2017 Reel Music Awards – The Nominations

2017 Reel Music Awards

It’s that time of the year where Reel Music takes a look back at the year just passed to celebrate some of the ‘stand-out’ scores of 2017. As with 2016, I thought 2017 was another good year for film, television and videogame music. From the major Hollywood blockbusters through to the more modest low budget endeavours, there was a high level of quality in the music being composed and hopefully my Reel Music Award nominations highlights some of the great music on offer.

Over the course of the year I have been giving numerical values to all of the scores that I have listened to and making a few notes to act as memory jogs for this end-of-year summary. Towards the end of 2017 I began a review process to shortlist my stand-out lists. The titles listed below are my Top 10* titles that I have enjoyed most and are divided into a number of different categories. It’s difficult to articulate the decision process for choosing the various scores: there’s no formal mechanism, it’s how the music makes me feel both as a separate listening experience and – if I am lucky – how the music sits within the medium for which it was written. As with previous years, many worthy titles have, unfortunately, had to be put to one side and don’t feature in my selections: the nominations for the documentary and videogame categories were particularly difficult to choose.

Unfortunately, these ‘awards’ offer no trophies and the announcements of winners will not take place in some glittering venue, but are just a way of showcasing some of the scores released in 2017 that I feel are particularly worthy of celebrating. The various category winners and my overall choice of ‘score of 2017’ will be announced on Monday, 5th February 2018.

*Note: where there were limited numbers of releases in particular categories, five titles were nominated rather than the usual ten.

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FEATURE

• 95 (FIN/SWE, Panu Aaltio) Unreleased
• Bitter Harvest (CAN, Benjamin Wallfisch) Varèse Sarabande
• Butterfly Kisses (UK, Nathan Klein) Air-Edel Records
• Chervonyy (Chervonyi) (UKR, Franco Eco) InsightMedia
• Delirium (UK, Fiona Howe) Independent
• El Jugador de Ajedrez (The Chessplayer) (ESP, Alejandro Vivas) Grupo Concertante Talía
• Gramigna (ITA, Franco Eco) Ala Bianca Records
• My Cousin Rachel (UK/USA, Rael Jones) Sony Classical
• Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier) (FIN/BEL/ISL, Lasse Enersen) Universal Music Digital
• Voice from the Stone (USA/ITA, Michael Wandmacher) Michael Wandmacher

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FEATURE

• Ali’s Wedding (AUS, Nigel Westlake) Universal Music Digital
• Becker: Kungen av Tingsryd (SWE, Jens Lindgård & Petter Lindgård) Mosia Recordings
• The Death of Stalin (UK/FRA, Christopher Willis) MVKA
• Il Crimine Non Va In Pensione (ITA, Franco Eco) Ala Bianca Records
• Jailbreak (KHM, Fabio Guglielmo Anastasi) indipendente
• Knock (FRA/BEL, Cyrille Aufort) MovieScore Media
• Los del Túnel (The Tunnel) (ESP, Carles Cases) Quartet Records
• Saattokeikka (Unexpected Journey) (FIN, Pessi Levanto) Unreleased
• Santa & Cie (FRA/BEL, Matthieu Gonet) Gaumont/Légende Films
• Vazvishenie (Heights) (BGR/MKD, Petar Dundakov) SERPENTINE

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FEATURE

• American Assassin (USA, Steven Price) Varèse Sarabande
• The Crash (USA, Guy Moon) MoonPeople Records
• Hànwèi zhě (Defenders) (CHN, Liu Ye) Plaza Mayor
• HhhH: The Man With the Iron Heart (FRA/BEL/UK/USA, Guillaume Roussel) Varèse Sarabande
• King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (USA, Daniel Pemberton) WaterTower Music
• Kingsman: The Golden Circle (UK/USA, Henry Jackman & Matthew Margeson) La-La Land Records
• Lôi Báo (VNM, Christopher Wong) MovieScore Media
• London Heist (UK, James Edward Barker) Filmtrax
• Xia Dao Lian Meng (The Adventurers) (CHN/HKG/CZE, Tuomas Kantelinen) Editions Milan Music
• xXx: Return of Xander Cage (USA, Brian Tyler & Robert Lydecker) Varèse Sarabande

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE-FICTION/HORROR FEATURE

• A Fairy’s Game (USA, Gerardo Garcia Jr & Isabelle Engman-Bredvik) Suite Tracks
• A Ghost Story (USA, Daniel Hart) Milan Records
• The Great Wall (USA/CHN, Ramin Djawadi) Milan Records
• Hexe Lilli: Rettet Weihnachten (Lily The Witch Saves Christmas) (GER, Anne-Kathrin Dern) Unreleased
• It (USA, Benjamin Wallfisch) WaterTower Music
• The Mummy (USA, Brian Tyler) Back Lot Records
• Posledniy Bogatyr (The Last Warrior) (RUS, George Kallis) Walt Disney Records
• Raw (FRA/BEL/ITA, Jim Williams) Back Lot Music
• Thor: Ragnarok (USA, Mark Mothersbaugh) Hollywood Records
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (USA/FRA, Alexandre Desplat) Valérian S.A.S.

