My fave Carter Burwell score is anything orchestral. I'm a massive Twilight fan and I've seen all five of them.
Iwazinkiwane310: Welcome to the board! And glad to find another who appreciates Burwell's music for Twilight 1,4, and 5! You might want to check out my posting of a discussion on "Twilight Forever," the 10 disc Blu-ray set of the 5 Twilight movies with oodles of extras. You can find it under Non-Film Score discussions. (I just added something to bring it up to the top so you can find it.)
Carter Burwell is an amazing composer, and, yes, why he wasn't nominated for "In Bruges" has no acceptable answer, except that the musical branch of the Academy probably stuck with the Usual Suspects. And I would be very curious to know why they jumped from him to Desplat when they made the second in the "Twilight" franchise -- his music was so integral to the original movie and it was ridiculous to not keep the continuity, although (1) providing music for "New Moon" was a pretty thankless task, and (2) Howard Shore rescued the series with his music for "Eclipse." But someone had his head on straight when it was decided to bring Burwell back for 4 and 5, and that those films work as well as they do is attributable to both director Bill Condon AND Carter Burwell. Anyone have any details about why Burwell wasn't retained for 2 and 3?
Director Chris Weitz had worked with Desplat on The Golden Compass and wanted to work with him again, so that's the main reason I think. I actually thought Desplat did a pretty decent job, but Burwell's scores are the best of the series. Never saw the films though.
Back on topic, my favorite Burwell scores are The Chamber, The Jackal and Gods and Monsters. He's been one of my fave composers from the moment I started getting into film music. Shame he got rejected on Thor and Gangster Squad
I've only seen the first Twlight film (after being dragged there by my ex) and the only thing that got me through was Burwell's score. It is very good IMO.
Re: "Director Chris Weitz had worked with Desplat on The Golden Compass and wanted to work with him again, so that's the main reason I think. I actually thought Desplat did a pretty decent job, but Burwell's scores are the best of the series."
I had suspected as much. Weitz's "New Moon" has been so polarizing, and I've long said that, for me, it's the far weakest of the 5, and admitted that I was so dismissive of Desplat's score because it WASN'T a continuation of Burwell's original, which wasn't fair to Desplat. In some of the special features on the 10-Blu-ray set, we see director Weitz working on the film, and I'm also beginning to blame him less than Melissa Rosenberg's script (and maybe Stephenie Meyer's book it was based on). But we got past "New Moon" to "Eclipse," with the series rescued by a valiant Howard Shore, and once they got Burwell back for 4 and 5, all was once again well with the "Twilight" world.
As for liking the soundtracks but never seeing the "Twilight" movies, that's interesting. I wish you could see how perfectly Burwell's music works in the first -- it is soooooooooooooo perfect for it!
Two Burwell recommendations: "And The Band Played On" and "In Bruges," both of which are thrilling, especially the latter!
I like the Burwell scores that employ a brilliant theme that is heard throughout the film: his work for the Coens, "In Bruges" and "Being John Malkovich" are the best examples of this.
Re: "Director Chris Weitz had worked with Desplat on The Golden Compass and wanted to work with him again, so that's the main reason I think. I actually thought Desplat did a pretty decent job, but Burwell's scores are the best of the series."
I had suspected as much. Weitz's "New Moon" has been so polarizing, and I've long said that, for me, it's the far weakest of the 5, and admitted that I was so dismissive of Desplat's score because it WASN'T a continuation of Burwell's original, which wasn't fair to Desplat. In some of the special features on the 10-Blu-ray set, we see director Weitz working on the film, and I'm also beginning to blame him less than Melissa Rosenberg's script (and maybe Stephenie Meyer's book it was based on). But we got past "New Moon" to "Eclipse," with the series rescued by a valiant Howard Shore, and once they got Burwell back for 4 and 5, all was once again well with the "Twilight" world.
As for liking the soundtracks but never seeing the "Twilight" movies, that's interesting. I wish you could see how perfectly Burwell's music works in the first -- it is soooooooooooooo perfect for it!
I must admit that Burwell's music is so good, that I am tempted to watch the films just to hear his music in context. My girlfriend has them all on dvd so who knows, maybe one day Shore's score is indeed very good. Almost a combination between Burwell's harsh sounds of the first and Desplat's more lush second score. I also love that for the overture for Breaking Dawn pt. 2 Burwell uses both Desplat and Shore's theme.
Two Burwell recommendations: "And The Band Played On" and "In Bruges," both of which are thrilling, especially the latter!
Haven't heard "And the Band Played On" yet. I know it's on Spotify, so will investigate some day. In Bruges is indeed a wonderful score. Nice to see a fellow Burwell fan, the guy is highly underrated. He has a unique voice and is truly one of the most interesting composers around
Resurrecting this thread from a few years ago. I'm listening to a lot of Burwell's scores currently and really enjoying them. I chose True Grit in 2013 and would probably retain that choice though the recent Wonderstruck runs it close as do 'Carol' and 'Fargo'
A great body of work produced by Carter over 30 years.
Unfortunately the only Carter Burwell score I'm familiar with is A Goofy Movie, and from what I understand a lot of what he wrote for that one was reworked by Don Davis - meaning I don't know who did the parts I like (most of the best cues are on the soundtrack, but I would very much love to see this score released in full, if only because it contains the catchiest montage music I have ever heard in film).