2018 Reel Music Awards – The Nominations

2018 Reel Music Awards

It’s been a busy time for music listening over the past year: the availability of music written for media including film, television and video games seems to be becoming easier, giving the opportunity for listeners to sample a wide range of music. As with previous years, there has been some great music to listen to and – as usual – my Reel Music Awards highlights some of the great music to hear.

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 2018, 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, didn’t feature in the final choices.

Hopefully, readers will see these awards as a celebration of the excellent music being written for the various genres. The various category winners and my overall choice of ‘score of 2018’ will be announced on Monday, 4th February 2019.

*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

• Bankier van het Verzet/The Resistance Banker (NLD, Merlijn Snitker) Riva Media Records
• Capharnaüm (LBN/USA, Khaled Mouzanar) Universal Music Division Decca Records France
• El Hombre Que Mató a Don Quijote/The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (ESP/BEL/FRA/PRT/UK, Roque Baños) Meliam Music
• I Krig & Kærlighed/In Love and War (DNK/GER/CZE, Robin Hoffmann) MovieScore Media/Quartet Records
• Il Confine (ITA, Giovanni Rotondo) RIA Com
• In Like Flynn (AUS, David Hirschfelder) David Hirschfelder
• Le Collier Rouge/The Red Collar (FRA/BEL, Johan Hoogewijs) Editions Milan Music
• L’Empereur de Paris/The Emperor of Paris (FRA, Marco Beltrami & Marcus Trumpp) Gaumont
• Rémi Sans Famille (FRA, Romaric Laurence) B Original
• Sic Transit Gloria (USA, Andrew Kotlar) Get The Pix Productions

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FEATURE

• De Superjhemp Retörns (LUX, Felix Raffel) Felix Raffel
• Grüner Wird’s Nicht, Sagte der Gärtner und Flog Davon/As Green As It Gets (GER, Enis Rotthoff) Scoring Records
• Hilfe, Ich Hab Meine Eltern Geschrumpft/Help, I Shrunk My Parents (GER, Anne-Kathrin Dern) Unreleased
• Holmes & Watson (USA, Mark Mothersbaugh) Sony Classical
• Julemandens Datter/All I Want For Christmas (DNK, Kristian Eidnes Andersen & Nicklas Schmidt) MovieScore Media/Rosetta Records
• Las Leyes de La Termodinámica/The Laws of Thermodynamics (ESP, Fernando Velázquez) Quartet Records
• Le Jeu/Nothing To Hide (FRA/BEL, Christophe Julien) Editions Milan Music
• Le Retour du Héros/Return of the Hero (FRA/BEL, Mathieu Lamboley) JD Prod & Les Films Sur Mesure
• Que Baje Dios y Lo Vea/Holy Goalie (ESP, Fernando Velázquez) Quartet Records
• Squirrel (USA, Matt Glass) Glassbrain

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FEATURE

• Börü/Wolf (TUR, Lincoln Jaeger) Lincoln Jaeger
• Braqueurs d’Élite/American Renegades (FRA/BEL/GER/USA, Eric Serra) EuropaCorp
• Halvdan Viking (SWE, Gaute Storaas) Music Super Circus
• La Sombra de La Ley/Gun City (ESP/FRA, Manuel Riveiro & Xavier Font) Unreleased
• Operation Finale (USA, Alexandre Desplat) Sony Classical
• Patser/Gangsta (BEL, Hannes De Maeyer) HDMusic
• Quién Eres (ESP, Joan Vilà) Unreleased
• Rabbia Furiosa: Er Canaro/Dogman’s Rabies (ITA, Maurizio Abeni) FM Records
• Red Sparrow (USA, James Newton Howard) Sony Classical
• What Still Remains (USA, Jonathan Beard) Lakeshore Records

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR FEATURE

• Ant-Man and the Wasp (USA, Christophe Beck) Hollywood Records
• Aurora (PHL, Oscar Fogelström) Screamworks Records
• The Cloverfield Paradox (USA, Bear McCreary) Sparks and Shadows
• Dark Highlands (UK, Jon Brooks) Jon Brooks
• Hover (USA, Wojciech Golczewski) Data Airlines
• Mortal Engines (NZL/USA, Tom Holkenborg) Back Lot Music
• The Nun (USA, Abel Korzeniowski) WaterTower Music
• Operation Ragnarök/Operation Ragnarok (SWE, Hans Lundgren) MovieScore Media
• Ready Player One (USA, Alan Silvestri) Decca (UMO) Classics
• Tik:Tik:Tik (IND, D. Imman) Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Astérix: Le Secret de La Potion Magique/Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (FRA, Philippe Rombi) B Original
• Duck Duck Goose (CHN/USA/UK, Mark Isham) Lakeshore Records
• Leo da Vinci: Mission Mona Lisa (ITA, Marco Fedalto) Gruppo Alcuni
• Lói: Þú Flygur Aldrei Einn/ Ploey, You Never Fly Alone (ISL/BEL, Atli Örvarsson) 22D Music
• Mazinger Z: Infinity (JPN, Toshiyuki Watanabe) Warner Music Japan
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (USA, Daniel Pemberton) Sony Classical
• Tårnet/The Tower (FRA/SWE/NOR, Nathanaël Bergese) Unreleased
• To Live and Die In L.S. (USA, Protector 101) Records DK
• Troll – Kongens Hale/Troll: The Tale of A Tail (NOR/CAN, Daniel Scott) Unreleased
• Vykradena Pryntsesa: Ruslan i Lyudmyla/The Stolen Princess: Ruslan and Ludmila (UKR, Dario Vero) FILM.UA Group

