Initially, it might seem unimaginable that a silent film from the late 1920s could occasion a West Coast premiere of a musical score. But when the score is one composed for the film, then the situation becomes feasible, indeed.
The film is
Metropolis, a Weimar Republic work directed by Fritz Lang in 1927. Martin Matalon, who created the score, is an Argentinean-born composer with connections to IRCAM, the Paris institution for computer music. Matalon's score is orchestrated for both electronics and a symphony orchestra. Under the baton of Bruno Ferrandis, the Santa Rosa Symphony performed Matalon's orchestral parts. The event was produced by Stanford Lively Arts, and took place Saturday at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium.
Metropolis is a science-fiction film about a city with two prominent social classes. The working class literally exists underground, whereas the upper class resides in skyscrapers. A beautiful woman, named Maria, preaches to the workers about a mediator who will unite the two classes. Freder, the son of the city's chief leader, falls in love with Maria, and after she exposes him to the poor living conditions of the workers, Freder grows sympathetic to his underground "brothers." Freder's newfound support for the workers prompts his father to try reinforcing control over the workers by conspiring with a mad scientist.
The scientist brings to life a robot that impersonates Maria. She convinces the workers first to harm their own underground quarters and then to attack the upper-class skyscrapers. This incites further drama, including the death of a prominent character. In the end, though, Freder unites his father and a prominent worker, thereby becoming the mediator whom Maria had envisioned. Ultimately,
Metropolis alludes to the ills of capitalism, to the threat of fascism, and perhaps even to a Marxist reconciliation of social classes.
Series of Sound Tracks
From the beginning, music has often accompanied Lang's film. Lang himself requested Gottfried Huppertz to compose the original score, and several other scores have subsequently been composed. Similarly, the film itself exists in several different versions. In fact, the uncut original was presumed to have been lost until a copy was discovered in 2008. The version shown on Saturday was produced by the Filmmuseum München.
Even though there are other scores for this film, Matalon's score seems inimitable, due to the wide variety of timbres and textures he fashions from his intricate combination of electronics and live orchestra. He widens his orchestration even further by using plenty of percussion. He also includes nonorchestral instruments, like an electric guitar.
Matalon's score also relates to the film in a variety of ways. For example, occasionally it provides sound effects, such as the whistling of steam escaping from a machine. It also features leitmotives. The robotic Maria, to note just one, tends to be associated with a jazzy riff on the electric guitar. Perhaps most often, the music paints soundscapes, or creates appropriate ambiances for the drama's action. But perhaps most interestingly, sometimes the music also contrasts with the action, an effect the composer himself likens to counterpoint. This last effect notably occurs at the height of the workers' rebellion. Here, the music grows calm, and at one prolonged moment, it even becomes completely silent.
On Saturday, the orchestra shared the stage with the film screen rather than playing from a pit, and the electronics were controlled from a location within the auditorium seating. These electronic sounds resounded from speakers located around the stage, thereby rivaling the surround sound of modern action movies. The live and ostentatious presence of these multiple sources of sound production made the music seem essential rather than merely accompanimental to the film.
Just as these various sources of sound were well-integrated within the performance space, so too does Matalon's score creatively fuse together with the film itself. Lang's film is a masterpiece, and Matalon's score provides it with yet another layer of complexity. Indeed, I would like to view
Metropolis again, but not without simultaneously hearing Matalon's energizing, intricate score.