2023 Reel Music Awards – Scores for Consideration

The 2023 Reel Music Award – “Scores for Consideration”

Reel Music publishes the list of scores for consideration* for the 11th (2023) Reel Music Awards. My music-listening experience for the various media types has been typical of other years. And, again, as well as there being some excellent music being written by “established”composers I have been encouraged by the work done by lesser-known composers who keep the various industries going with the music they have written for the increasing number of projects that require musical support.

IFMCA member Jon Broxton interviewed in Cinema Musica

A great interview of IFMCA member Jon Broxton in a recent issue of film music magazine Cinema Musica by fellow IFMCA member Basil Böhni. An informative insight to the workings of the IFMCA.

IFMCA member Jon Broxton interviewed in Cinema Musica

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

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.

A new review over at maintitles.net – Clockwise (Maciej Dobrowolski)

My review of Maciej Dobrowolski’s excellent – though currently unreleased – score to the Qatari film Clockwise has been uploaded to Maintitles.net. Enjoy!