On July 15, Milwaukee’s Present Music borrowed from past performances with “Sounds of Silents,” a Facebook Live event focused on a ghoulish mix of three science-fiction/horror films with original Present Music scores: Nosferatu, The Somnambulist and No/Mi/Tropolis.
First performed on Oct. 21, 2016 at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Windhover Hall, the multi-media concert lined up perfectly for Halloween. Given the Age of Pandemic, PM is doing what other arts organizations do to keep moving forward by celebrating past achievements. And this recent “Halloween in July” was certainly all that and more given the original, updated musical scores which perfectly fit the scary, sinister mood.
Present Music Co-Artistic Directors David Bloom and Eric Segnitz moderated the event with Shepherd Express Managing Editor and Film Critic David Luhrssen providing commentary ahead of each of the three films.
But the real star of the show was none other than the Prince of Darkness, “the original vamypyre,” Nosferatu. The 1922 silent movie features a pastiche score by Segnitz and veteran Milwaukee composer/producer John Tanner. The two edited the F.W. Murnau classic from its original 94-minute length into a 55-minute version that synced perfectly with the updated mix of sounds that created the right amount of tension (high-pitched violin strings screeching at the approach of who-know-who) to the rustic bounce of horse drawn carriages.
For the uninitiated, the acting can appear over the top since actors had to literally show heightened emotions. It felt like high camp, especially given printed screens with phrases like “your wife has a beautiful neck” to “it’s a harmless blood condition.” It was fun. It was definitely creepy. But no worries. Good does eventually triumph over all that lapped up blood.
The six-minute 1903 The Somnambulist was the precursor for the better known The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari. Segnitz also scored this 1919 silent classic which features a young woman in a dream-like state, images horrific and otherwise, flashing through her mind. The ethereal, trance inducing composition slowly builds as the story builds to its surprising conclusion. (No spoilers here!)
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As a spirited yet brief thee-minute finale, Present Music condensed the Fritz Lang retro-futuristic 1927 silent, Metropolis mashed up with the countertenor singing of German performance artist Klaus Nomi. Entitled No/Mi/Tropolis, Nomi’s falsetto strains and alien look and costuming fit seamlessly with the seemingly perfect one percent world above the city while the 99 percenters toiled below in the underground of a bleak present. Sound familiar?
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