Featuring the Original Score Composed By Carter Burwell
Varèse Sarabande will release the CAROL – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available digitally and on CD November 20, 2015. The album features the original music composed by Carter Burwell (MR. HOLMES, FARGO) whose long-standing relationship with the label includes his soundtracks for RAISING ARIZONA, MILLER’S CROSSING, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, and MILDRED PIERCE.
“There is no widely accepted explanation for the importance of music to humans, but one possibility is its ability to express and relieve emotional tensions that can’t be put into words,” explained Burwell. “In CAROL, two women are romantically attracted to each other but the culture of 1950’s America hasn’t provided them with a language for this. Expressing these inexpressible feelings is one of the roles of the score in this film.”
Set in 1950s New York, two women from very different backgrounds find themselves in the throes of love in CAROL. As conventional norms of the time challenge their undeniable attraction, an honest story emerges to reveal the resilience of the heart in the face of change.
“There are three main themes in the score,” Burwell described. “The music over the opening city scene plays the active engagement and passion of Carol and Therèse. In this scene it’s telling you something about the characters before you ever see them, since they appear for the first time around the last note, but eventually this will become their love theme.”
A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens.
“There is also a theme for Therèse’s fascination with Carol, first played as Carol drives Therèse to her house,” Burwell continued. “This is basically a cloud of piano notes, not unlike the clouded glass through which Todd Haynes and Ed Lachman occasionally shoot the characters. This piano texture required a little studio magic so the left and right hands of the piano could be processed separately – the left disappearing into a cloud and the right still distinct enough to carry a melody.
While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband (Kyle Chandler) threatens her competence as a mother when Carol’s involvement with Therèse and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) comes to light. As Carol leaves the comfort of home to travel with Therese, an internal journey of self-discovery coincides with her new sense of space.
“The third theme is about absence and loss. Its fullest expression is the montage after Carol leaves Therèse and tries to explain herself in a letter,” said Burwell. “It’s the best example of the use of open intervals such as the fourth, fifth and ninth, to veil sentiment. The hearts of both women are broken, but rather than play the pain the music plays the emptiness.”
ABOUT CARTER BURWELL
Carter Burwell has composed the music for more than 80 feature films, including BLOOD SIMPLE, RAISING ARIZONA, MILLER’S CROSSING, BARTON FINK, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, ROB ROY, FARGO, THE SPANISH PRISONER, GODS AND MONSTERS, VELVET GOLDMINE, THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER, THREE KINGS, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (BAFTA Nominee for Film Music), BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, A KNIGHT’S TALE, THE ROOKIE, ADAPTATION, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, THE LADYKILLERS, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, IN BRUGES, BURN AFTER READING, TWILIGHT, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Original Score), A SERIOUS MAN, THE BLIND SIDE, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, TRUE GRIT, TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 & 2, and THE FIFTH ESTATE.
Burwell most recently wrote the music for the mystery drama MR. HOLMES starring Ian McKellen directed by Bill Condon, the true crime thriller LEGEND directed by Brian Helgeland opening October 2. CAROL marks Burwell’s third collaboration with Todd Haynes having previously worked together on VELVET GOLDMINE and HBO’s mini-series MILDRED PIERCE starring Kate Winslet in which Burwell was nominated for two Emmy Awards, winning for his work in the category of Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score).
Other upcoming film projects for Burwell include Charlie Kaufman’s first-stop motion film ANOMALISA, the ocean thriller THE FINEST HOURS starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck directed by Craig Gillespie, the Nicole Kidman-Jason Bateman drama THE FAMILY FANG, and HAIL, CAESAR! written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen.
His theater work includes the chamber opera THE CELESTIAL ALPHABET EVENT and the Mabou Mines productions MOTHER AND LUCIA’S CHAPTERS OF COMING FORTH BY DAY.
In 2005 he developed a concert work for text and music titled Theater of the New Ear, presented in New York, London and Los Angeles. The text, by Joel and Ethan Coen and Charlie Kaufman, was performed by a dozen actors including Meryl Streep, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The music was performed by the 8-member Parabola Ensemble, conducted by Mr. Burwell.
Burwell’s dance compositions include the pieces THE RETURN OF LOT’S WIFE, choreographed by Sara Pearson and Patrik Widrig, and RABL, choreographed by Patrice Regnier. He has performed around the world with his own ensembles as well as others, such as The Harmonic Choir.
His writing includes the essay “Music at Six: Scoring the News Then and Now,” published in the inaugural issue of Esopus magazine in 2003 and reprinted in Harper’s Magazine in 2004, and the essay “No Country For Old Music” in the 2013 Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics.
Burwell has taught and lectured at The Sundance Institute, New York University, Columbia University, and Harvard University.
The Weinstein Company presents CAROL in theaters November 20, 2015. The CAROL – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Varèse Sarabande, will be available digitally and on CD November 20, 2015.
TRACKLIST
1. Opening
2. Taxi
3. To Carol’s
4. One Mint Julep – The Clovers
5. Datebook
6. Christmas Trees
7. Easy Living – Billie Holiday & Teddy Wilson
8. The Train
9. Packing
10. Drive Into Night
11. Kiss Of Fire – Georgina Gibbs
12. Waterloo
13. Lover
14. The Gun
15. Smoke Rings – Les Paul & Mary Ford
16. Over There
17. Visitation
18. To Court
19. The Letter
20. No Other Love – Jo Stafford
21. The Times
22. Reflections
23. Crossing
24. You Belong To Me – Helen Foster & The Rovers
25. The End
