Film Music Critics Association is proud to announce the launch of IFMCA Radio, a new audio feature which will bring a new, dynamic aspect to the IFMCA’s work.

This inaugural broadcast of IFMCA Radio celebrates the music nominated for the 2012 IFMCA Awards, and features selections by several members which represent, in their opinion, some of the best individual film, TV and video game cues from 2012.

The selections in this special 2-hour programme includes music from JOHN CARTER (Michael Giacchino), JOURNEY (Austin Wintory), SECRET OF THE WINGS (Joel McNeely), DOWNTON ABBEY (John Lunn), DOCTOR WHO (Murray Gold), CLOUD ATLAS (Tom Tykwer/Johnny Klimek/Reinhold Heil), RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Alexandre Desplat), THE IMPOSSIBLE (Fernando Velázquez), METSÄN TARINA (Panu Aaltio), DANS LA MAISON (Philippe Rombi), TED (Walter Murphy), PARANORMAN (Jon Brion), STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (Jerry Goldsmith), LINCOLN (John Williams), SKYFALL (Thomas Newman), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Hans Zimmer), KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING (Grant Kirkhope), LIFE OF PI (Mychael Danna), ISABEL (Federico Jusid), ANNA KARENINA (Dario Marianelli), MOONRISE KINGDOM (Alexandre Desplat), BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Dan Romer/Benh Zeitlin), WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER (Nic Raine), and QUO VADIS (Miklós Rózsa).

IFMCA Award Nominations 2012 have been announced

INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS REVEAL MOST OPEN RACE IN YEARS, WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS FOR DANNA, DESPLAT, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS

FEBRUARY 7, 2013 — The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. The largest numbers this year are, for the most part, split evenly between four composers, all of whom received four nominations: MYCHAEL DANNA, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ and veteran composer JOHN WILLIAMS.

The nominations for Danna, Velázquez and Williams were each for a single score – director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI, director Juan Antonio Bayona’s harrowing tsunami drama THE IMPOSSIBLE [LO IMPOSIBLE] and director Steven Spielberg’s look at the last months of the life of Abraham LINCOLN, respectively.

Desplat’s nominations were for his body of work in 2012 which included writing IFMCA Award-nominated music for the quirky comedy MOONRISE KINGDOM, the storybook animation RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, and the contemporary war thriller ZERO DARK THIRTY, as well as for the 1970s espionage thriller ARGO, the realistic French romantic drama RUST AND BONE [DE ROUILLE ET D’OS], the Italian satirical comedy REALITY, and the French-language biopic CLOCLO.

The other nominees for Film Score of the Year are the ambitious sci-fi drama CLOUD ATLAS by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (two nominations), and director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy prequel THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by Howard Shore (two nominations).

Danna, Desplat, Velázquez and Williams are also short-listed for Film Composer of the Year along with DANNY ELFMAN, who enjoyed a stellar year composing music for such popular and successful films as DARK SHADOWS, FRANKENWEENIE, HITCHCOCK, MEN IN BLACK III, PROMISED LAND and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.

The IFMCA recognizes emerging talent in the film music world, and this year is no exception. The nominees in the Breakout Composer of the Year category include young Spanish composer ZELTIA MONTES for her work on the Spanish feature drama VILAMOR; composer DAN ROMER and composer/director BENH ZEITLIN for their captivating bluegrass-flavored score for the critically acclaimed BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD; JOSEPH TRAPANESE for his work on the animated TV show TRON: UPRISING; NATHAN JOHNSON for his unconventionally percussive music for the acclaimed sci-fi thriller LOOPER; and composer/conductor NIC RAINE, a long time associate of the late John Barry and contributor to Silva Screen and Tadlow Music’s series of re-recordings, who has begun to establish his own musical voice through his score for the German-language thriller WIR WOLLTEN AUFS MEER.

