Immediate reception The score was widely admired and thought of as a contender for the
Academy Award for Best Original Score at the
86th Academy Awards. Yet, the score failed to receive a nomination for the
86th Academy Awards. However, the film did receive a nomination for the
2013 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, as well as a win for the 2013
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Score.
Critical reception Christopher Orr of
The Atlantic praised the score most highly stating, "the score by Hans Zimmer represents his best work in years, an eerie, discomfiting soundscape that buzzes like angry locusts and drums like approaching thunder."
Mark Kermode of
The Observer highlights the significance of music in the piece writing, "More significant still is the role of music (composer Hans Zimmer earned one of the film's 10 Bafta nominations this week), with McQueen building upon the experiments of
Shame to explore further the dramatic depths of song" Ed Gonzalez of
Slant Magazine praised the score and said "The film's immaculate score, by Hans Zimmer, and sound design, so thick with thunder, wind, the chirping of crickets, hammers beating nails into wood, whips tearing black bodies to shreds, work in tandem to strongly convey the bucolic, sinister atmosphere of the antebellum South." Gregory Ellwood of
HitFix called it "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time" Brad Brevet of
Rope of Silicon also praised the score in stating, "The best score in a movie I have heard this year has been Hans Zimmer's for 12 Years a Slave." and further stating "It's lovely and threatening at the same time." A.A. Dowd of
The A.V. Club wrote of Zimmer's score, "pounds and roars with dread — the appropriate soundtrack for the madness of history." Mark Hughes of
Forbes hails the piece as "some of [Zimmer's] best work to date, which says quite a lot" and further expands by expressing "I love the way he uses nontraditional effects and sounds, sometimes going bare-bones and simple with a single instrument, so often understated to perfection." Susan Wloszczyna of
RogerEbert.com stated "Underscoring the cruelty is the aptly unsettling and sometimes discordant soundtrack by Hans Zimmer", noting similarities with Zimmer's predescending score for
Inception whilst acknowledging differentiation in "reminiscent of his own strong work on "Inception" but to much different effect". Glenn Kay of
CinemaStance wrote positively by stating, "the score by Hans Zimmer is sparse and repetitive, but incredibly effective at invoking an emotional response when it's used." Drew McWeeny of
HitFix highly praised the score and said, "The score by Hans Zimmer is just as heart-breaking as the script or the performances." Nicholas Mennuti of
Mulholland Books highly praised the score, calling it one of the best film scores of 2013, stating, "His [Zimmer] work on 12 Years A Slave comes as such a pleasant surprise" and then adding, "Zimmer does what Zimmer does best – he finds the sonic heart of Solomon Northrop ... Try not to be moved by it." Josh Hall of
Soton Tab professed of the score, "Another impressive element of
12 Years a Slave is Hans Zimmer's haunting score; it closely accompanies the distressing tragedies on the screen." and added to it further by signifying the importance of music, "Music is a key element of the film; it is ironic that it is Solomon's musical talents that get him captured in the first place." Richard Lawson of
The Wire praised the mood of Zimmer's piece by saying, "Hans Zimmer's lush score is at first eerie and foreboding, but by the movie's end has become something approaching a hymn." ==Awards and nominations==