Carol (soundtrack)

Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2015 film of the same name. The soundtrack compact disc includes the original score, composed, produced, orchestrated and conducted by Carter Burwell, and additional music performed by The Clovers, Billie Holiday, Georgia Gibbs, Les Paul and Mary Ford, and Jo Stafford. It was released in both digital download and compact disc formats by Varèse Sarabande on November 20, 2015.[1] A double album vinyl of the soundtrack was released on June 24, 2016.[2][3]

Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Carter Burwell
ReleasedNovember 20, 2015
Recorded2014–15
Studio X, Seattle
The Body, New York City
GenreSoundtrack
Length53:20 (CD)
LabelVarèse Sarabande
ProducerCarter Burwell
Carter Burwell chronology
Legend: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2015)		 Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2015)		 Anomalisa: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2016)

Development

Burwell had received the script of Carol before the film began principal photography. Director Todd Haynes sent him six CDs of songs from the 1950s that he and music supervisor Randy Poster had compiled.[4] However, Burwell didn't begin composing the music until Haynes shot and assembled the film.[5] Initially, Burwell considered using two solo instruments, as there were only two main characters and everyone else just passes through.[6] Burwell began recording the track titled "Opening". He stated that composing such a piece first was an odd choice because none of the main characters appear in the opening scene.[7] However, he felt it was important that what he composed induced the mood of the film and the unseen characters. Burwell also wrote several different ideas for this and sent them to Haynes.[7]

Burwell wrote the score with a small ensemble consisting of eight to 17 musicians. The smallest arrangement consisted of string quartets with bass, harp, piano and clarinet. Apart from orchestration and conducting the score, the music was performed by the Seattle Symphony. The whole process, writing, recording and mixing, took about eight weeks for 38 minutes of music.[5] Burwell described the character of Carol (played by Cate Blanchett) as "a cypher" and "a cool, aloof mystery". The instruments he used for her were piano, clarinet and vibe.

According to Burwell, there are three main themes in the score that communicate visual language. The music heard in the opening city scene depicts the "active engagement and passion" of Carol and Therese (played by Rooney Mara), conveying something about the characters before they are seen. This music becomes their love theme.[5] For the theme expressing Therese's fascination with Carol, Burwell introduced a cloud of piano notes. The piano texture "required a little studio magic" with notes played differently by right and left hand; where the notes played by the left hand disappear into a cloud and those played by the right remain distinct enough to carry the melody. This was realized in the scene where Carol drives Therese to her house for the first time. The music appears like a public courtship moving somewhere private and thus the solo notes heard were the delay effects of notes that pile up into a cloud.[6] The third theme is about absence and loss. The theme was expressed in the voice-over scene where Therese reads the letter from Carol explaining herself and the need to hasten back to New York. Burwell wrote open intervals such as the fourth, fifth and ninth, to hide the sentiment. Both women are brokenhearted and the music reflects the emptiness they feel.[5]

Critical response

Nev Pierce of Empire called Burwell's score "sumptuous".[8] Stefan Ellison wrote in The Scene Magazine: "Carter Burwell's score is a beautiful piece, representing Carol and Therese's romance so well and never becoming overbearing, but rather a natural part of the environment."[9] Michael Joyce of Ham&High stated: "The discrete way he underscores emotions is ideal for a tale of a love that dare not speak its name, set in a time when a lid was kept on that kind of thing."[10] In his review for San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle wrote: "while underscoring [interior] scenes comes the sound of piped-in organ music ... that is just a little bit weird."[11] On Combustible Celluloid, Jeffery M. Anderson commented that the score was "perfect" for the film.[12]

In his review for The Arts Desk, Demetrios Matheou felt that Burwell's score, "reminiscent of Philip Glass's spare but highly emotive piano pieces", sets the mood.[13] Ryan Gilbey of New Statesman magazine noted: "The score by Carter Burwell, laced with a snake charmer's seductiveness, swells and swoops."[14] Andrew O'Hehir at Salon commented: "Carter Burwell's haunting score sets the mood by bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between Schubert, Duke Ellington and Philip Glass."[15] In her review for Little White Lies, Sophie Kaufman called the score by Burwell as "yearning".[16] Lewis Bazley of Sky Movies stated: "Carter Burwell's score soothes and soars."[17]

In a series of articles regarding the best of the 2010s in film, IndieWire selected Carter Burwell's score as the second best of the decade.[18]

Accolades
Main article: List of accolades received by Carol (film)

The score for Carol received nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and London Film Critics' Circle[19][20][21][22] It won Best Music from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Satellite Award for Best Original Score and Best Score by the International Cinephile Society.[23][24][25] In 2016 it won the Public Choice Award for the Best Score of the Year by the World Soundtrack Awards; in addition, Carter Burwell also received the Film Composer of the Year award.[26][27]

Track listing

All music is composed by Carter Burwell except where noted.

Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack[28]
No.TitleWriter(s)PerformersLength
1."Opening"  2:15
2."Taxi"  1:46
3."To Carol's"  1:40
4."One Mint Julep"Rudolph ToombsThe Clovers2:29
5."Datebook"  0:55
6."Christmas Trees"  2:21
7."Easy Living[lower-alpha 1]"
Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin
Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra
3:05
8."The Train"  2:32
9."Packing"  1:12
10."Drive into Night"  0:54
11."Kiss of Fire"
Ángel Villoldo, Lester Allen, Robert Hill
Georgia Gibbs2:27
12."Waterloo"  0:42
13."Lovers"  2:42
14."Gun"  3:07
15."Smoke Rings"
Gene Gifford, Ned Washington
Les Paul and Mary Ford2:58
16."Over There"  1:14
17."Visitation"  1:31
18."To Court"  1:03
19."Letter"  3:27
20."No Other Love"
Paul Weston, Bob Rusell
Jo Stafford3:00
21."The Times"  2:18
22."Reflections"  1:20
23."Crossing"  1:32
24."You Belong to Me"
Pee Wee King, Chilton Price, Redd Steward
Helen Foster & The Rovers2:56
25."The End"  3:53
Total length:53:20

Not featured on the soundtrack but included in the film:[30]

Performed by Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks:

Rooney Mara performed "Easy Living" on the piano.[31]

Vinyl soundtrack

The vinyl version of the soundtrack is divided into two, double-sided, 10-inch discs: "Album One − The Score" and "Album Two − The Songs", and features three additional song tracks not released on the compact disc:[2][3]

Personnel
  • Score composed, produced, orchestrated and conducted by Carter Burwell.

Charts
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[32] 157
Italian Compilation Albums (FIMI)[33] 19

See also

Notes
  1. "Easy Living" is referenced twice in the plot of the novel The Price of Salt (aka Carol): "[Therese] whistled part of it, and Carol smiled. '"Easy Living,"' Carol said. 'That's an old one.'"; and "Therese played "Easy Living" a couple of times, and Carol sat across the room watching her, sitting on the arm of a chair with her arms folded."[29]

References
  1. "Todd Haynes 'Carol' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. October 21, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  2. Varèse Sarabande @VareseSarabande (April 27, 2016). "#CarolMovie Soundtrack deluxe double 10" LP w/ 3 bonus songs! Out 6/24 Details +". Twitter. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  3. Raup, Jordan (April 28, 2016). "Carter Burwell's 'Carol' Score Getting Expanded Double Vinyl Release This Summer". The Film Stage. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  4. Rogers, Nathaniel (February 5, 2016). "Interview: Carter Burwell on Composing "Carol" and "Hail, Caesar!"". The Film Experience. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  5. "Carol - Carter's Notes". carterburwell.com. December 12, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  6. Ehrlich, David (November 21, 2015). "Composer Carter Burwell on 'Carol' and the Coen Brothers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  7. Raup, Jordan (November 20, 2015). "Listen to Carter Burwell's Complete, Magnificent Score For Todd Haynes' 'Carol'". The Film Stage. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  8. Pierce, Nev (November 20, 2015). "Carol Review". Empire. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  9. Ellison, Stefan (December 10, 2015). "Carol - Movie Review". The Scene Magazine. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  10. Joyce, Michael (November 29, 2014). "Carol review: 'An Oscar Pleader that has become a real film'". Ham&High. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  11. LaSalle, Mick (December 10, 2015). ""Carol" — Exquisite performances as 2 women connect". SF Gate. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  12. Anderson, Jeffrey M. (2015). "Carol (2015)". Combustible Celluloid. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  13. Matheou, Demetrios (November 26, 2015). "Carol". The Arts Desk. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  14. Gilbey, Ryan (November 26, 2015). "Matches made in heaven: Carol and Bridge of Spies". New Statesman. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  15. O'Hehir, Andrew (November 25, 2015). ""Carol" isn't just a "lesbian movie": Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara's '50s love story is a classic American screen romance". Salon. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  16. Kaufman, Sophie (November 25, 2015). "Carol - Little White Lies". Little White Lies. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  17. Bazley, Lewis (2015). "Carol". Sky Movies. Sky plc. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  18. Ehrlich, David; Erbland, Kate; O'Falt, Chris; Nordine, Michael (July 26, 2019). "The 20 Best Movie Scores of the Decade". IndieWire. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  19. "Oscar Nominations: The Complete List". The Hollywood Reporter. January 14, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  20. "Golden Globe Nominations: The Complete List". The Hollywood Reporter. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  21. Gray, Tim (December 14, 2015). "Critics' Choice Award Nominations Led by 'Mad Max,' 'Fargo'". Variety. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  22. Lodge, Guy (January 17, 2016). "'Mad Max: Fury Road,' '45 Years' Triumph at London Film Critics' Circle Awards". Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  23. Coggan, Devan (December 6, 2015). "Spotlight wins top prize from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  24. "Satellite Awards 2015". International Press Academy. December 1, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  25. "'Carol' Named Best Picture by Intl. Cinephile Society". Variety. February 21, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  26. World Soundtrack Awards (October 19, 2016). "Winners of the 16th World Soundtrack Awards". World Soundtrack Academy. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  27. "Carter Burwell Named Film Composer of the Year at World Soundtrack Awards". Film Music Reporter. October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  28. "Carol : original motion picture soundtrack". OCLC WorldCat. 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  29. Highsmith, Patricia (1952). The Price of Salt (2004 ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 136, 209. ISBN 0-393-32599-7.
  30. Jagernauth, Kevin (May 13, 2015). "All The Songs In Todd Haynes' 'Carol' Including Billie Holiday, Gerry Mulligan, The Clovers, Jo Stafford, & More". Indiewire. Archived from the original on November 27, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  31. Number 9 Films (Carol) Ltd. (May 17, 2015). "CAROL Production Notes" (PDF). Number 9 Films. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 10, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  32. "Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Carter Burwell – Carol" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  33. "Classifiche: Compilation − Classifica settimanale WK 3 (dal 2016-01-15 al 2016-01-21)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved January 22, 2016.

Further reading
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