As it has in previous years, the IFMCA takes pride in honoring composers from across the film music world; this year’s international nominees include French composer Philippe Rombi for his work on director François Ozon’s thriller DANS LA MAISON, Finnish composer Panu Aaltio for the beautiful nature documentary score METSÄN TARINA, UK-based Portuguese composer Miguel d’Oliveira’s score for the BBC documentary SHAKESPEARE & US, Argentinean composer Federico Jusid’s music for the Spanish TV series ISABEL, and Japanese composer Naoki Sato’s contribution to the Japanese TV series PRICELESS.

Several composers are receiving their first ever IFMCA Award nominations this year, including JON BRION (Paranorman, Animation), ROBERT FOLK (There Be Dragons – Secretos de Pasión, Drama), PASCAL GAIGNE (Los Mundos Sutiles, Documentary), GRANT KIRKHOPE (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Video Game), WALTER MURPHY (Ted, Comedy), FREDERIK WIEDMANN (Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Television), and the team from Blizzard Entertainment led by RUSSELL BROWER and NEAL ACREE (World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Video Game).

The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 9th IFMCA Awards on February 21, 2013.

Maintitles.net review – LAST BREATH (Vincent Gillioz)

Please head over to maintitles.net and check out my review of Vincent Gillioz’s score for the “psychological horror-drama” Last Breath. And look out for it here in a few weeks.

IFMCA Award Winners 2011

JOHN WILLIAMS WINS FIVE AWARDS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS INCLUDING SCORE OF THE YEAR FOR “WAR HORSE”

FEBRUARY 23, 2012 – The International Film Music Critics Association announces the winners of its eighth annual awards for excellence in musical scoring in 2011 with John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s WAR HORSE topping the list, winning Film Score of the Year, Best Score for a Drama Film and Individual Cue for “The Homecoming.” Williams also wins Composer of the Year and Best Score for an Animated Film for THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN. French composer Ludovic Bource wins Breakout Composer of the Year for his score to THE ARTIST.

Cliff Martinez wins Best Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film for Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE. Best Score for a Comedy Film is given to THE RUM DIARY by Christopher Young. Michael Giacchino wins his 11th career award for JJ Abrams’ SUPER 8 in the Best Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film category. Turkish composer Pinar Toprak wins Best Score for a Documentary Film for her score to THE WIND GODS.

In the non-film categories, Arnau Bataller wins Best Score for a Television Series for the Spanish telenovela ERMESSENDA. Veteran Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi wins Best Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for the Level-5 / Studio Ghibli game NI NO KUNI: WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH.

The Best Archival Release goes to the massive Warner Bros sixteen-disc, retrospective box-set THE DANNY ELFMAN & TIM BURTON 25TH ANNIVERSARY MUSIC BOX, which was housed in a Zoetrope box and included an exclusive historical book. The winner of Best Archival Re-recording goes to conductor William Stromberg and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra for their re-recording of Bernard Herrmann’s THE BATTLE OF NERETVA and THE NAKED AND THE DEAD. Best Record Label of the Year goes to La-La Land Records, their second win in a row in this category, for such notable 2011 expanded release soundtracks as 1941, SPACE ABOVE AND BEYOND, FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY, COMMANDO and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION COLLECTION VOLUME 1.

The Association is also bestowing a Special Award to SYMPHONY OF HOPE: THE HAITI PROJECT, a benefit recording collaboration between 25 film and TV composers, including John Debney, Christopher Young, Dave Grusin, Marvin Hamlisch, and Christopher Lennertz who produced with Steve Schnur. The recording is available as a download on itunes and Amazon among other outlets with proceeds going to Haiti Earthquake Relief. More information can be found at www.haitisymphony.com.

IFMCA Award Nominations 2011 have been announced

JOHN WILLIAMS RECEIVES 7 INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS’ 2011 AWARD NOMINATIONS, INCLUDING TWO FOR FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR

FEBRUARY 9, 2012 – The International Film Music Critics Association announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2011 with veteran composer John Williams leading the field with 7 nods including WAR HORSE (3 nominations) and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN (3 nominations) for Film Score of the Year. Also nominated in this category are Ludovic Bource’s THE ARTIST (3 nominations), Mark McKenzie’s score to THE GREATEST MIRACLE (2 nominations) and Howard Shore’s HUGO (2 nominations).

