Jump to content

Carter Burwell


DU Lou

Recommended Posts

What do you think? and recommend?

I have "It Could Happen to You" but sadly only has 2 cues of the score... I also like "Conspiracy Theory" and "Being John Malkovich" ... Those descending arpeggios (such as the opening of track #2 on CT ) are delightful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carter Burwell is one of my favorite composers! I tend to really enjoy all of his work, but I would recommend the following:

And the Band Played On ***

Fargo *****

Gods And Monsters *****

Hudsucker Proxy, The *****

Man Who Wasn't There, The *****

O Brother Where Art Thou? (Promo Score) ****

and

Spanish Prisoner, The ***

Especially Gods and Monsters, Hudsucker, and Man Who Wasn't....... all three are incredible scores. Hudsucker has a great..great...GREAT main theme!!! And Man Who... is just beautifull, although too short.

Good luck!

PS, has anyone heard "Simone" how is it if so?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Hudsucker has a great..great...GREAT main theme!!!...

Oh yeah - forgot about Hudsucker. I love the theme that is played while Tim Robbins was looking for his new job and the board members were giving their reports.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MILLER'S CROSSING is one of his absolute best!

I also like the lighter DOC HOLLYWOOD.

I HAD Doc Hollywood on cassette but I think it melted

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hudsucker has a great..great...GREAT main theme!!!

Yes, but most of the score (including the main theme) consists of variations on Khatchaturian's ballet Spartacus. I have the suite from that, so I don't know if I really need Burwell's score. Should watch the movie again, haven't done so for too long...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 years later...

I'm a casual fan of Carter Burwell. I think his three best scores have been Conspiracy Theory, Miller's Crossing and True Grit. But there's more of his career that I need to explore. My favourite score by him is Conspiracy Theory, for sake of how ridiculously enjoyable it is. And the 'End Titles' cue from Miller's Crossing is very lovely with how it interpolates the folk tune into the orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv1MHTP8_YU

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not exactly a 'fan', but I do like some of his work: A Serious Man, Fargo, bits of In Bruges, The Alamo, Where the Wild Things Are.

And True Grit is currently my absolute favourite score right now (although the OST/promo is a little frustrating - each has cues the other doesn't, meaning that since I wanted to give Burwell some money for the effort, I had to swap some cues out for completeness).

He absolutely has a voice, very pastoral. It gets a little too 'soft' for my tastes sometimes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only his score for Rob Roy, which I got in the mid 90s, is in my collection.

Great mixture of music on that soundtrack (and a truly great film, too).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob Roy is the only score of his I'm familiar with also. It's quite good I think.

I wouldn't take it over, say, Braveheart. But still, it's quite good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know some of his scores, but only from the movies. I remember the music from Coen brothers' movies: to Fargo, Burn After Reading, and some others like Being John Malkovich. They certainly draw attention to themselves, in a good sense. But, sadly, I haven't got a single CD of his.

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only bit of music from Being John Malkovich that stood out to me was the Bartok piece at the start.

Not to denigrate Burwell's score - it fits the film like a glove and is pretty much unnoticeable to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Psycho III. Great Burwell score and a great start in his early career. Only available on LP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
  • 4 years later...

This doesn't actually have much to do with Burwell, but I was watching this 2013 panel with him and the Coens and Alec Baldwin earlier today and wanted to call out a specific "WTF?!" moment.

 

Here Baldwin is talking about how "unique" the composer/filmmaker collaboration of the Coens and Burwell is and actually says:

Quote

I don't think anybody has had the relationship you guys have had in terms of 15 consecutive films.

And no one contradicts him!

 

 

These are all smart people who know movies very well.  How do you say something like that without thinking of Spielberg/Williams (whose streak is 19 consecutive films I think, Empire of the Sun - Lincoln), the most famous composer-director relationship ever!  So weird.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, that is weird. 

 

As for Burwell, he's very hit/miss for me. My favourite remains ROB ROY, which is also -- in many ways -- quite untypical for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to mention the other long-running director composer collaborations both past and present, that have worked on more then 15 films. 

