2019 Reel Music Awards – The Nominations

2019 Reel Music Awards – The Nominations

At last I am now able to announce what I think are some of the highlight scores of 2019. As with most years it has been a mixed bag in terms of listening enjoyment but there has been plenty to enjoy. As always, it has been difficult to whittle down the music I’ve been listening to to short-list nominations in the usual film, TV and game music categories.

After copious note-taking whilst listening to all the scores I have heard over the course of 2019 – as well as squeezing in some 2020-released scores for 2019 movies/TV shows – below are the nominations for the music I particularly want to draw people’s attention to. Obviously, these are my own personal choices of what I think are scores that are particularly noteworthy. Not everyone – or perhaps anyone – will agree with my choices but I hope that my selections help to guide readers to music they might not have listened to otherwise. Note that any errors in the various lists are my responsibility.

The various category winners and my overall choice of ‘score of 2019’ will be announced on Monday, 23rd March 2020.

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FEATURE

• Cliffs of Freedom (USA, George Kallis) Aegean Entertainment
• Immenhof: Das Abenteuer eines Sommers (GER, Hannes De Maeyer) Alhambra Records
• Joker (USA/CAN, Hildur Guðnadóttir) Watertower Music
• The King (UK/HUN/AUS, Nicholas Britell) Lakeshore Records
• La Stagione della Caccia: C’era Una Volta Vigata (ITA, Ralf Hildenbeutel) RAI Com
• The Last Black Man In San Francisco (USA, Emile Mosseri) Lakeshore Records
• Mob Town (USA, Lionel Cohen) DNA-Productions
• Motherless Brooklyn (USA, Daniel Pemberton) Watertower Music
• The Professor and the Madman (IRL/FRA/ISL/USA/MEX/BEL/UK/HKG, Bear McCreary) Sparks and Shadows
• Zwingli / The Reformer. Zwingli: A Life’s Portrait (CHE/GER, Lionel Baldenweg / Nora Baldenweg / Lionel Baldenweg) GREAT GARBO Music

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FEATURE

• Convoi Exceptionnel / Heavy Duty (FRA/BEL, Grégoire Hetzel) Rue Jacob Records
• Edmond / Cyrano, My Love (FRA/BEL, Romain Trouillet) Gaumont / Légende Films
• Gotel Edelveys / Edelweiss Hotel (UKR, Kostya Leontovich) Musicball Records
• Le Mystère Henri Pick / The Mystery of Henri Pick (FRA/BEL, Laurent Perez Del Mar) Gaumont
• Ma Famille et Le Loup / My Family and The Wolf (FRA, Stephen Warbeck) 22D Music
• Modalità Aereo (ITA, Bruno Zambrini) RAI Com
• Padre No Hay Más Que Uno / Father There Is Only One (ESP, Roque Baños) Meliam Music
• Playing With Fire (USA/CAN, Nathan Wang) Paramount Music
• Take Home Pay (NZL, Andrew Faleatua) Andrew Faleatua Music
• Venise n’est pas en Italie / Venice Calling (FRA/BEL, Laurent Aknin) 3rd Kind Music

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FEATURE

• Dveselu Putenis / Blizzard of Souls (LVA, Lolita Ritmanis) Marlo Songs
• The Gentlemen (USA, Chris Benstead) Sony Classical
• Kingudamu / Kingdom (JPN, Yutaka Yamada / Yurie Minakata) VAP Inc. Records
• The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot (USA, Joe Kraemer) La-La Land Records
• Masukaredo Hoteru / Masquerade Hotel (JPN, Naoki Sato) Nippon Columbia
• Pop Black Posta (ITA, Marco Werba) Plaza Mayor Company, Ltd.
• Sœurs d’Armes / Sisters In Arms (FRA/ITA/BEL, Mathieu Lamboley) Grande Ourse
• Sordo: The Silent War (ESP, Carlos M. Jara) MovieScore Media
• Togo (USA, Mark Isham) Walt Disney Records
• Władcy Przygód: Stąd Do Oblivio / Rock ‘n’ Roll Eddie (POL, Fred Emory Smith) Dogoda Media

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION/HORROR FEATURE

• The Bastard Sword (UK, Eveshka Ghost) Rusalka Records
• Child’s Play (CAN/USA, Bear McCreary) Sony Classical
• Dong Wu Chu Ji / Animal Rescue Squad (CHN, Liu Ye) WM China
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (USA/JPN/CAN/MEX, Bear McCreary) Watertower Music
• The Kid Who Would Be King (UK/USA, Electric Wave Bureau) Editions Milan Music
• Loon Lake (USA, Bill Wandel) Bill Wandel Music
• Ostatni Samotnik / The Last Loner (POL, Alan Bucki) Records DK
• Rim of the World (USA, Bear McCreary) BMG Rights Management (US) LLC
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (USA, John Williams) Walt Disney Records
• The Young Cannibals (UK, Gabe Castro) Gabe Castro Music

