Live soundtracks for silent movies have a dual role: they function as a musical score that accompanies the movie’s narrative, highlighting climax point and creating dramatic and psychological subtexts; as well as, they fill in the ‘missing’ post-production effects for these classic silent-film-era works.
I was lucky to be invited by Amir Vodka-Berendsen, director of Sounds of Silence festival in The Hague, to create soundtracks for some of these masterpiece works.
The Faithful Heart (Cœur fidèle, Jean Epstein, 1923)
– photo: Alex Schröder –
With Marie Guilleray (voice, electronics), Onno Govaert (percussion), Arvind Ganga (elect. guitar), Ilya Ziblat (contrabass).
With Carlos Ema (piano), Oğuz Büyükberber (bass clarinet), Luis Mora (percussion), Ilya Ziblat (contrabass).
2016 (Sounds of Silence_3rd edition)
Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
With Mei-yi Lee (Percussion), Ilya Ziblat (contrabass & live electronics).
The mystery-full, horror-evoking sounds relate not only to the tension and suspense of this classic vampire movie, but also suggest acceptance and submission to (super)natural powerful forces embodied in the image of Nosferatu.