 

That's a rather ignorant and strange remark, especially when Burwell work with The Coens in the past decade seems to have less prominent, and often times a lot of his main themes are based off classical older music and hymns. I like a lot of his work, but really? That's just a bizarre thing to say. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely a slap-worthy comment. I mean Burwell has does 17 movies with the Coen Brothers, while Spielberg has worked with Williams on 28 films in total, there's no comparison, and lets not forget the long-running director composer teams like Shore / Cronenberg, Burton / Elfman, Silvestri / Zemeckis etc..., and even some of the classic "teams". It's not even a debate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Burwell is a fine composer but many of his greatest hits tend to be adaptations. Fargo, It Happened to You etc. I have yet to hear a great composition from him. Conspiracy Theory gets there as does the unreleased The Jackal but I wonder how much of that pumping score was his, considering that he is not exactly 'pumping'. But then again he did replace Barry on Mercury Rising to replace what the producers described as tedium with 'pumping'. This is the description of the score he did to The Jackal, so the 'pumping' must have been his work, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/25/2017 at 7:40 PM, Koray Savas said:

How is Fargo an adaptation?

 

Burwell is a fantastic composer. 

 

The main theme is taken from a Norwegian folk song

 

 

But I agree, I'm actually finding Burwell one of the most reliable film composers lately. He's been doing good work the last few years with unique projects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was disappointed when he was kicked off Gangster Squad and Thor 2. The former would have been something special, but we got a Jablonsky phone-in instead. The latter would have been interesting to see how he would have tackled a studio blockbuster. I imagine that’s not really the side of the industry he wants to be involved in, though. He’s one of the composers left that has still maintained his director collaborators (Coens, Haynes, McDonagh).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

But I agree, I'm actually finding Burwell one of the most reliable film composers lately. He's been doing good work the last few years with unique projects.

 

Even with awful ones:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...

The Banshees of Inisherin score album is out in any country where it is already Friday

 

1400x1400bb.webp

 

1. Walking Home Alone (1:18)
2. Night Falls on Inisherin (0:45)
3. Marking the Calendar (1:09)
4. The Island Comes to Church (1:10)
5. Doesn’t Time Be Flying (1:00)
6. Standing Prayer (1:30)
7. Delivering Milk But No News (1:03)
8. Colm Takes the Reins (2:10)
9. Padraic Wakes – Driving Into the Rain (1:10)
10. The First Finger (1:14)
11. Padraic and Jenny (0:48)
12. Padraic Keeps Quiet (2:15)
13. Colm Throws the Balance (1:50)
14. Jenny and the Fourth (1:53)
15. Dark Padraic (1:30)
16. Siobhan Leaves (1:46)
17. The Slow Passing of Time (1:46)
18. Padraic Leaves the Church (1:02)
19. My Life Is on Inisherin (3:47)
20. A Smoldering New Day (1:56)
21. The Mystery of Inisherin (2:31)

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-banshees-of-inisherin-original-score/1650443081

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I like this album, the movie is kind of weird by it's dark tragic comedy tone (more tragic than comedy!).

 

Anyway, this score is the third Burwell's Academy Awards Nomination, I really hope it will be released as a CD too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone is only talking about Banshees because it's the one that got nominated (and the movie is probably better, I dunno haven't seen it yet), but he had another score this year that is better than the Banshees score 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Jay said:

but he had another score this year that is better than the Banshees score 

I don't know if it's better, but certainly it's more interesting, since it is only for voices! 

(the thing I didn't like about the soundtrack though is that the songs which are placed here and there, took me out of the mood. Fortunately I was listening at spotify and whenever there was a song, I went forward to the next track)

I am sure it would be nominated for an Oscar, if the film was great and was nominated too.

That's how it goes now I'm afraid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

I am sure it would be nominated for an Oscar, if the film was great and was nominated too.

That's how it goes now I'm afraid.

 

Yep

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes.  And Fargo embodies both the irony and the tragedy of the story.  And Hudsucker is wonderful, the whole score not just the Khatchaturian adapted cues.  And True Grit!

 

I just love the way Burwell reflects and comments upon the unique tones of the Coens films.  A great underrated director-composer collaboration!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.