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

• Elcano & Magallanes. La Primera Vuelta al Mundo / Elcano & Magallanes: First Trip Around the World (ESP, Joseba Beristain) Quartet Records
• Eondeodog / Underdog (KOR, Ji-soo Lee) MUSIC&NEW
• How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (USA/JPN, John Powell) Back Lot Music
• J’ai Perdu Mon Corps / I Lost My Body (FRA, Dan Levy) Lakeshore Records
• Klaus (ESP/UK, Alfonso G. Aguilar) Epic/Record Company TEN
• La Fameuse Invasion des Ours en Sicile / The Bears’ Famous Invasion (FRA/ITA, René Aubry) Milan Records
• Minuscule: Les Mandibules du Bout du Monde / Minuscule: Mandibles From Far Away (A Minuscule Adventure) (FRA/GLP/CHN, Mathieu Lamboley) Music Box / Futurikon
• Spies in Disguise (USA, Theodore Shapiro) Hollywood Records
• StarDog & TurboCat (UK, Heather Fenoughty) HethFen Records
• Wonder Park (ESP/USA, Steven Price) Sony Classical

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE OR MULTI-EPISODE FORMAT)

• 39-45, Les Animaux Dans La Guerre (FRA, Bruno Alexiu) Cezame Original Score
• American Dharma (UK/USA, Paul Leonard-Morgan) Rage Music
• Armstrong (USA/UK, Chris Roe) Milan Records
• Byarums Kyrka – I Tiden För Framtiden (SWE, Magnus Erlandsson) Magnus Erlandsson Music
• CyberWork and The American Dream (USA, Chad Cannon) Toro Records, LLC
• Hostile Planet (USA, Benjamin Wallfisch) Editions Milan Music
• The Life of Earth (UK, Richard Blair-Oliphant) MovieScore Media
• Our Planet (USA/UK, Steven Price) Decca (UMO) (Classics)
• Untamed Romania (ROU/UK, Nainita Desai) Silva Screen Records
• Why We Hate (USA, Laura Karpman) Decca (UMO) (Classics)

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A TELEVISION SERIES

• Aseudal Yeondaegi / Arthdal Chronicles [S1] (KOR, Kim Jun-seok / Park Sun-il / Jung Se-rin / Judah Earl / Lee Yun-ji / Bonchoon Koo) Genie Music Corporation
• Bröllop, Begravning & Dop [S1] (SWE, Gaute Storaas) Unreleased
• Chernobyl (USA/UK, Hildur Guðnadóttir) Deutsche Grammophon
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance [S1] (UK/USA, Daniel Pemberton / Samuel Sim) Varese Sarabande
• Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine [S1] (CHN, Mark Chait) Milan Records
• The Dragon Prince [S2] (USA/CAN, Frederik Wiedmann) Lakeshore Records
• His Dark Materials [S1] (UK/USA, Lorne Balfe) Silva Screen Records
• Seis Manos [S1] (USA, Carl Thiel) Milan Records
• The Spanish Princess [S1] (USA, Chris Egan / Samuel Sim) Lions Gate Records
• Wang-i Doin Nam-ja / The Crowned Clown (KOR, Park Se Jun / Lee Nyeom) MusicBuddy Entertainment

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A VIDEO GAME OR OTHER INTERACTIVE MEDIA

• Bee Simulator (FRA/POL, Mikolai Stroinski) Materia Collective
• Concrete Genie (USA, Sam Marshall) Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Driftland: The Magic Revival (POL, Grzegorz Wlodarski / Pawel Golinski) Eden Vibe
• Hostile Takeover (Megan McDuffee) Sound Shark
• One Piece: World Seeker (JPN, Kohei Tanaka) Avex Pictures
• The Outer Worlds (USA, Justin E. Bell) Obsidian Entertainment
• Pine (NLD, Tumult Kollektiv) Black Screen Records
• A Plague Tale: Innocence (FRA, Olivier Derivière) Olivier Derivière Music
• Planet Zoo (UK, J.J. Ipsen) Frontier Developments
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (USA, Gordy Haab / Stephen Barton) Unreleased

