Artistic Director of the Europäische Filmphilharmonie
Director: Arnold Fanck (GER, 1921)
Music: Paul Hindemith, adapted by Frank Strobel (2013)
The only film score which survives from the scarce composed by Paul Hindemith in the twenties decade, corresponds to one of the first compositions expressly made for a specific picture. Composed in a unselfish way, only for the pleasure to do it, this very beautiful Hindemith‘s score for IM KAMPF MIT DEM BERGE, a mountain-and-snow adventure film directed by his friend Arnold Fanck in 1920, was only heared in conjunction with the movie, and as the composer and director liked, on its premiere in Berlin in 1921. Rejected since then by the musicians and conductors of the projection halls (we must remember that on those years the music was played on live), complaining of its excessive difficulty of performance, has been necessary more than seventy years to be able to enjoy again of its terrific music. Hindemith splits his score in six acts, which correspond to the six reels who has the original version of the picture. This is the only surviving film score from Hindemith, which shows a sound treatment which comes two decades ahead of what will become a usual language.
MUSIC: On the occasion of a new recording of lm music that is planned with the hr-symphony orchestra under Frank Strobel, research was undertaken once again in the international lm archives. The now well-known copy by Filmarchiv Austria reveals enormous progress over older versions thanks to the complete subtitles and a palette of historical colourings, approaching the original length of the lm within just a few minutes.
INSTRUMENTATION: 1/pic.1.1.0 - 0.1.1.0 - timp. perc.harmonium.pno – strings 68 min.
The musical recording is a co-production of ZDF/ARTE; Hessischer Rundfunk; and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, proprietor of film rights.
This is a production by the EUROPEAN FILMPHILHARMONIC INSTITUTE.
contact: Beate Warkentien
Phone +49 (0) 30 27890-194
e-mail: warkentien@filmphilharmonie.de
