Carnivale (Soundtrack From the Original HBO Series)
HBO's pioneering series takes the dark carnival gambit of Ray Bradbury'sSomething 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 onMonk, ample tribute to Beal's masterful abilities to channel his musical instincts into even the most diverse dramatic material.--Jerry McCulley