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• ¡Nae Pasaran! (UK, Patrick Neil Doyle) Air-Edel Records
• Barbacana: On the Trail of the Wolf (ESP, Javier Arnanz) Records DK
• De Achtste Dag/On Day Eight (NLD, Michelino Bisceglia) Prova Records
• Drug$ (USA/IND/UK, Asaf Sagiv) Lorem Ipsum Music
• Free Solo (USA, Marco Beltrami) Node Records
• Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others (ITA/FRA/GER, Remo Anzovino) Sony Classical
• Nureyev (UK, Alex Baranowski) Alex Baranowski
• Récits d’Oradour (FRA, Stéphane Drouot) læi
• To the Ends of the Earth: East Africa (USA, Todd Gustafson) To the Ends of The Earth LLC
• Ψ: Psi (FRA/FIN/ISR/USA/UK, Alexis Maingaud) Alexis Maingaud

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION SERIES

• 8.Gün/The 8th Day (TUR, Toygar Işıklı) Arven Records
• A.I.C.O. Incarnation (JPN, Taro Iwashiro) Lantis
• The City and the City (UK, Dominik Scherrer) Dubois Records
• A Discovery of Witches (UK, Rob Lane) Dubois Records
• Dynasties (UK/USA, Benji Merrison & Will Slater) Silva Screen Records
• La Peste/The Plague (ESP, Julio de la Rosa) Quartet Records
• Secret of the Nile/Grand Hotel (EGY, Amine Bouhafa) 22D Music
• Trust (USA/UK, James Lavelle) Lakeshore Records
• Violet Evergarden: Automemories (JPN, Evan Call, Shota Horie, Daisuke Kikuta & Satomi Kawasaki) Lantis
• Watership Down (IRL/UK/USA, Federico Jusid) Decca (UMO) Classics

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR OTHER INTERACTIVE MEDIA

• Arkhangel: The House of the Seven Stars (Chad Seiter) Winter Night Games
• Ash of Gods: Redemption (Adam Skorupa & Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz) Aurum Dust
• BattleTech (Jon Everist) Jon Everist
• Forgotton Anne (Peter Due) ThroughLine Games
• Frostpunk (Piotr Musiał) 11 Bit Studios
• God of War (Bear McCreary) Sony Music Entertainment
• Make Sail (Clark Aboud) Clark Aboud
• My Memory of Us (Patryk Scelina) Patryk Scelina
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Justin Bell) Obsidian Entertainment
• World of Tanks: Update 1.0 (Andrius Klimka & Andrey Kulik) Wargaming Group Ltd

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A SHORT FILM

• Actress (UK, Michael Csányi-Wills) MovieScore Media/Quartet Records
• The Creek (USA, Octavio Dowling) Octavio Dowling
• El Marionetista/The Puppeteer (ARG/FRA/ESP, Sandy Lavallart) Sandy Lavallart
• Ella (ESP, Ander Duque) Ander Duque
• Hathor (USA, Marc Timón) MovieScore Media/Quartet Records
• Ignite (USA, Max Aruj & Steffen Thum) 14th Street Music LLC
• Ode To An Urn (USA, Jeff McQuilkin) Jeff McQuilkin
• Prowler: The Terror of Santa Carla (USA, Sachiththa Fernando) Sachiththa Fernando
• Qi (USA, Jerome Leroy) Jerome Leroy
• Staring Back (USA, Sean Ephram) Records DK

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR OTHER MEDIA

• La Maison Yves Rocher (Le Visionnaire) (FRA [music for museum exhibition], Andrew Pearce) MovieScore Media/Quartet Records
• Midnight Maniac (USA [music for a ‘lost film’], DESTRYUR) Midnight Beach Records
• The Pit (RUS [music for a theatre production], Igor Kulka) Igor Kulka
• Planète Énergie (FRA [music for a museum instillation], Raphael Reed & Klatu) Audio Z
• Transmissions (USA [music for a collection of short films], Kevin Matley) Kevin Matley

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (PHYSICAL MEDIA)

• Alien³ (1992) (Elliot Goldenthal) La-La Land Records
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) (Wojciech Kilar) La-La Land Records
• The Bride Wore Black (1968, re-recording) (Bernard Herrmann) Fernando Velázquez/Basque National Orchestra/Quartet Records
• Dracula (1979) (John Williams) Varese Sarabande CD Club
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) (John Williams) La-La Land Records
• Land of the Giants (1968-1970) (John Williams, Alexander Courage, Leith Stevens, Harry Geller, Artie Kane, Joseph Mullendore, Richard LaSalle, Robert Prince, Irving Gertz & Paul Sawtell) La-La Land Records
• Rocket Gibraltar (1988) (Andrew Powell) Intrada Special Collection
• Schindler’s List (1993) (John Williams) La-La Land Records
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (Howard Shore) Quartet Records
• The Vikings (1958, re-recording) (Mario Nascimbene) Nic Raine/City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra/Prometheus Records/Tadlow Music

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (DIGITAL)

• Anne (2016-2017) (Cem Tuncer, Ercüment Orkut & Nail Yurtsever) ENC Records
• Arena of Valor (2016) (Jeff Broadbent, Matthew Earl & Zhao Hongfei) Sumthing Else Music Works
• Enthiran (2010) (A.R. Rahman) Think Music
• Flora (2017) (Nathan Prillaman) Pulp Pictures Inc.
• Hunting of Man (2003) (Kurt Kuenne) Kurt Kuenne
• Jeong Do-jeon (2014-) (Kim Ji-hoon) Queens Bell
• Le Lynx et La Fraise (2017) (Anthony Touzalin) Anthony Touzalin
• Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017) (Chapavich Temnitikul) Chapavich Temnitikul
• O Theos Agapaei To Haviari/God Loves Caviar (2012) (Minos Matsas) Capitol Records
• Sky Hunter/Kong tian lie (2017) (Andrew Kawczynski) Andrew Kawczynski