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Beethoven Symphony No. 7: 'Epic Growing Majesty'

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We want to turn now to a regular feature we call In Your Ear. That's where our guests tell us about the songs that inspire them. Today we hear from Peter Ramsey. He directed "Rise of the Guardians," which earned a Golden Globe nomination this year for Best Animated Film. "Rise of the Guardians" also made him the first African-American director of a big budget computer-generated animation film. And here he is sharing some of his favorite tunes.

PETER RAMSEY: Hi, this is Peter Ramsey. Some of the things that's been jumping out at me in terms of songs that I like to listen to lately are Beethoven's 7th Symphony. It's got this real, kind of, epic, sort of, growing majesty to it. And so, totally into that.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, BEETHOVEN'S 7TH SYMPHONY)

RAMSEY: Another song that I've listened to and really dug lately has been the Talking Heads song "The Great Curve" from their album "Remain in Light."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE GREAT CURVE")

TALKING HEADS: (Singing) Sometimes the world has a load of questions. Seems like the world knows nothing at all. The world is near but it's out of reach. Some people touch it, but they can't hold on.

(Singing) She is moving by remote control.

RAMSEY: Ah, just epic song. It's got this amazing guitar solo, one of my - probably my favorite guitar solo of all time by Adrian Belew.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE GREAT CURVE")

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME SONG, "RISE OF THE GUARDIANS")

RAMSEY: I'm obsessed with the music for "Rise of the Guardians" by Alexandre Desplat.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME SONG, "RISE OF THE GUARDIANS")

RAMSEY: It's tough to get it out of my head because it's beautiful melodically and just really magical and fun. So that's what I've been listening to lately.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME SONG, "RISE OF THE GUARDIANS")

MARTIN: That was director Peter Ramsey telling us was playing in his ear. And if you want to listen to our previous conversation with him from last fall, just head to npr.org, click on the Programs tab and then TELL ME MORE.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME SONG, "RISE OF THE GUARDIANS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.