74th Annual Academy Awards
Listening to the Academy Awards: Oscar-Nominated Film Scores

 March 24 -- Monsters, Inc.

 March 17 -- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

 March 10 -- A Beautiful Mind and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

 Listen to cuts from the nominated soundtracks

Music critic Andy Trudeau

Who can think of the movie Jaws without hearing that ominous cello sending chills up your spine? Would Titanic have been as moving without the haunting melodies that accompanied the love story? Would Star Wars have been the same without that rousing fanfare?

Music is crucial in the making of a contemporary film, and often can be the critical final factor in making the film a success. For the past six years, Weekend Edition Sunday listeners have been taking a close listen to Oscar-nominated movie scores in the company of our movie music critic Andy Trudeau.

Trudeau thinks this year's crop of scores is one of the best in a while, with a great deal of diversity and invention. The list of original scores nominated for an Academy Award includes some old friends, and a newcomer.

John Williams is nominated twice, for A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. James Horner is nominated for his work in scoring A Beautiful Mind. Howard Shore gets his first nomination for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And Randy Newman's lighthearted score for Monsters, Inc. rounds out the list.

In the first installment on March 10, 2002, Trudeau and Weekend Edition Sunday guest host Lynn Neary listened to selections from the scores of A.I Artificial Intelligence and A Beautiful Mind. On March 17, they continued their conversation by dissecting Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. They will end the series with a talk about the score of Monsters, Inc. on Sunday, March 24.

	A.I. Artificial Intelligence John Williams  First Drop-off, First Kiss  Rouge City
	A Beautiful Mind James Horner  Looking for the Next Great Idea  Creating Governing Dynamics
	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone John Williams  Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters and The Journey to Hogwarts  Hogwarts Forever and The Moving Stairs
	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Howard Shore  A Knife in the Dark  Many Meetings
	Monsters, Inc. Randy Newman  Walk to Work  Boo's Adventures in Monstropolis

Performance Today Expanded Coverage

 Royal Brown on the Oscars
Critic Royal Brown gives his input on who deserves this year's award for best film score at the 2001 Academy Awards. March 24, 2002.

 James Horner, A Beautiful Mind
Composer James Horner's inspiration for his Oscar-nominated film score is much more abstract than you might think. March 21, 2002.

 Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings
Composer Howard Shore's Oscar-winning film score to the first installment of Tolkien's trilogy brings to life the sounds of Middle Earth. March 18, 2002.

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