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FMS FEATURE...

July 18, 2013
Updated July 26, 2013
Both Vets, First-Timers Earn Emmy Music Noms
Nathan W. Barr, Jeff Beal are double-nominees by Jon Burlingame

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—A mixed crowd of veterans and newcomers celebrated their nominations in the five music categories Thursday as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced nominations for the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards for the 2012-2013 TV season.

Veteran music director Ian Fraser received his 32nd nomination in the music-direction category for TNT's annual Christmas in Washington special. He is the most-nominated musician in television history and the most honored, with 11 Emmy statues.

Nathan W. Barr (best-known for his music for HBO's True Blood) was not only nominated for the first time this year, he was a double nominee in the Main Title Theme category for his themes for FX's spy drama The Americans and Netflix's thriller series Hemlock Grove.

This year's other double nominee, Jeff Beal, was honored for his theme for, and the underscore for the first episode of, the much talked-about Netflix series House of Cards. Beal already has four Emmys, three for primetime programs and one in the documentary field.

Surprises this year were a lack of music nominations for HBO's popular Game of Thrones, the History Channel's miniseries The Bible (with music co-written by top film composer Hans Zimmer, featuring the voice of Lisa Gerrard, as on Zimmer's famous Gladiator score) or HBO's The Newsroom (with a theme by past Emmy winner Thomas Newman). Emmy officials confirm that all three were entered for underscore, but none made the cut (and although both The Bible and Newsroom were eligible for Main Title Theme, neither was entered).

Also, for only the second time in the past seven years, no song from Saturday Night Live was nominated.

The song category contains some of the most interesting matchups in years, including first-time nominations for Broadway and feature-film veterans Alan Menken (who has eight Oscars for Disney songs and scores) and Glenn Slater (Sister Act) for a song they penned for the ABC sitcom The Neighbors. Should Menken win, he will join the elite ranks of those who have managed the EGOT (wins for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards).

They are opposite fellow Broadway songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray), authors of one of the two songs nominated from NBC's musical series Smash; songwriter Andrew McMahon, for the other Smash tune; actress Tina Fey, surprisingly nominated as lyricist for a song from the hour-long finale of 30 Rock (along with her husband, Jeff Richmond, as composer, and fellow scriptwriter Tracey Wingfield); Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum, who won last year's music-and-lyrics Emmy for their opening number for the Tony Awards and are nominated this year for their show-closing Tonys recap number.

The nomination of songwriters Sarah Jane Buxton and Kate York, originally cited for a song from ABC's Nashville ("Nothing In This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again"), was withdrawn a week after the nominees were announced; the producers indicated that it was not written specifically for the show, a violation of Emmy rules.

The category with the most newcomers this year is that for Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special. It's an eclectic, international group that includes South African-born Philip Miller for HBO's Hitchcock movie The Girl; British composer-producers Ivor Guest and Robert Logan, for the HBO priest-sex-abuse documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God; Flemish Belgian composer Dirk Brosse for the BBC's World War I miniseries Parade's End; Scottish composer Lorne Balfe for the Sundance Channel's World War II spy story Restless; American composer Anton Sanko for Lifetime's June Carter Cash biopic Ring of Fire; and Canadian-born composer Mychael Danna (who won the Oscar earlier this year for Life of Pi) for ReelzChannel's Ken Follett miniseries World Without End.

Joining Jeff Beal in the Music Composition for a Series category are David Schwartz, receiving his third Emmy nomination for the Netflix revival of Arrested Development; two-time winner Trevor Morris, receiving his fifth Emmy nomination for Showtime's The Borgias; last year's winner, Scottish composer John Lunn, nominated again for Downton Abbey on PBS's Masterpiece; Robert Duncan, for the pilot of ABC's short-lived Last Resort; and British-French composer Charlie Mole, sole first-timer in the category, for his music for the Masterpiece period drama Mr. Selfridge.

Competing with Fraser in the Music Direction category are last year's winners, Rob Berman and Rob Mathes, again nominated for overseeing music on CBS's The Kennedy Center Honors; three-time winner William Ross, nominated as music director for ABC's The Oscars; three-time winner Elliot Lawrence, as music director for the 66th Annual Tony Awards; and the category's only newcomer, Rob Fisher, as music director for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel, which aired on PBS's Live From Lincoln Center.

Up against Nathan Barr's two nominations and Beal's one in the Main Title Theme Music category are veteran Sean P. Callery (who has three Emmys for 24) for CBS's Sherlock Holmes series Elementary; Brian A. Keane (who has four Emmys for scoring sports documentaries), scoring a first primetime nomination for his theme for BBC America's period police drama Copper; and Bear McCreary, who scored his second Emmy nomination for the theme for Starz's historical fantasy Da Vinci's Demons.

Statues in all five music categories will be presented during the Primetime Creative Emmy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 15, a week before the televised Primetime Emmy Awards Sept. 22 on CBS.

The complete list of nominations follows:

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)
  • Jeff Beal – House of Cards "Chapter 1" (Netflix)
  • Robert Duncan – Last Resort "Captain" (ABC)
  • John Lunn – Downton Abbey "Episode 6" (PBS)
  • Trevor Morris – The Borgias "The Prince" (Showtime)
  • David Schwartz – Arrested Development "Flight Of The Phoenix" (Netflix)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie or A Special (Original Dramatic Score)
  • Lorne David Balfe – Restless "Part 2" (Sundance Channel)
  • Dirk Brossé – Parade's End "Part 5" (HBO)
  • Mychael Danna – World Without End "Medieval Life And Death" (ReelzChannel)
  • Ivor Guest and Robert Logan – Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (HBO)
  • Philip Miller – The Girl (HBO)
  • Anton Sanko – Ring of Fire (Lifetime)
Outstanding Music Direction
  • Rob Berman and Rob Mathes – The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS)
  • Rob Fisher – Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel (Live from Lincoln Center) (PBS)
  • Ian Fraser – Christmas In Washington (TNT)
  • Elliot Lawrence – 66th Annual Tony Awards (CBS)
  • William Ross – The Oscars (ABC)
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics
  • "Hang The Moon" – Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman from Smash "The Parents" (NBC)
  • "I Hear Your Voice In A Dream" – Music and lyrics by Andrew McMahon from Smash "The Bells And Whistles" (NBC)
  • "If I Had Time" – Music by David Javerbaum, Lyric by Adam Schlesinger from 66th Annual Tony Awards (CBS)
  • "More Or Less The Kind Of Thing You May Or May Not Possibly See On Broadway" – Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Glenn Slater from The Neighbors "Sing Like A Larry Bird" (ABC)
  • "Rural Juror" – Music by Jeff Richmond, Lyrics by Jeff Richmond, Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield from 30 Rock "Last Lunch" (NBC)
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
  • Nathan W. Barr – The Americans (FX Networks)
  • Nathan W. Barr – Hemlock Grove (Netflix Networks)
  • Jeff Beal – House of Cards (Netflix)
  • Sean P. Callery – Elementary (CBS)
  • Brian A. Keane – Copper (BBC America)
  • Bear McCreary – Da Vinci's Demons (Starz)
©2013 Jon Burlingame
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