Audio CD / Download review
Composed by Murray Gold
Silva Screen
Release date Download available now

Murray Gold’s musical accompaniment to the first Matt Smith/Karen Gillan season….

While the longer length of the 2009 Specials allowed for more development within their musical scores, as evidenced by the recent soundtrack release, the music for Matt Smith’s debut season is more episodic in feel. The new Doctor’s theme – with its driving 7/4 beat – is probably Gold’s best for the Time Lord, and has an energy to it that befits Smith’s portrayal.

By allotting a double album, Silva Screen has allowed Gold to include a lot of the smaller lyrical pieces that might otherwise have been lost. There’s still much more out there though – while the album includes ample amounts of the bombast and majesty of Victory of the Daleks and the sweep of the closing two-parter, both the Weeping Angels story and the Silurian epic are comparatively under-represented (five and six minutes each respectively out of a total of 140 for the season).

Just as the new series ventured through many different styles of storytelling, from traditional Doctor Who monsters to the pastoral setting of Vincent and the Doctor, so Gold’s score reflects these different moods, with only the use of Doctor and Amy’s separate themes sometimes reminding you they’re from the same show.

Downloading from iTunes adds two extras, from Victory of the Daleks and Amy’s Choice. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 9/10
Tuneful and varied, this is the best new series Who music release yet.