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] It was also chosen the fifth out of 40 best film scores of the 21st century.[19]
^"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."[30]