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A SHORT FILM

• CAPCOM Go! The Apollo Story (UK, Rhian Sheehan) NSC Creative
• La Ballena Franca (FRA, Nicolas Montaigne) Records DK
• La Tierra Llamando a Ana (ESP, Juan Antonio Simarro / Fernando Bonelli / Alex Piñeiro) Mayfield Pictures
• Mimi and the Mountain Dragon (UK, Rachel Portman) Decca (UMO) (Classics)
• The Star of Eros (USA, Marco Valerio Antonini) Marco Valerio Antonini Music
• Sunsprite (USA, Sterling Maffe) Sterling Maffe Music
• The Tattooed Torah (USA, Daniel Alcheh) MovieScore Media
• Thank You, Mr. Karski (USA, Daniel Joseph White) Honeybear Records
• The Wound (USA, Joe Kraemer) MovieScore Media
• The Wrong Rock (AUS/AUT/CAN/IND/IRN/ITA/JPN/MEX/NZL/ESP/USA/UKR/UK, Grant Kirkhope) Records DK

ORIGINAL SCORE FOR OTHER MEDIA

• The Hollywood Graveyard Zone (USA [music for a web special], Arthur Dark / Giuseppe Vasapolli) Private Ear Music
• Man in the Window (USA [music for a podcast], Allison Leyton-Brown) Allison Leyton-Brown Music
• Mio, min Mio (NOR [music for a theatre production], Eirik Myhr) Pling Kong Recordings
• Puy du Fou: El Sueño de Toledo (ESP [music for a outdoor performance production], Nathan Stornetta / Nick Glennie-Smith) Puy du Fou
• Seconda Possibilità (ITA [music for a theatre production], Antonio Marcotullio) Antonio Marcotullio Music

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (PHYSICAL MEDIA)

• The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) (USA, Franz Waxman) La-La Land Records
• CodeVein (2018) (JPN, Go Shiina) BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
• Conquistadores Adventum (2017) (ESP, Daniel Rodrigo / Neønymus / Carlos M. Jara) Quartet Records
• Dial M For Murder (1954) (USA, Dimitri Tiomkin) Intrada Records
• Dracula (1958) / The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) (UK, James Bernard) Tadlow Music
• The Legend of the War Horse (2017) (MNG, Daniel James / Anne-Kathrin Dern) MovieScore Media
• Marnie (1964) (USA, Bernard Herrmann) Stylotone
• Sången om Den Eldröda Blomman / Song of The Scarlet Flower (1919) (SWE, Armas Järnefelt) Ondine
• Superlópez / Super Lopez (2018) (ESP, Fernando Velázquez) Quartet Records
• Yi a suo mi ma / The Secret of Immortal Code (2018) (CHN, Pantawit Kiangsiri) MovieScore Media

NEW ARCHIVAL RELEASE (DIGITAL)

• Bir Zamanlar Çukurova / Bitter Lands (2018) (TUR, Aytekin Ataş) Mira Records
• The Dragon Prince [S1] (2018) (USA/CAN, Frederik Wiedmann) Lakeshore Records
• Förgät Mig Ej (2018) (SWE, Måns Saari Jonsson) Måns Saari Jonsson Music
• Fritz Bauer, Un Procureur Contre Le Nazisme (2018) (FRA, Baptiste Thiry) Cezame Original Score
• Kazakh Khanate / Diamond Sword (2017) (KAZ, Abilkaiyr Zharasqan) Abil Room Studios
• Oman Tells (2016) (OMN, Ahmed Al-Musawi) A-Studio
• Şahin Tepesi / Falcon Crest (2018) (TUR, Toygar Işıklı) Arven Records
• Street Ships (2018) (USA, Brandon Michael Collins) Brandon Michael Collins Music
• Van Gogh: Tra Il Grano e Il Cielo / Van Gogh: Of Wheat Fields and Clouded Skies (2018) (ITA, Remo Anzovino) Sony Classical
• When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008) (USA, Richard Blair-Oliphant) MovieScore Media

NEW COMPILATION RELEASE

• The Disaster Movie Soundtrack Collection (John Williams) La-La Land Records
• Ennio Morricone Musiques de Films 1964-2015 (Ennio Morricone) Decca Records / Universal Music France
• Gail Kubik: Scenes/Scenario for Orchestra (Gail Kubik) Kritzerland Records
• The Quinn Martin Collection (Vol 1: Cop and Detective Series) (Various Artists) La-La Land Records
• Saddles, Sagebrush & Steiner: Western Scores of Max Steiner (Max Steiner) BYU-FMA