Beauty and the Beast (1991 soundtrack)

Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Artwork for original release
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	October 22, 1991 (original release)[1]
Recorded	1989–1991
Genre	Film score pop
Length	50:12 (1991 release)
Label	Walt Disney
Producer	Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, Walter Afanasieff, Robert Buchanan
Walt Disney Animation Studios chronology
The Rescuers Down Under: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1990) Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1991) Aladdin: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)
Singles from Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
"Beauty and the Beast" Released: November 25, 1991

Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack album to the 1991 Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast. Originally released on October 22, 1991 by Walt Disney Records, the album's first half – tracks 2 to 9 – generally contains the film's musical numbers, all of which were written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, while its latter half – tracks 10 to 14 – features its musical score, composed solely by Menken. While the majority of the album's content remains within the musical theatre genre, its songs have also been influenced by French, classical, pop and Broadway music. Credited to Various Artists, Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features performances by the film's main cast – Paige O'Hara, Richard White, Jesse Corti, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Robby Benson and David Ogden Stiers – in order of appearance. Additionally, the album features recording artists Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, who perform a pop rendition of the film's theme song of the same name, which simultaneously serves as the soundtrack's only single.

Following a difficult period during where Walt Disney Feature Animation struggled to release successful animated feature films, the studio, inspired by their most recent animated success The Little Mermaid (1989), decided to adapt the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated musical film after a non-musical adaptation had been attempted that failed to impress Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Katzenberg ordered that production on the film be started over from scratch, hiring songwriting team Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, who had just recently completed scoring The Little Mermaid, to write the film's songs. Dion and Bryson were hired to record a pop version of – and draw media attention to – the film's title song. Ashman, who was initially hesitant to join the project, died of AIDS before the film's completion and the album's release.

Like the film, the soundtrack was a massive critical success, receiving universal praise and recognition from both film and music critics. The music featured on the album won several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television. Its title track and only single, "Beauty and the Beast", achieved similar success, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for both Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The soundtrack was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

On December 18, 2001, the soundtrack was re-released as a Special Edition to coincide with the IMAX re-issue of the film and the upcoming two-disc Platinum Edition. The new release featured the film version of "Transformation", which had been replaced with an early unused version in some early pressings, the newly animated song "Human Again", the original instrumental intended for the "Transformation" scene (titled "Death of the Beast (Early Version)" here) and demos for "Be Our Guest" and the title track. On September 14, 2010, the soundtrack was re-released again as a Diamond Edition soundtrack; to coincide with the successful Blu-ray and DVD Diamond Edition release of the film, the 1991 version of the soundtrack was released and included Jordin Sparks' cover of "Beauty and the Beast" as a bonus track. The soundtrack was reissued as the fourteenth entry in The Legacy Collection on February 9, 2018 and includes previously unreleased score.