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (USA, Theodore Shapiro) Back Lot Music
• Despicable Me 3 (USA, Heitor Pereira) Back Lot Music
• Ferdinand (USA, John Powell) Fox Music
• Gojira: Kaiju Wakusei (Godzilla: Monster Planet) (JPN, Takayuki Hattori) TOHO Animation
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie (USA, Mark Mothersbaugh) WaterTower Music
• Muumien Taikatalvi (Moomins and the Winter Wonderland) (FIN, Łukasz Targosz) Playground Music
• Smurfs: The Lost Village (USA, Christopher Lennertz) Madison Gate Records
• Spark: A Space Tail (CAN/USA, Robert Duncan) Unreleased
• The Star (USA, John Paesano) Epic Records
• Tadeo Jones 2: El Secreto Del Rey Midas (Tad Jones: The Hero Returns) (ESP, Zacarías M. De La Riva) Quartet Records

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• America’s Great War 1917-1918 (FRA, David Reyes) CC & C Costelle Clarke & Cie
• Banking On Bitcoin (USA, Ben Prunty) Ben Prunty Music
• Bernabéu (ESP, Antonio Fernández Ruiz) Difícil Elección
• Betting On Zero (USA, Pete Anthony) Lotta Notes/Kritzerland
• Earth: One Amazing Day (UK, Alex Heffes) Edsel
• Intent to Destroy (USA, Serj Tankian) Lakeshore Records
• LA 92 (USA, Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans) Editions Milan Music
• McLaren (NZL, David Long) Native Tongue Masters
• Tokyo, Cataclysmes et Renaissances (Tokyo Phoenix, the Rise of Modern Japan) (FRA, Gérard Cohen-Tannugi) CC & C Costelle Clarke & Cie
• The Wounds We Cannot See (USA, Miro Kepinski) Miro Kepinski

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION SERIES

• Attack on Titan (Shingeki no kyojin) [Season 2] (JPN, Hiroyuki Sawano) Pony Canyon
• Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga (Ao no Ekusoshisuto: Kyoto Fujouou-hen) [Season 1] (JPN, Hiroyuki Sawano & Kohta Yamamoto) Aniplex
• Charité [Season 1] (GER, Martin Lingnau & Ingmar Süberkrüb) BMG Rights Management
• Jean-Claude Van Johnson [Season 1] (USA, Joseph Trapanese) Amazon Content Services
• Knight’s and Magic [Season 1] (JPN, Tomohiro Akiura, Masato Koda & Junichi Sato) Lantis
• Re:CREATORS [Season 1] (JPN, Hiroyuki Sawano) Aniplex
• Reinas (Queens) [Season 1] (ESP/UK, Carlos Martin) Unreleased
• Ruler: Master of the Mask (Goonjoo-Gamyunui Jooin) [Season 1] (KOR, Jeon Chang-yup) DANAL Entertainment
• Tiempos de Guerra (Morocco: In Times of War) [Season 1] (ESP, Federico Jusid) Unreleased
• Trotskiy (Trotsky) [Season 1] (RUS, Ryan Otter) Music 2 Business

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR OTHER INTERACTIVE MEDIA

• ARK: Survival Evolved (USA, Gareth Coker) Sumthing Else Music Works
• Halo Wars 2 (USA, Gordy Haab, Brian Trifon & Brian Lee White) Sumthing Else Music Works
• Heroes of the Storm (USA, Glenn Stafford & Jason Hayes) Azeroth Music
• Invisigun Heroes (USA, Ali Bavarian & Shadi Muklashy) Paper Sound
• LEGO Worlds (USA, Rob Westwood & Tess Tyler) Unreleased
• Oure (UK, Ian Livingstone) Ian Livingstone
• Raid: World War II (HRV, Ivan Selak) Unreleased
• RiME (ESP/AUS, David García Díaz) Grey Box
• So Let Us Melt (UK, Jessica Curry) Jessica Curry
• Valkyria: Azure Revolution (JPN, Yasunori Mitsuda) Sleigh Bells/Procyon Studio

