Author: Rosie Hays

Live Music & Film returns to the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA at 11am on Sunday 25 February 2024 with the joyous Man with a Movie Camera 1929 and a live score played on stage by Jonny Ng from Camerata — Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra.

Shot by a Polish filmmaker in Moscow as well as Odesa and Kyiv (both then in the USSR, now in Ukraine), the film was initially labelled ‘cine-hooliganism’ for its bold filmmaking. Man with a Movie Camera delights in the possibilities of cinema, embracing the roles played by those making the films as much as those in front of the lens. The cameraman is celebrated as a heroic innovator, who daringly shoots from the top of a moving train or cranks the camera while riding in an open-top car capturing the traffic and the people travelling around him.

Our musician Jonny has crafted his live score which, like all our performances, will be partly improvised and partly pre-prepared. We asked him about the film and the music he’s planning to play.

Get tickets Man with a Movie Camera
Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA
11.00am, Sunday 25 February 2024

Rosie Hays / What were your first impressions of the film ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ and what did it inspire?

Jonny Ng / Man With A Movie Camera was truly captivating on first watch. I marvelled at the technical skill and artistry that went into its creation and found the experience a joyous one, a celebration of everyday life and a glimpse into a window of time in history. Although filmed in Soviet Russia a century ago, it was intriguing how relevant and relatable this film is now and how Dziga Vertov had such a masterful eye to provide such timeless insight into humanity. There are some very poignant moments scattered throughout the film, for example one scene cuts between a couple getting married, a woman giving birth, and a funeral procession. There was also at times an enigmatic feeling I got from the film which I hope to explore in my musical response.

Rosie Hays / What kind of mood should the audience expect for your live score and what music and / or instruments can the audience expect for this performance?

Jonny Ng / I aim to capture the energy of the film through a mix of Russian folk music, cinematic soundscapes and minimalism, and of course Russian Soviet music from the time of the film. The mood will primarily be passionate and joyful but will also flicker between being reflective, darkly chromatic, and wistful. In addition to playing violin, viola, and piano live, all other music will be recorded by me on piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion instruments, as well as other peculiar items from around the house like a biscuit tin, Lindt bunny bells, my mobile phone, kitchen utensils. I will also be using prepared piano to add further texture and percussive effects to the score.

Rosie Hays / Did you watch the film with its soundtrack, or do you prefer to encounter it without sound when you start to think about what music you’ll make?

Jonny Ng / Watching the film in its original silent form was important to me. I wanted the first viewing to be unadulterated which would allow for musical ideas to form in my head while experiencing the film. I also find that music in a film can at times be quite distracting as I am always instantly drawn to the music and trained to actively listen with a critical ear so I wanted to eliminate that distraction. I also wanted to be free from influence of other musical interpretations of the film so the final result was more authentically my response.

Rosie Hays / In your role as Principal 2nd Violin with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, you’ve previously performed live scores for films. Is this process for ‘Man With a Movie Camera’ similar or quite different? What’s your approach to crafting a musical response to a film?

Jonny Ng / The process is very similar here but the only difference is that I am responding to the entirety of the film. In past responses with my Camerata colleagues, we have very democratically divided up the response in equal portions of the film which we were able to stitch together to create a beautifully cohesive score. This film does have 6 very distinct sections which helps make the process easier. I first noted down what I thought was the general feeling or mood of each section. Then, I flagged specific scenes throughout the film that elicited strong responses in me so I can try and highlight these moments with my musical choices. I have a long list of existing compositions that I feel could marry well with the film so it will be a delightful puzzle of mixing and matching parts of these works with my own composition and improvised music. I will be sat at the piano with violin and viola at the ready and play while I am watching the film to see what works.

Rosie Hays / You’ve mentioned in a previous interview that music gives us the ability to connect with people as well as greater empathy and sensitivity to emotions. ‘Man With a Movie Camera’ strikes me as a film that is very interested in the human condition and perhaps has almost an awe for the capabilities of humanity. I’m curious to know if you intend to heighten audience sensitivity or build empathy with a particular aspect of the film.

Jonny Ng / Music has the power to cross boundaries, to create change, to build community, to endure and it is my belief that music is an art form that represents humanity distilled into its essence. So, I really hope that I am able to add to the audience experience of this enduring film and provide a unique interpretation of it through my own lens.

