“[Jeff Beal] approached the creation of the soundtrack with such understanding that it seems as if he was communicating with Fritz Lang in some spiritualistic way.”
“Jeff Beal's music is truly magnificent, in the best sense of the word, and colorfully, melodically, dynamically and rhythmically diverse - the viewer (listener) never gets bored for a second.”
“A film symphony”
(Below article originally published in Czech)
The evening of April 27th offered an exceptional meeting of film and live music at the Karlín Music Theatre. As part of the Composers Summit Prague, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra performed Jeff Beal's new music for the iconic film Metropolis by director Fritz Lang, which was simultaneously screened on the screen. The generous theater space gave the entire project the appropriate monumentality and underlined its ambitions. How did the contemporary musical interpretation stand up to the legendary work of German expressionism? Let's look back at the evening that connected the past with the present in an effort to offer the audience an extraordinary experience.
The effort was not in vain, the evening was a great success. The digitally restored version of Metropolis is impressive, revealing details that were previously lost from worn-out film reels. Yes, the ravages of time are visible even in the restored copy, but perhaps the observation and the sounding of the film's thoughts are all the more impressive. Let's remember that the film is celebrating its centenary. It premiered in 1927, but of course it was in the works much earlier.
The new music for Metropolis is considerably younger – Jeff Beal's soundtrack had its world premiere in Prague. Nevertheless, it fits the film, is well thought out, and captures the plot in individual sequences, whether it is The composer uses the mood of the music to match the events on the screen or deliberately goes in the opposite direction. It is a modern, contemporary and listener-friendly music. It is of course program music, and it serves its purpose perfectly, but at the same time it can be considered a symphony, albeit with a clear subtext. Let's say a film symphony.
Briefly about the plot of the film. Director Lang and screenwriter Thea von Harba (the two were married for a time) set the story approximately the time we live in today, around the year 2000. The viewer finds himself in the futuristic city of Metropolis, which is divided into two parts: above ground, the privileged elite lives in luxury, while deep below the sidewalks, roads, ostentatious buildings and parks, workers work in inhuman conditions, keeping the city running.
The main character of the film is Freder, the son of the despotic city boss Johan "Joh" Fredersen. Freder lives a carefree life until he meets Maria - a young woman from the underground, who brings a group of working-class children to the gardens of the elite to show them the contrast between the "lower" and "upper" worlds. Freder falls in love with her, and when he tries to find her underground, he learns about the inhuman conditions in which the workers are forced to live and work. He takes their side and intends to help them, just like Maria, who preaches in the underground cathedral about a better tomorrow and the need to connect workers and elites in mutual understanding and cooperation. This is to be achieved through a so-called mediator who will connect the "head" (the ruler) and the "hands" (the workers). How else would Freder be the mediator?
But for Joh Fredersen, Marie is a threat. He orders a humanoid robot, a fake Marie, from the deranged inventor Rotwang to cause chaos among the workers and at the same time to take his son away from the real Marie. Rotwang creates the humanoid, but programs her to unleash worker riots, through which he himself would rule the city. As usual, the background is a repulsed love for a woman who had previously preferred Fredersen.
The fanatical workers actually rise up and start destroying everything they can get their hands on. In the process, all of their children almost die and the underground city is one step away from destruction - a large part of it is destroyed in the torrents of high water.
But there is a utopian happy ending (Metropolis is a beautiful example of so-called anti-utopian science fiction). The fake Marie is exposed and burned, while the real one's life is saved, and the labor leader shakes hands with Fredersen through the mediator Freder. This confirms the message of the film, namely that the mediator between the head and the hands (the mind and work) must be the heart. Beautiful, right? Although still unfair to the workers.
The film had a bombastic promotion during filming, but the work on it was accompanied by difficulties, disputes between the actors and the director, and an astronomically increasing budget. However, the audience response after the premiere was rather negative, so the producer, the UFA film company, cut the film by about a quarter. The cuts were even more drastic for American distribution. And critics, at least to a large extent, did not adore Metropolis either.