Williams is short-listed for Film Composer of the Year along with Bource; last year’s winner, Alexandre Desplat (whose many scores include HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, THE TREE OF LIFE, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, THE IDES OF MARCH, A BETTER LIFE); Michael Giacchino (SUPER 8, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, 50/50, MONTE CARLO, CARS 2) and Alberto Iglesias (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, LA PIEL QUE HABITO (THE SKIN I LIVE IN), TAMBIÉN LA LLUVIA, LE MOINE).

French composer Ludovic Bource has the rare distinction of also being nominated for Breakout Composer of the Year for Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film, THE ARTIST. The category has an international flair with nominations for Ireland’s Brian Byrne, recognized for his score to ALBERT NOBBS; the British electronic duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons aka The Chemical Brothers for HANNA; British composer Michael Richard Plowman for A LONELY PLACE TO DIE, AGE OF HEROES and TREASURE GUARDS and Spanish Lucas Vidal for MIENTRAS DUERMES.

The British dominate the TV Score category with the popular ITV/PBS series DOWNTON ABBEY (John Lunn) nominated alongside DOCTOR WHO (Murray Gold) and SHERLOCK (David Arnold and Michael Price). Rounding out the category are the Spanish series ERMESSENDA (Arnau Bataller) and the American HBO series GAME OF THRONES (Ramin Djawadi).

The International Film Music Critics will announce the winners of its Eighth Annual Awards on February 23, 2012.

International Film Music Critics Association

As some of you may know I recently became a member of the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) – an association of online, print and radio journalists who specialize in writing about original film, television and video game music. In the coming weeks the group will be voting for our favorite film, TV and video scores of the year – nominations will be announced mid-February.

For more regular information concerning the group (including links to reviews and interviews) please visit and LIKE our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ifmca. Don’t forget to visit our official web site at http://filmmusiccritics.org/ and check out our member profiles at http://filmmusiccritics.org/​members/ . The IFMCA also has a presence on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/IFMCA . Following the IFMCA is the best way to keep up to date with all that’s happening in film, TV and video game music.

2011 Score List

All things considered, I think that 2011 has been a good year for film/TV/video game music. Many of the established composers have given us some quality music that has been a pleasure to listen to away from the medium for which it was originally composed. Below is a list (for anyone who is interested) of the titles I have heard that have been released in 2011 (though archival titles have been omitted).

AALTIO, PANU

Body of Water
Dawn of The Dragonslayer
Hella W

ABOULKER, FABRICE

Excalibur: La Légende du Roi Arthur et des Chevaliers de La Table Ronde
Rani

AMAR, ARMAND

La Source des Femmes
Tu Seras Mon Fils

ARMSTRONG, CRAIG

In Time

ARNOLD, DAVID

Paul

A New Year

Things have been a bit hectic at home over the festive season – hence the fall off in review regularity. Reviews will continue once things get back to normal. Thank you to those who have been checking the blog regularly.

I have been really pleased by the interest in the blog and I am hoping to maintain – and increase – the interest in 2012.

I want to thank everyone for visiting in 2011 and I want to wish everyone a great New Year.

I am hoping that this WordPress android app works out okay for posting comments “on the move”.

Capsule Comments

As we are getting towards the end of the year thoughts naturally turn to reviewing what sort of year it has been for film, TV and game music. As part of my reflection on what 2011 held in terms of the music, I was thinking of adding some “Capsule Comments” on the scores I am listening to during this time. They will not be full reviews. Instead I’m hoping that they will be one-paragraph comments of albums that are very general.

Anyway, I plan to start on these as soon as possible. So keep an eye out for them to begin in the next day or two.