Rosie Hays is Associate Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

The Australian Cinémathèque
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Featured image: (left) Production still from Man with a Movie Camera 1929; Director: Dziga Vertov / (right) Jonny Ng; Photograph: Morgan Roberts, courtesy of Camerata, Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra

#QAGOMA

We offer a rare treat for this months Live Music & Film City Symphony event at 11.00am Sunday 22 October — a classical pianist who is a veteran of silent film performance. Mauro Colombis will be fresh from the world’s premiere silent film festival — Pordenone Silent Film Festival — in Italy where he was on stage. The four live music accompanied films for your viewing pleasure traverse the USA and Europe.

Manhatta 1921, which is often cited as the first City Symphony film ever made, combines lines from Walt Whitman’s poem ‘Mannahatta’ with 65 city shots to form a proud and majestic portrait of Manhattan.

Melbhattan 2012 is a playful, animated reimagining of contemporary Melbourne.

Douro, Faina Fluvial (Labor on the Douro River) 1931 is embedded on the banks of the Douro River which flows through the hometown of Portuguese film director Manoel de Oliveira.

Rien que les heures (Nothing But Time) 1926 captures a day in the life of Paris from dawn till dusk. Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti invents new ways to capture the city: the hardworking wearily return home from their jobs, a sailor deeply kisses his beloved, the camera zooms through the air looking out from a merry-go-round and eyes peer out from a darkened cinema screen.

Get tickets to City Symphony Live Music & Film series
Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA
11.00am, Sunday 22 October 2023

We asked Mauro Colombis about his musical beginnings in Italy and how he prepares for silent films.

Rosie Hays / You have been specialising in silent film live piano accompaniment for over two decades. How did you first get involved in this art form, and what continues to draw you to it?

Mauro Colombis / I come from Pordenone, Italy, the town where the important silent film festival “Le Giornate del cinema muto” takes place every year. When I was about twenty years old, I was invited by my piano teacher to attend the events of the festival. The first time I watched a silent film was during “The Giornate”, I do not remember which film it was, but I still remember how I felt about the music, or better, about the combination of moving images and music. The piano sounded like as if there was a music score to play, but it was completely dark and I could not understand how the pianist could read any sheet music, on the other side, I thought he was improvising, but as the music matched very well with the film, I thought it was not possible that he was making up the music…so I was astonished, unable to solve the mystery… One week later I met at the train station one of the founders of the festival. We had a conversation about music and silent films, he confirmed that on the night I was in the theatre, the pianist had improvised, he explained that almost all the screenings had improvised piano scores, as there was no way to provide the films in advance to the musicians. He also invited me to accompany a silent film, saying that it would be nice for the festival to have a local pianist. That’s how, a few months later, I accompanied my first film. What I like about this way of making music is the combination of creative work and the emotions given by watching the screen as the film runs, I feel strong emotions when I “enter” into the film with the music I play.

Rosie Hays / Where do you start when thinking about making music for silent films? Do you take a specific approach when starting new projects?

Mauro Colombis / I use different ways to make music for silent films, not necessarily in the same order. At the beginning, when I am given a silent film to accompany, I always try to get as much information as possible, just to have a historical context. Then I watch it, once or more times. As I watch it I try to hear in my head musical themes and I try to fix them in my mind. I also play these music ideas at the piano to make them “real”. I also work when I’m not watching the film or playing the piano, for instance, sometimes I go for a walk near the water, not far from my house, and as I walk I see the film in my head and I try to feel the music, I love very much walking and making music at the same time. Other times I simply put my laptop on the piano and I start playing the film and playing the piano. I also record the music I play, so that I can easily come back to what I like better. At times, I just improvise at the piano without running the film but thinking of a particular scene. All these ways to create music for a silent film are equally important to me.

Rosie Hays / Your style combines composition and improvisation. What attracts you to the combination of these techniques? How do you determine whether a particular part of a film requires a more composed or improvised approach?

Mauro Colombis / The way I work doesn’t lead to a neat distinction between improvisation and composition. To me, in some way, improvisation is instant composition. I could say that the improvised parts are those ones that I play once, on stage when I let the notes flow from the keys, the composed parts instead are based on something I have already played at an earlier time. They can be musical themes, or vague rhythmic or harmonic structures. I do not usually write the music I play unless I have to play with other musicians. I prefer to have parts to improvise when I perform on stage, as I believe that there is always the possibility to create something beautiful, new and unexpected without preparation.

Rosie Hays / You are known as a highly versatile pianist and composer – when you perform, you blend together composition and improvisation, ranging across a variety of styles of classical and jazz piano music. I’d love to hear how you have approached making the score for these four City Symphony films, and what we can expect from your performance?

