The venerable British science fiction television series Doctor Who has been on the air for a long time; so long, in fact, that as of the end of the fourth edition of its 21st century manifestation, it had gone through ten different actors playing the title character. The tenth Doctor Who, David Tennant, gets his send-off with this double-CD soundtrack for four special episodes that were part of the fourth series, running through the end of 2009, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, and The Waters of Mars, making up the first disc, and The End of Time taking up the second. As usual, composer
Murray Gold has written the stirring, varied orchestral music, played by the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with the
Crouch End Festival Chorus piping in here and there with sustained vocals of "ooh" and "ah."
Gold is unrestrained in his sweeping scoring, never afraid to create large effects, whether they are meant to be romantic, suspenseful, or, not infrequently, goofy. In fact, at times he clearly seems to have his tongue in his cheek (if not actually stuck out) as in, for example, the playful "Wilf's Wiggle" from The End of Time. Soon enough, however, the music turns bombastic; subtle it isn't. By the end,
Gold has presented "Vale Decem," which he describes as his version of "My Way" for the tenth doctor; it's sung by a boy tenor. Finally, the 11th actor to play the role is introduced in the final track, "The New Doctor," a synthesizer rock theme suggests the season five music may be more contemporary. In any case, Doctor Who will go on, it seems, forever. ~ William Ruhlmann