2014 Synchrotones Awards – The Nominees

2014 Synchrotones’ Soundtrack Awards

Synchrotones’ Soundtrack Reviews celebrates what it believes are the best scores and composers of 2014. Find out who got nominated; and certainly stay tuned to find out who wins the second, and probably still uncoveted, Synchrotones’ Soundtrack Awards. The winners will be announced on Friday January 2nd, 2015.

Article by Pete Simons

The nominees are listed alphabetically. UPDATE: This post has been edited since its original release. The number of nominees per category has dramatically been slashed to three. I have also split the former “Adventure/Fantasy/Sci Fi” category into two separate categories. I appreciate that some may frown upon my radical editing, but it has resulted in a list that I feel much happier with. Winners will be revealed on Friday January 2nd, 2015 at noon GMT.

Best Overall Score 2014

“Automata” (Zacarias M. de la Riva)
“Ballet Boys” (Henrik Skram)
“Field of Lost Shoes” (Frederik Wiedmann)
“Fury” (Steven Price)
“Godzilla” (Alexandre Desplat)
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” (John Powell)
“Interstellar” (Hans Zimmer)
“Maleficent” (James Newton Howard)
“The Final Member” (Rob Simonsen)
“The Theory of Everything” (Johan Johannsson)

Romantic/Dramatic Score

“Field of Lost Shoes” (Frederik Wiedmann)
“The Giver” (Marco Beltrami)
“The Theory of Everything” (Jóhann Jóhannsson)

Action/Thriller/War Score

“Divergent” (Junkie XL)
“Fury” (Steven Price)
“The Monuments Men” (Alexandre Desplat)

Thriller/Horror Score

“Big Bad Wolves” (Frank Ilfman)
“The Brotherhood” (Arnau Bataller)
“Godzilla” (Alexandre Desplat)

Adventure/Fantasy Score

“The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box” (Fernando Velazquez)
“Maleficent” (James Newton Howard)
“The Monkey King” (Christopher Young)

Sci-fi Score

“Automata” (Zacarias M. de la Riva)
“Interstellar” (Hans Zimmer)
“The Maze Runner” (John Paesano)

Comedy Score

“A Million Ways to Die in the West” (Joel McNeely)
“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” (Alan Silvestri)
“Trust Me” (Mark Killian)

Animation Score

“How To Train Your Dragon 2” (John Powell)
“The Pirate Fairy” (Joel McNeely)
“Postman Pat: The Movie” (Rupert Gregson-Williams)

Re-Release/Special Edition/Archival Release

“The Abyss” (Alan Silvestri; Varese Sarabande)
“Mac and Me” (Alan Silvestri; Quartet Records)
“Predator 2 (Deluxe Edition)” (Alan Silvestri; Varese Sarabande)

Documentary Score

“Ballet Boys” (Henrik Skram)
“The Final Member” (Rob Simonsen)
“Hidden Kingdoms” (Ben Foster)

Television Score

– “Isabel (Season 3)” (Federico Jusid)
– “The Leftovers” (Max Richter)
– “Penny Dreadful” (Abel Korzeniowski)

Video Game

“The Banner Saga” (Austin Wintory)
“Civilization: Beyond Earth” (Geoff Knorr/Griffin Cohen/Michael Curran/Grant Kirkhope)
“Destiny” (Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori)

Composer of the Year

Alexandre Desplat
Hans Zimmer
James Newton Howard
Joel McNeely
Johan Johannsson
John Powell
Marco Beltrami

Special Mentions

“Anonymous Rejected Filmscore” (John Murphy) – For painstakingly putting together this private release of a lost score. Murphy’s unique guitar-driven style shines through, but there are some wonderful surprises for strings.
“Coliseum” (Marc Timon Barcelo) – Harkening back to the days of Rozsa, mixed with more than a hint of modern filmscoring. A sterling effort for this live show.
“The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies” (Howard Shore) – Not only the end of “The Hobbit”-trilogy, but also the end of a decade (and a half) spent in Middle Earth.

Notable Omissions & Your Comments

You’re probably looking at the screen, thinking “what about this score?” and “how about that soundtrack?”. Synchrotones gratefully receives a large number of soundtracks each year. Special thanks go out to all the people who make that possible – you know who you are. Unfortunately it’s not always possible to review every single score. No review does not mean that I haven’t heard it; or that I dind’t like it. You can tell from the non-linked nominations that I do listen and take note of a score, even if it misses out on being properly reviewed. And then there may be some (though increasingly fewer) scores I didn’t receive and therefore couldn’t listen to and include in the nominations. Last year’s “Stalingrad” by Angelo Badalementi was a grave omission from the 2013 Synchrotones’ Soundtrack Awards, as I discovered this particular score much later. If you feel strongly about a score that missed out on a 2014 Synchrotones Soundtrack Awards nominations, please post below – perhaps we can make a separate feature out of it!

The winners will be announced on Friday January 2nd, 2015.

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(c) 2014 Synchrotones