Today, Fritz Lang's film is considered one of the cornerstones of world cinematographic history, a masterpiece with a stunning visual structure and a humanistic (although not entirely accurate) message. It shows the clash of technology with faith and reason (some scenes made me think of a comparison with Chaplin's Modern Times) and the necessity of communication of all components of any system. The reference to the Tower of Babel is clear here: lack of communication and understanding leads to chaos and destruction.
This knowledge was to be brought to people through the silver screen by the film's actors. They certainly did not have a simple role, and director Lang was said to have been unusually harsh with them. Perhaps that is why some of the acting performances can seem spasmodic, actors often overact. Of course, silent film required different artistic means than sound cinematography, and of course the times were different, and so were the audience's tastes; but we are watching the film today, and in this context it seems that some of the acting actions would be less more.
But: all of this is largely eliminated by the music of Jeff Beal - The famous film score composer (House of Cards, Monk, Pollock, Rome) approached the creation of the soundtrack with such empathy that it almost seems as if he had communicated with Fritz Lang through some spiritualistic way. Before Metropolis, he had already tried his hand at working on music for silent films on another legendary film, director Robert Wiene's opus The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920, but as he himself said, he considers the musical score for Metropolis to be his life's work. That is why it is a great honor for us that he performed (and conducted) its world premiere in Prague as part of the Composers Summit Prague.
Beal's music, perhaps paradoxically, civilizes the actors' actions and therefore brings them closer to today's audience. And along with the development of the film's plot, it also scales appropriately. Although Lang’s lighting work is excellent, the film only really gets exciting in the final quarter, when the action picks up and the plot surges forward like a raging river. Beal's score goes hand in hand with it.
Jeff Beal's music is truly magnificent, in the best sense of the word, and colorfully, melodically, dynamically and rhythmically diverse - the viewer (listener) does not get bored for a second. Metropolis lasts almost three hours, and the musical area that accompanies it has the same footage. In this case, it rather cooperates, is part of the plot and helps the actors’ performances.
Beal changes the instrumental cast for different scenes, but the instrumentation keeps the line that suits the film throughout the duration of the composition. No excesses, no big experiments, but here and there he very conveniently creates scenic noises through musical instruments. He does it unobtrusively, but effectively.
A bit of a comparison. The orchestral basis of Beal's soundtrack largely follows the classic composition by Gottfried Huppertz created for the premiere of Metropolis in 1927. However, Beal is less romantic, makes do with more minimalist musical means, is more atmospheric and delves more visibly into the psychology of individual characters. Naturally, we also hear more modern harmony and bolder rhythmic work in his score. At the same time, Beal sympathetically honors the historical patina of the film. Sensitively, with piety and love for Lang's work.
The Czech National Symphony Orchestra was a reliable partner for the composer and conductor in the performance of his musical ideas. In a case where precise synchronization of the musical production with the plot of the simultaneously screened film is necessary, reliability is important, and the orchestra did not disappoint, giving a very solid performance. Jeff Beal then controlled everything with ease from a special conductor's desk – a kind of flat-screen television, on whose screen the musical score of the scene was running below the film image.
The composition itself is divided into three main parts: Prologue, Interlude, and Intermezzo + Furioso, which together gives one hundred and seventy-four minutes of impressive music. So how did it stand up to the film, and on the other hand, next to the film? During the evening I made two attempts. I listened to the music for a while without watching the film, and on the other hand, I let the film affect me without the music for a certain time. In the first case, the music stood up to it on its own, without the film; in the second case, it was worse, watching the film only as a silent film, without the musical accompaniment, was more difficult.
In this, I admit, rather strange competition, Beal's music wins 2:0. But to tell the truth: it is best listened to together with Lang's Metropolis. It was composed for it. And the audience/listeners duly appreciated her after a (quite long) evening at the Karlín Music Theatre. Rightly so.
Read the original article here.
English and German translations of original article available here.