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A SHORT FILM

• All The Marbles (USA, Robert Lydecker) Robert Lydecker
• AXIOME (FRA, Yoann Turpin) Yoann Turpin
• Cello (USA, Randy Kerber) Varèse Sarabande
• Combined Arms Pt II – Wrath From Orbit (USA, AlexZander) AlexZander
• First Comes Abigail (USA, W.F. Quinn Smith) Orison Records
• HERO (ESP, Robin Hoffmann) Robin Hoffmann
• Hot Lead (USA, Sam Mills) Sam Mills
• Major Grom (RUS, Roman Seliverstov) Bubble Music
• The Tinwife (CAN, Zak Millman) 719961 Records DK
• Upside Down Revolution (FRA, Nelson Santoni) Nelson Santoni

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR OTHER MEDIA

• 9 Kroku k Temnote: Temnota (CZE, score by Marek Mrkvička for an audiobook) Marek Mrkvička
• Antigone (USA, score by Trevor Kowalski for a theatre production) Trevor Kowalski Music
• Escisión (ESP, score by Eneko Azedo for a web-based series) Eneko Azedo
• Frontier (USA, score by Adam Crystal for a ballet) Paper Drum
• Orgy of the Vampires (USA, score by TERRORTRON for an imagined movie) TERRORTRON
• Purged (USA, score by Peter Laws based on a book) Peter Laws
• Rick Turner’s Road Rage (USA, concept album by Markus Spillner & Jan Nordus) Heatwave
• The Rope & The Gun (FRA, score by T.R.Josset for “a lost film”) T.R.Josset
• Warehouse X (USA, score by Jacob Boston for a haunted house attraction) Jacob Boston
• The Women of Troy (USA, score by Benji Inniger for a theatre production) Benji Inniger

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (PHYSICAL MEDIA)

• 249. La Noche En Que Una Becaria Encontró a Emiliano Revilla (2016) (ESP, José Sánchez-Sanz) Kronos Records
• Albion: The Enchanted Stallion (2016) (USA, George Kallis) MovieScore Media
• The Caine Mutiny (1954) (USA, Max Steiner) Intrada Records
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (USA, John Williams) La-La Land Records
• Damnation Alley (1977) (USA, Jerry Goldsmith) Intrada Records
• E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (USA, John Williams) La-La Land Records
• The Rifleman (1958) (USA, Herschel Burke Gilbert) Laurel Records
• The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) (USA, Elmer Bernstein) La-La Land Records
• Star Trek Voyager Collection (1995) (USA, Various Artists) La-La Land Records
• Wonder Woman (1975) (USA, Various Artists) La-La Land Records

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (PHYSICAL MEDIA) – RE-RECORDING

• Ben-Hur (USA, Miklós Rózsa) Nic Raine/City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Tadlow Music
• Duel In The Sun (1946) (USA, Dimitri Tiomkin) Nic Raine/City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Prometheus Records/Tadlow Music
• The Gadfly (1955) (RUS, Dimitri Shostakovich) Mark Fitz-Gerald/Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Naxos
• Scott of the Antarctic (1948) (UK, Ralph Vaughan Williams) Martin Yates/Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Dutton Epoch
• Thriller (1960) (USA, Jerry Goldsmith) Nic Raine/City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Tadlow Music

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (DIGITAL)

• Das Kalte Herz (Heart of Stone) (2016) (GER, Oli Biehler) KMV
• Death Walks (2016) (UK, Tom Wolfe) Tom Wolfe
• Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact and Forgery (2015) (USA, Tom Howe) Redrocca
• Ingen Manns Land (2015) (NOR, Emil Kristoffersen Børø) Rusten-Spiker Film As
• La Sargento Matacho (2015) (COL/MEX, Alejandro Ramírez Rojas) Alejandro Ramírez Rojas
• Les Misérables (USA, Jared DePasquale) Focus on the Family
• No Man’s Zone (2012) (JPN/FRA, Barre Phillips) Cinénato/nato
• Of Sinners and Saints (2015) (PHL/ITA, Franco Eco) GBMUSIC
• Sant’Antonio di Padova (2002) (ITA, Marco Frisina) Image Music
• Wodan: Timbur Coaster (2012) (GER, Hendrik Schwarzer) Mack Music

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (COMPILATION)

• Debbie Wiseman: Live at the Barbican (Debbie Wiseman) Silva Screen Records
• The Film Scores and Original Orchestral Music of George Martin (George Martin) Atlas Realisations
• Hanns Eisler: Film Music (Hanns Eisler) Capriccio
• Saw Anthology (Charlie Clouser) Lakeshore Records
• Way to the Rebellion (George Shaw) MovieScore Media