Welcome back to Season 2 of the Composer Magazine Podcast! We're kicking things off with a special two-part episode with an exciting guest: Oscar-nominated composer Carter Burwell.
Joining Charles Steinberg as our new co-host is our 2022 Composer of the Year, Natalie Holt (Loki, Obi-Wan Kenobi), who together sat down with Carter to discuss his long-standing collaboration with the Coen brothers, his recent work with director Martin McDonagh, and explore his 40-year journey contributing some of the most original and iconic music to the world of cinema.
One of the great pleasures for me about this work is research, learning new things, new instruments, new idioms — I love that.
Carter: One of the things I really liked about sampling was that you could take something that, when you heard it played once, you just say ‘That’s a noise’ - but when you hear it played repeatedly, and give it some pitch and structure, then it becomes a musical instrument. It applies to anything: As long as you can give it some pitch, and some structure, and some time — now it’s music.
It’s not by any means my goal for a concept to be communicated to the listener or the viewer of the film. I don’t expect people to get it. It’s entirely, frankly, for me.
Track listings as heard in the interview:
PART I
Intro
1. Walking Home - The Banshees of Inisherin
2. Blood Simple - Blood Simple
3. My Mother’s Advice - Wonderstruck
4. Safe Keeping - Fargo
Body
1. Ride to Death - True Grit
2. Chain Gang - Blood Simple
3. Effects of Sibling Pressure - Adaptation
4. Colm Takes the Reins - The Banshees of Inisherin
5. Way Out There (Main Title) - Raising Arizona
6. Return to the Nursery - Raising Arizona
7. Opening Titles - Fear
8. Fargo, North Dakota - Fargo
9. Th Hula Hoop - The Hudsucker Proxy
Outro
The Wingless Thrush - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
PART II
Intro
Bella’s Lullaby - Twilight
Body
1. Drive Into Night - Carol
2. I’ve Been Arrested - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. Your Share - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
4. A Man and His Hat - Miller’s Crossing
5. Prologue - In Bruges
Outro
The Mystery of Inisherin - The Banshees of Inisherin