Doctor Who: Series 4 [Soundtrack]

Like Bear McCreary, Murray Gold is getting better and better. The score for the new doctor has an interesting history. In the first half of the first series it was mostly incidental music with very little original material, it got a bit better in the second half and from the interviews with Murray Gold from that era it becomes clear he thought that this was as epic as it would get but we know of course he was dead wrong. From series two on, Murray worked extensively with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and its choir. The music now truly took off and sounded more like the score for some movie.The third series was less melodic and more experimental, yet it had some highlights. We have now reached the fourth series and with it we receive an intensely, harmonious and epic score that sweeps away with grand melodic structures that will take the breath away not only of Whovians but of any right minded music lover.

The score starts of course with the main theme of series four which is unfortunately maybe one of the few tracks I do not like. I really tried to get used to the new mix but I could never warm up to it. "A Noble Girl About Town " fits very well to the episode, since it was a light-hearted and slightly cheesy episode. "Life Among the Distant Stars " must also be from the first episode yet the tone is very different. It starts as a quiet, reflective piano piece with a tinge of sadness and yearning, that ends with a full orchestra. I am not sure when the track was used and in what context. I guess I have to watch the first episode again.

"Song of Captivity and Freedom" is the first time that the listener hears the "Song of Freedom" sung only by a single mezzo soprano. It gave me goosebumps. "UNIT Rocks" does exactly that and made me grin. It is simply the UNIT theme with some drums added. "The Doctor's Theme" returns and is yet another track that is just plain goosebumps material. I have to use a word that I have used now quite often and is true again. Epic just epic. In this version of the doctors theme it is not sung by Melanie Pappenheim but by a full choir. Those who have been lucky enough to get one of the Prom tickets or listened to it on the radio know that theme already. It was THE highlight. Together with "Song of Freedom"

"All in the Mind" is a curious track. It sounds like a little folk song with guitar and flute. Very different and again I have no clue when it was used. Very probably in "Silence in the Library". "Silence in the Library" is a track that is both mysterious and magical. Very fitting for the library world. The track "The Greatest Story Never Told" was exactly the music I was yearning to listen to since hearing it in "Forest of the Dead" and to hear it now made me cry. The orchestra and the choir. OMG. I have no words to describe this track properly. The way Murray works with the orchestra and choir is just fabulous. The theme of the doctor is woven in and even "All The Strange, Strange Creatures" is in the track! No idea why but I won't complain. The track soars and sweeps the listener from his/her feet.

"Midnight" is a classic horror track but of the kind I know from real horror movies, never from Doctor Who. Very well done, Mr. Gold. "Turn Left" is atmospheric and features a ghostly theme from the doctor over a synthesizer. "A Dazzling End" has something from "Doomsday" but is upbeat. I love the little track. The guitar, the beat, the way the whole orchestra revs up. I really have no clue from which episode the track is theoretically it should be from "Turn Left" too. "The Rueful Fate of Donna Noble" reminded me of Martha and her journey in the lost year. It features guitars and drums.

"Davros" is a a strange but fascinating track. Dissonant instruments, sampled electrical sounds all colliding with each other. It reflects Davros nicely. It is twisted, mad and not very wholesome. Time for the Dalek theme to return and it does on an epic scale with "The Dark and Endless Dalek Night". A very powerful and dark track. "The Pressing Need to Save The World" is a furiously, fast paced action track that would fit in any Bond movie but instead of Barrys Bond theme woven into it, we get instead (for some strange reason) the YANA theme aka "All The Strange, Strange Creatures" So I wasn't crazy. I did hear the theme from the Master. Why Murray Gold used that theme and not the doctor will be his secret. The track is never the less the most action oriented cue to this date in Doctor Who and it totally rocks!

For some strange reason "Hanging on the Tablaphone" makes me smile. It is a crazy, fast paced little affair and then it comes...."Song Of Freedom". I cried. I just cried. The track was already amazing at The Proms but with perfect mixing and editing this track became even better - if that is possible. I can listen to it over and over again ...this is actually true for the whole score.

Harry Potter was never that epic! The only other score I can think of as being this ...large... was "Lord of the Rings" by Howard Shore! It is a bloody shame that Oscars are not given to television shows. Murray Gold deserves for this score an Oscar, Grammy and Globe and will get none. It sucks. IMO Murray Gold should really write the score for "Deathly Hallows". He would do a great job!

It has been quite a while that a score has made me this insanely happy. If I could hug it, I would. A perfect five out of five for this one. None of the movie soundtracks or the Stargate soundtracks came even close to this perfection.

Doctor Who Series 4 * * * * *
Music composed by Murray Gold
Silva Screen SILCD1275 (RT 76:40)

Opening with the revised main theme for Season 4, this new version employs a harder hitting shorter theme, coupled with a lovely electric guitar twang to finish the theme off with. From here, it's 2: A Noble Girl About Town and essentially Donna's theme. Gold expands on what we had before with a really toe tapping 7-note motif for the temp from Chiswick.

