Loading ...HBO’s pioneering series takes the dark carnival gambit of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, drops it in the bleak heartland of Dust Bowl-era America and jolts it with a compelling undercurrent of Biblical apocalypse. That’s no easy dramatic flux to musically evoke, but veteran TV composer Jeff Beal graces the show with cues that seamlessly fuse Appalachian folk traditions with a brooding, goth-inspired ambient gloom. The anxious solo fiddle of the show’s theme is a repeating motif, one the composer uses to variously evoke melancholy (“Dora Mae’s Funeral”), bittersweet romance (“Rita Sue and Jonesy”) or supernatural wonders (“Ben Heals the Girl”). Beal’s use of mournful solo horn (as on “Mark of the Beast”) often heralds the show’s undercurrent of Biblical doom, while his hesitant, haunting piano passages seem to hang in the air for eternity. The evocative cues here stand in stark contrast to the oft-quirky jazz cool of the composer’s Emmy-winning work on Monk, ample tribute to Beal’s masterful abilities to channel his musical instincts into even the most diverse dramatic material. –Jerry McCulley, Amazon.com
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1. Carnivàle (Ben’s Theme) Listen
2. Dora Mae’s Funeral
3. Carnivàle Main Title Theme Listen
4. Meet Samson, Ben’s Dream
5. Justin at Mr. Chin’s (Justin’s Theme)
6. His Name Was Michael
7. Storm’s Coming
8. Ben Heals the Girl
9. Rita Sue and Jonesy
10. Lodz and Ben
11. Carnivàle Convoy
12. We Can Be Saved
13. Mark of the Beast
14. Silent Film
15. Fix Up Dora Mae
16. Black Blizzard
17. Ben Heals Kerrigan
18. Justin Calls Iris
19. Management’s Advice
20. You’re the One
21. Russian Front
22. Babylon
23. Ben Searches the Templar Hall
24. Sofie Reads the Cards for Ben
25. Lodz and Management Plot
26. Lucky to Have Jonesy (Sofie’s Theme)
