Murray Gold is doing the music for series 5

There's a very in-depth interview at Music From The Movies with Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, who says he's going to stick around after the RTD era. Here are some highlights:

Quote :

I’ve been approached and we’ve talked about it and by December I should be working on things for Series 5. I have started writing some themes and it all looks good; I really wanted to work with Steven. Writing music for Doctor Who, there are no limitations on it; it’s not like other jobs which immediately create a ceiling to your ambitions, you know you have to work within these kind of confinements. There aren’t any confinements on Doctor Who and if there are in one episode, they’re pretty soon gotten rid of in another episode. I love Steven Moffat’s stuff…

Quote :

I think they like the music and I’m sure they wanna make some
refinements. I’m sure they don’t wanna throw out the baby and the bath water, otherwise they would have got somebody else. In all honesty I make refinements anyway, when I score Steven’s episodes, because they do come at the story from a different angle.

On series 5:

Quote :

I’ve read scripts and they’re amazing. Episode One is just complete joy.

He also says that he's finished a new arrangement of the theme music, though presumably it'll still be a variation on the Grainer / Derbyshire theme. No mention of a soundtrack CD covering the 2009 specials, though.

The recent "Who On Who" radio special revealed that RTD had a lot to do with the wall-to-wall-music aesthetic of series 1-4, so even though I've been subconsciously itching to hear someone other than Murray Gold tackle the music for Doctor Who (I've really had it up to here with the orchestra-playing-to-a-rock-beat approach - it's nearly reached the "disco drum machine 'hand-clap' from the McCoy era" level of annoyance for me), I'm interested enough to see what he does with Moffat calling the shots. On a certain level, I think things were interesting when you had alternating composers like Mark Ayres and Dominic Glynn.

(I'm also a big soundtrack nerd and know that nobody else probably cares about this stuff. )

WooHoo! Glad to hear he is staying. Some of the music has hit the John WIlliams level at times. But I have enjoyed it immensely.

I remember when Evan Chen took over for Crusade after Babylon 5 ended, I was a bit worried, but then I listened to his music and it was pretty good.

Just like with Terror of the Zygons and Seeds of Doom having Geoffrey Burgon's musical stylings were superb, a nice break from Dudley. I try to imagine how Dudley would have compsed these stories and I just cant.

Looking forward to see how series 5 gets handled.

He's so talented and on one hand I'm really happy. On the other I hope he brings a different feel to the next series. I also hope the theme tune is a nice, different take.

Glad to hear he's staying on. I've loved most of his work on the series. I would also like to hear a new take on the opening theme, as much as I love the 2005 version, it would be neat to get another version. I rather like the opening sequence though, so I hope that stays for the most part! At least the tunnel theme.

I've loved the DW soundtracks since the mid 90s when I bought some of the Silva Screen CDs. I wish I still had "The Best of Doctor Who volume 2," since it had the late 80s theme music and mark Ayres' fantastic scores. A few years ago I did track down the individual Mark Ayres CD soundtracks (Ghost Light, Curse of Fenric, Greatest Show) but none of them have the late 80s opening / closing theme.

Awesome news! I've cranked up those soundtracks a few times while cleaning house

I might have a spare soundtrack CD with the McCoy theme on it. Will look if you are interested Rogue.

This is good news...I actually woke up this morning wondering if he was coming back. With everything else in the upcoming series being new, Gold's music should provide a nice continuity link with the "old" series.

the best background music gold has done has been in moffat's episodes, so it makes sense. think about it. the girl in the fireplace, blink, the doctor dances, silence in the library, forest of the dead. some of the best themes were in the last two i mentioned, yet you don't find them on any of the cd's.

as far as his music drowning out the episodes, i do believe those are rtd's doings, to distract us from his weak writing(my opinion). that has always been the case in doctor who, though. i love certain pertwee episodes, but hate the almost carnival like rompus music always playing in the background. in a serious show, the music can really ruin the whole thing.

i think my favorite era, was peter davisons. it didn't drown out the show, but provided buffers for the action and drama. since each doctor should have their own theme, let's give matt a new one(since i associatte the current one with tennant, and i believe that keeping the current theme cursed colin baker in his first series).

am i the only one who thinks they should bring back the face in the wrap-around? and bring back the middle eight to the opening?