Murray Gold has scored Doctor Who since the beginning of the new series in 2005 working in both the RTD and Moffat era's. His last episode was 'Twice Upon a Time'. 12 years of amazing music! I will miss him! Thank You!!!!!
It's official? I haven't seen a source besides the rumour mill. If true, sad to see him go, his work has been a highlight and a rare constant in the series since its return. Mark
As much as I have enjoyed Murray Gold's work, it probably is a good time for him to be leaving. Let season 11 be as blank a slate as possible.
I wouldn't mind someone a little more subtle, though it wasn't his fault that his music was often too loud in the mix.
In related news, the much-awaited season 9 soundtrack was pre-announced last week. A four-disc set, with selections from the bulk of the episodes on the first two discs, the third having the complete score from "Heaven Sent," and the fourth having "The Husbands of River Song." Now we can start impatiently waiting for season 10's album! Or an actual street date for this one!
My feelings on Murray Gold and Doctor Who are complicated. I enjoy his music as standalone work. He's a wonderful composer, and I've found his music quite moving. I despise the way the series has chopped up, reused, and recycled his music. I know, I know, my perspective on Gold is colored by the way RTD and Moffat used and abused Gold's work. What I want, and it's probably not feasible for Gold or affordable for the production, is a composer who scores the episodes rather than one who composes suites that are then butchered during post in the editing suite. Someone who's in the editing room, seeing a rough cut, and writing music to that.
I've upped and downed and rewarmed to Gold. By 2007-ish it sometimes seemed as if he thought it was The Murray Gold Show, featuring Doctor Who. By 2009 he was literally phoning it in (given that he'd relocated to New York), and I was hoping he wouldn't carry over to the new Doctor. But since then, though I suspect he's rarely done actual scores rather than themes for the music editors to use, I've chilled out on him. But still glad if we're getting a new input (even Dudley didn't do 10 seasons solid, though there were only 7 that weren't his from Seeds of Death to Nimon). Even though it will probably be one person for the whole season, not story varied.
I go both ways with Gold. His quieter pieces are beautiful works of art, but at the same time, he's often too loud and bombastic like John Williams and it becomes very irritating, especially when it's used so much (but granted that's not his fault). He's done a lot of great work in general, but I agree with others that it's time for a clean break with the big turnover.
Maybe the next composer will be more restrained. I liked Gold's work (especially for Matt Smith) but he could be overly bombastic sometimes.
IMO, Gold's strength is his bombastic fare, and in the RTD era he really flourished. I mean, All the Strange, Strange Creatures and This is Gallifrey alone are damn near perfect tracks that I will be so bold as to rank among my top ten favourite tracks from TV and movie music any day. Even when Moffat requested less bombastic music from him, he still delivered during Smith's run, with I am the Doctor and all its variations being really great. But I don't know, during the Capaldi years, there seems to be something missing. The Twelfth Doctor's incidental theme (the action music) sounded nice, but wasn't really hummable, and we did have a cool tune introduced in the montage in Heaven Sent (which was also used in Capaldi's regeneration scene. There was also a nice variation on This is Gallifrey used in season 10, but otherwise the majority of Gold's work in recent years has been rather forgettable. I don't know how much of that is Gold's fault and how much is Moffat's or whoever makes the decisions for an episode's music. Take for example, a majority of the original work Gold did for Day of the Doctor was unused in favor of reusing previous tracks instead. Either way, the guy has been with the show for longer than most shows even last these days. He's done his bit for the show, and bringing in some new blood in the music department is not a bad idea in the slightest.
Speaking of idiotic decisions made by those above, the current arrangement of the theme actually does include the middle eight, it's just left out in the actual show. It's been like that ever since Moffat took over. I never understood why the removed the middle eight in favor of repeated "wee-ooh" repeated ad nauseum.
I doubt the new composer will be more background. Every time there's a grumble about mumbled dialogue or bombastic music in a BBC series there seems to have been someone in the mix room insisting on emphasising this bit or that without considering the final product properly. Basically, no-one wants their contribution to pass unnoticed, even if that's actually the best overall result.
I think it pops up twice during the Moffat era. The transmitted version of "The Beast Below"* and "Day of the Doctor". *only time the full end theme was used from next time trailer to end card. I remeber reading somewhere Gold himself didn't particularly care for the middle eight and made a crack that it sounded like the chorus to "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Probably the best time for him to go. His work summed up the RTD era, bombastic, overshadowing everything else and telling you how to feel, and it's felt a bit too subdued with Capaldi, but I loved his 11th Doctor theme, I thought the Smith era was when he was at his best
That was why Gold himself removed it from the arrangement of the theme he did in season one. Fan backlash convinced him to do a new arrangement with the middle eight included for season 2 and the middle eight was heard during the end credits for the remainder of the RTD era. Then when Moffat took over, even though Gold still included the middle eight with the arrangements of the theme he did for Moffat, it was left out of the televised version of the show, with the exceptions you noted in favor of using "Wee-Ooh" repeatedly for the end credits.
I've always liked the "middle eight." It's got a more upbeat sound that sort of resolves the tension set up by the main melody, as it were, or at least makes a nice contrast to it. Also, since my local PBS station began showing Doctor Who with Tom Baker's first season, I didn't hear the middle eight for the first time until they got to the episodes with the Peter Howell theme arrangement, i.e. Baker's last/JNT's first season. It was quite striking to hear a new part of the theme I thought I knew so well. And then they finally circled around back to Hartnell and there it was in the opening theme! So anyway, I always prefer the theme arrangements that include it. Without it, the theme's a bit repetitive.
There's no definite proof on this, as Grainer's original score seems to have vanished soon after Peter Howell consulted it in 1980, but it's thought that the middle eight was written by Delia Derbyshire as an addition to Grainer's piece.
I enjoyed his music but after season 8 there wasn't that many outstanding pieces. Most was recycled from 11's era "Aw they played Sad man with a box when Bill entered the TARDIS for the first time" Also Twelves theme is just "I am the Doctor" modified Also yes the music was so bombastic that you could barely make out what someone said. "The Fivish doctor's" made fun of that when the three former doctors kept entering a room and it went from "incidential music" to loud Murray gold music
Again, that stuff was less Gold's fault and more whoever it is who selects what musical tracks get used in specific scenes. Although something that always amused me, when Moffat took over he pretty much had all the RTD's tracks wiped with the exception of the Cybermen theme, which was still being used in season 10's finale. But in recent years, the RTD tracks have been returning anyway.