soothsayer's Full Review: New Music For Silent Films - Alloy Orchestra
The next time you watch an old silent film, consider the music, the performers just might be the Alloy Orchestra. They are among many new--some might term "avant-garde"--artists to score new music to old films. The Alloy Orchestra, in particular, is famed for using "junky" percussion and loud noises to stomp excitement into silent films.
They favor anything they can beat a stick at, drums, old radiators, chimes, metal objects, trashcans, anything; and the more junky, the better. The addition of synthesizer allows the ensemble to recreate almost any sound, melody, and mood possible in a movie. The Alloy Orchestra is composed of Ken Winokur, and Terry Donahue on percussion, and Caleb Sampson on synthesizers.
The album, New Music For Silent Films is a compilation of pieces the Alloy Orchestra has scored for five films; "Metropolis", "Aelita, Queen of Mars", "Sylvester", "The Wind", and "First Night". I was disappointed F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu was not included among the selections.
The music composed for Fritz Lang's Metropolis is fast paced, and exciting. In Metropolis, Man is pitted against Machine. It is an epic struggle, and a dire portent of things to come later in the movie. Thudding bass, and crisp snare drums set to a military beat symbolize the city that marches ahead regardless of the human cost, while a somber violin melody symbolizes the workers caught in its grip. The music climaxes with dissonant crashing metallic noises, and violins. In Garden of Earthly Delights, the ethereal sounds of atonal-tuned strings on synthesizer, and wind chimes help create a place that is both mysterious, yet dreary and everyday. The Clock sounds like a twisted factory in motion. Ticking clocks are recreated through metallic chimes (of varying tonalities), while a creepy organ instrumental along with steam whistle adds an element of intrigue, and suspense. The music conveys the notion that each worker of Metropolis is nothing more than a well-oiled cog. Escape from The Underground City features a sexy saxophone improvisational played alongside thundering drums to capture the mood, and the various elements at play during which Metropolis is flooded in the movie. There are occasional shrieks of horn to symbolize the unfolding human drama as workers are trying to escape with their lives from the underground city. The music is fast, exciting, and feels glamorous, will the water win, or will the workers escape?
"Aelita, Queen of Mars" is an old Soviet sci-fi film filmed in 1924 by Iakov Protazanov. The two tracks on the album, Aelita, and Life on Mars feature sounds of Morse code, proleterian worker's chorus, odd metallic objects, and various other weird noises to create both the excitement of receiving a message from Mars, as well as recreate an untamed alien Mars landscape.
I do not know anything about the film "First Night". The music, however, was composed with the liberal use of drums, bongos, and other ethnic percussion to give the music a bit of tribal feel. Burundi sounds almost like Philip Glass' Serra Pelada (in his score for the film Powaqqatsi) with whistles, metallic chimes, and drums all creating a richly textured sound that feels like one is participating in some sort of tribal celebration. In False Alarm, the staccato notes of drums, horn, organ, and metallic chimes create a sense of panic. A wild saxophone improv added to the mix gives the music a chaotic feel. The Zone of Silence is anything but quiet. A random mix of metallic objects, and electronic noises give the music a mysterious, spacey feel. Oddly enough, Orphelia sounds like theme music for L.A. Law (only set in some rural town) with its slow percussion and sexy jazz melody. Baptism of Fire is an intense drum instrumental, and is perfect music for walking hot coals.
Also included on the album are tracks for Lupu Pick's "Sylvester", and Victor Sjostrom's "The Wind". The album merely presents a snippet of what the Alloy Orchestra can do. Personally, the only way to experience this type of music is to see it performed live in conjunction with a film screening. If the Alloy Orchestra (or the Club Foot Orchestra, another good film orchestra) shows up in your town, get tickets and see 'em. Besides when will be the next time you get to see a silent film on a real screen? And before I end this, here is a secret from me to you. . . . The Alloy Orchestra performs one film screening every summer during Brooklyn's Celebrate Brooklyn festival, for FREE. The suggested entry fee into the Celebrate Brooklyn seating area is only $3.00, and "suggested" is just that, you dn't have to pay, but it is nice if you do, to support the festival every year.
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