Carter Burwell is perhaps best known for scoring films for the Coen brothers. Has worked on the majority of their films, most recently creating a beautiful piano theme for The Man Who Wasn’t There that perfectly complemented the Beethoven and Mozart featured in the film.
For Adaptation, Burwell describes in the linear notes that he was working from three themes: “The Swamp”; “The Ghost”; and “Creation.” Burwell says that “musical equivalents evolved to help” present these themes. As a result, he paired “inharmonic overtones of struck metal” with an English Horn, and made the score cyclical in order to represent the “meaningless engine of life and death.” Of course, these are things that tie the music to the film. The soundtrack is only the music itself, and therefore is not aided by the images on-screen. So, how does Burwell’s score hold up as music independent of film? Pretty well over all. The majority of the album is enjoyable to listen to. Like the majority of Burwell’s scores, it is melodious and beautiful, even when trying it’s trying to be dissonant.
Spike Jonze was smart to get Burwell for the soundtrack, because he creates music that feels so beautifully isolated and solitary, making you as an individual audience member feel connected to it in a personal way, while at the same time, everyone around you is doing the same. |