I have a few honorable mentions, though.
Amy's Theme
Amy's theme may be the best thing that came out of Series 5 musically. Though I'll complain until the end of time about Murray Gold's use of the untexted voice, I actually don't mind it as much here. And I love that this theme provides so much great material and has many distinct sections and sounds. The timbres are great, the varied instrumentation (compared to his other music) is really wonderful, and I love that it isn't some bombastic Orffian orchestral blow-out.
I also like the Eleventh Doctor's theme, which I think is called "Every Star Every Planet." But it's a bit too RTD-era for me to really love it.
The opening is great, the use of the synth guitar is fun, but that big choir sound drives me nuts. But then the theme redeems itself with the piano/woodwinds ostinato, and then gets ruined by the big blasting brass. It's a bit topsy turvy for me. But I do like it. The synthesized organ is pretty fun, too.
More casual viewers of the show I'm sure see this prompt and then automatically think of a particular music track/theme/cue to plug in for the day. And I can't blame them, seeing as the show is designed to draw attention to characters/places/situations through thematic repetition. In that sense, the New Series is very cinematic in construct. But I admit that the music I find most compelling is much of the incidental music from the most recent series (2010). More ethereal, more interested in setting moods rather than attaching itself to characters and being memorable in a melodic sense.
Like, for example, the music from "Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone."
No, it doesn't have a catchy melody. Big brass blowouts. "Epic" choral sections. But what it does have is so much more interesting. Unique timbres. Exotic instrumentation (exotic in a contextual way, in comparison to what Gold uses most of the rest of the time). A more minimalist aesthetic. And as far as sound mix goes, series 5 has been SO much better than the previous series. Not mixed so high as to drown out other sounds, or draw too much attention to itself. It conforms a lot more to the Classical Hollywood principles as outlined by Claudia Gorbman in Unheard Melodies. And I'm not trying to say that paradigm is the ideal, nor am I saying it is the best. But I do find myself enjoying Doctor Who more now that I don't feel attacked by the score every two minutes.
For those of you that are interested, here is the breakdown:
Classical Film Music: Principles of Composition, Mixing, and Editing
I. Invisibility: the technical apparatus of nondiegetic music must not be visible.
II. "Inaudibility": Music is not meant to be heard consciously. As such it should subordinate itself to dialogue, to visuals -- i.e., to the primary vehicles of the narrative.
III. Signifier of emotion: Soundtrack music may set specific moods and emphasize particular emotions suggested in the narrative (cf. #IV), but first and foremost, it is a signifier of emotion itself.
IV. Narrative cueing:
--referential/narrative: music gives referential and narrative cues, e.g., indicating point of view, supplying formal demarcations, and establishing setting and characters.
--connotative: music interprets" and "illustrates" narrative events.
V. Continuity: music provides formal and rhythmic continuity -- between shots, in transitions between scenes, by filling "gaps."
VI. Unity: via repetition and variation of musical material and instrumentation, music aids in the construction of formal and narrative unity.
VII. A given film score may violate any of the principles above, providing the violation is at the service of the other principles.
(Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies [Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1987]: 73.)
I feel like the first four series (and specials) of the New Series underestimated the ability of the viewer to recognize the presence of the music, and therefore mixed it SUPER HIGH to say OH HEY HERE IS THAT THEME PAY ATTENTION! And maybe television feels it needs to underestimate due to the medium. In a movie theater, the sole source of media is in front of the audience, with the ideal theater having little-to-no distractions. Versus sitting at home watching, where there could be phone calls, sitting at the computer, friends chatting, drinking tea, eating biscuits ... so maybe it's warranted. And maybe I give myself such an ideal viewing situation (of nearly no distraction and a singular point of attention) that the music is too much for me. I treat it more like a cinematic experience and less like a televisual experience.
And if you can't tell, I can go on and on about this kind of thing forever. So I'll stop, for now. This looks like it'll get lumped into a dissertation chapter at some point. For now, back to your regularly scheduled blog reading ...
p.s. OH YEAH! I do like Martha's Theme too. (I'm a bit of a sucker for muted trumpet.)
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