The Oscar Nominations in music categories were announced last Thursday (1/10) and held a few surprises…

Nominations:

Best Score

–Anna Karenina – Dario Marianelli
–Argo – Alexandre Desplat
–Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
–Lincoln – John Williams
–Skyfall – Thomas Newman

Original Song

-“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
-“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
-“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
-“Skyfall” from Skyfall
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
-“Suddenly” from Les Misérables
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Comments:

For the first time in awhile, the Academy didn’t nominate a composer(s) from out of the blue. Usually, the nominated compositions are weird, gimmicky scores or created by composers from the pop/rock world. This can be best represented by such an off-the-wall nomination as The Social Network– Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross a few years back.

This year, the nominated scores are all by serious composers and are actually quite diverse. It’s also great to see an action picture like Newman’s Skyfall get a nod, as he’s such a fantastic writer and has never won so it must be a thrill for him. The song category is particularly fun and are all great tunes with a good shot at winning.

Predictions:

What I want to win in italics and what I think will win in Bold.

Best Score
Lincoln – John Williams
Life of Pi – Mychael Danna

Original Song
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri

See you on February 24th!

– Submitted by Jim Fisher, Music Design