Thursday, August 7, 9pm, Symphony Barn

by Myke Dyer
In a tribute to the silent era of film we are pleased to present an evening of live music composed for a silent classic. Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, Metropolis had for 75 years been seen only in shortened or truncated versions. This print of the film has been restored with state-of-the-art digital technology. It is, as A. O. Scott of The New York Times declared, “A fever dream of the future. At last we have the movie every would-be cinematic visionary has been trying to make since 1927.”

Metropolis, Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang got the idea for the film on a trip to the United States during a time when technological progress filled people with both admiration and dread. The Dadaists proclaimed, “Art is dead, machines are the only art.”

Metropolis takes place in the future, 2026, in a city owned by one man, the industrial brain. Workers, who form the overwhelming majority, work and live underground in squalid catacombs. In the modernist, brave new world above the rich enjoy life in a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century.
The modern skyscrapers of the Metropolis skyline conceal an organized prison regime for workers, which allow no scope for liberty. The Dictator’s son strays into the unfamiliar underworld and falls for a woman worker who is the leader of a growing uprising.

Although an original score for this silent gem exists, Metropolis has seemingly baited music composers for decades to approach the film’s musical treatment with new and ever bolder interpretations. Add to that, the burgeoning appetite of audiences hungry to see silent film classics revitalized with contemporary scores, Metropolis sits as an almost holy grail of combined visual and audio experiences.

Guelph composer, producer and remixer Andrew McPherson and fellow Eccodek member, Deliveryboy have composed a contemporary soundtrack to accompany Metropolis. The duo employ a combination of live instruments (guitar, percussion, piano, synths, beatboxes) sampled audio, live drum-groove looping, sound design and digital sound processing. They draw from a musical palette of jazz, classical, downtempo, dub, found sound, hip hop and ambient.

Both composers were drawn to a less-is-more philosophy when it came to supporting the narrative on-screen, as they realized early on that ample storyline was being communicated despite the silent film limitation on dialogue. This resulted in a musical treatment that feels unforced and uncluttered.

McPherson’s classical training as a university music grad and extensive resumé as a producer, combined with Deliveryboy’s intuitive sense of texture and rhythm make for an inspiring collaborative score. A rich urban soundtrack is brought to life with a sensitive, sometimes driving, live performance played in virtual sync with the film.

Metropolis
(Germany, 1927, 124 min)
Fritz Lang

View Trailer
(with original score)

Andrew McPherson and Deliveryboy, Eccodek