Full of boom and bass, 4: Corridors and Fire Escapes is an action track for the stairs sequence in Partners in Crime amongst other uses. In some ways it's almost Bond-like and very enjoyable.

6: Songs of Captivity and Freedom brings in the Ood story and some heartfelt singing from Mark Chambers. The accompaniment on strings is just beautiful and really lovely, encompassing the sad plight of the Ood perfectly.

Further tracks on 8: The Doctor's Daughter and 9: The Source bring re-uses of the Doctor's theme and also that guitar once again for the unveiling of the aforementioned daughter, Jenny. The later track encompasses some lovely sad string work, building for the horn led statement from the Doctor 'I Never Would'

10: The Unicorn and the Wasp brings in a chamber orchestra, perfectly setting this in murder mystery mode. Eerie, and with a small snatch from Miss Marple, it sounds completely different to a normal Who episode. I love Gold's playful use mid way through the track, then switched for echoed strings.

A real highlight comes in the next few tracks with 12: Voyage of the Damned Suite, the Christmas special from 2007. This is just Gold at his powerhouse best. Mixing the action beats with the song The Stowaway, it has some lovely sequences. The solo voice used for Kylie's character is lovely and hypnotic, building to a powerful re-use of the Doctor's theme. The action music is also pretty well handled and I love the way Gold gets the melody running and then threads the strings all around the action - superb. Gold ends off the special with a lovely heartfelt solo voice drifting the young waitress off into the ether of space. With a build up on the strings and percussion Gold rounds the track off with that haunting solo voice.

Tracks 13-17 cover the music from the Stephen Moffat chiller Silence in the Library. Employing a 5-note slow, twinkling theme to describe the child CAL at the heart of the story. The power that Gold puts through the themes in this one is probably the best he has ever done. The rolling strings for the running in 14, Donna's psychedelic folk mystery world in 15, and then track 16, with the mystery revealed and River Song saved. In 17: The Greatest Story Never Told, Gold expands on these themes encompassing the Doctor running to save Song. Powerful choir chanting away just sing their hearts out coupled with powerful strings employing that trailer riff, then building woodwind and choir swell ever outward, culminating in a triumphant version of the Doctor's theme. Absolutely spellbinding.

18: Midnight is a frightening piece coupled to a frightening episode. Slow bass, coupled with percussive hits, drawn out strings and horn, make for a hypnotic piece. Though Gold ends the piece on a bombastic cacophony of sound, with horns and repeating brass statements, also used for when Donna loses her children in Silence in the Library.

With 19: Turn Left we bring in Rose's theme as she finally meets Donna, then 20: A Dazzling End with Gold pounding in a bass backing with dancing strings, then building to a 4-note motif as Donna makes the ultimate sacrifice. 21: The Rueful fate of Donna employs a whistling, guitar backing for Donna's mind being wiped, then sad soulful strings just add to the pain of someone you know and have come to respect getting wiped.

Gold really gets nasty with the alternate synth and percussive beats of 22: Davros, then the dominance of the Daleks in 23: The Dark and Endless Dalek Night. Choir and orchestra just go at it with a three note repeating theme for the metal monsters of old. In some ways this is even Holst-like in its complexity.

24: A Pressing Need to Save the World ups the tempo with a driving beat on the percussion, powerful blasts from the brass with a driving 11-note motif. Gold keeps the Doctor's theme ever present in the background on the strings. 25: Hanging on the Tablaphone features Gold utilising a synthesiser beat with chanting choir for the Doctor reaching the subwave network. 26: Song of Freedom brings back the Ood song Give Peace a Chance for the saving of planet Earth. The Crouch End Festival Chorus sing their hearts out, coupled with a synth backing.

27. Doctor Who Series Four Closing Credits employs the new punchy version of the full version of the theme and rounds off the disc nicely.

It's a stunning disc of some of the best music out there at the moment and frankly demands to be in your collection. If you like orchestral film music, it really doesn't get any better than this.

As a reviewer mentioned before, the previous Murray Gold scores for Doctor Who are always on my Mp3 player. By a long way, the best score for any TV show currently on (UK or US). So good, that it feels cinematic. The growth from Series 1 (not my favourite) to the epic sounds in the Series 3 soundtrack are astonishing. Series four topped it all. The new Doctor Who Theme (sends chills down the spine with all the new drums and horns), the thrilling finale to Turn Left and of course the Song For Freedom are the highlights for me, but nothing here is just padding.
If the proposed big screen Doctor Who goes ahead, it simply wont work without Murray Golds' input. Listen and love it and enjoy every episode again and again....