Mauro Colombis / My musical education started even before I started learning the piano, Since the age of two I used to spend a lot of time listening to classical music, tapes or records. This early age music activity helped me to get a good musical ear and to improvise in the style of the classical composers I played. I still listen to a lot of music, jazz, folk, rock, to enrich my playing with new combinations. On this particular occasion, part of the City Symphonies program, the music I will play will try to help the audience to find themselves in the places shown by the films.

Rosie Hays is Associate Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Upcoming live music & film

Live Music & Film: Nothing But Time 1921–2012
Live Music & Film: Man With a Movie Camera (with violin) 1929

City Symphony special ticket offer

See the full series and save! Buy 5 to 9 tickets and receive a 10% discount. Buy 10 tickets and receive a 20% discount. Get tickets

The Australian Cinémathèque
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Featured image: Production still from Manhatta 1921 / Director: Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler / Image courtesy: Light Cone

#QAGOMA

One of the most beloved and playful ‘City Symphony’ films is our September event: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City 1927. Musician Heinz Riegler blends experimental, electronic, and rock sensibilities to create a fulsome sound befitting the silent film classic. This exhilarating documentary-poem is fashioned by three great German filmmakers who innovated story concepts, visual abstraction, and camera movement. All worked across both commercial and experimental film techniques: Walter Ruttmann, Carl Mayer, and Karl Freund. The film highlights a cross section of life in a vibrant 1920s Berlin.

Get tickets to City Symphony Live Music & Film series
Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA
11.00am, Sunday 24 September

We asked Heinz about his approach to this stunning film and what the audience can expect.

Rosie Hays / The film you’ll accompany is ‘Berlin, Symphony of a City’. It’s considered one of the best City Symphony films ever made. There’s lots of experimentation on screen and it feels very playful. When did you first see the film and what struck you about it?

Heinz Riegler / I first saw the film back in 2008, when I was working with you and the Australian Cinémathèque to program the performers to accompany the films in a season of Expressionist German film. I remember a lot of great films in that program and I remember doing a number scores solo myself, as well as some with I/O3, but I distinctly remember seeing Berlin, Symphony of a City. I had asked Andrew Tuttle to perform the score and I really enjoyed how he navigated the film sonically, but I was also really struck by the unusual visual language within that film and I found myself yearning to have a crack at it ever since. Something about the editing peaked my curiosity in particular, with the pacing and the cuts being quite unconventional for the time. There is some evidence that was inspired by some of the soviet film-making techniques from that era, which leads to further enquiry, especially when framed through a historical lens.

Like most first-time-viewers I was mainly drawn to reflect on the decade of its making, on seeing a Berlin that had not yet been overwhelmed by the fascists, a Berlin that by all accounts was a pulsing metropolis, a cultural oasis at the time, a place that seemed to support and encourage experimentation in the arts, theatre and literature, coupled with a progressive type of sexual liberation and a nightlife to compliment all of that. Probably also important to remember that the roaring 20’s were reserved mainly for the bourgeoise, with a parallel precariat existing in other districts of Berlin at the same time. And we have to credit the director with at least hinting at those varied conditions. But placing the film in that historical context consequently makes it impossible to ignore the sequence of events that follow from 1927 onwards.

The human beings we see in that film can be read as ghosts perhaps; ghosts that within a couple of years may be faced to chose between emigration; or be murdered. Or we can read them as dormant sleeper cells that will shortly chose an active engagement in the class struggle on the streets; or walk around wearing brown-shirts, torching Jewish run businesses. And all of a sudden, it’s not some cute documentary symphony anymore, but may instead give opportunity for a more direct, or in other words, less playful interpretation. Viewing it again, there are of course also the landmarks to consider, landmarks representing the human labour that is attempting to liberate itself from the market forces. Yet these landmarks, just like some of its creators – are going to be levelled to the ground only 15 years later. Seeing the film creates a strong sense of a fragility, both historically, but also a fragility that can easily be inserted into contemporary circumstances.

Rosie Hays / Now that you’ve started thinking about crafting a live score, did your understanding or feeling for the film change as you look at it through that lens?

Heinz Riegler / Crafting isn’t a word I would use when describing the process. Crafting infers an order and discipline that may be required when writing for a soundtrack, but I’m not writing a score here. Instead, when we talk about a live score, we are talking about a performative action in a cinema space, in combination with a moving image. Things are much less fixed in that performative setting. For that purpose I am interested in improvisation as the essential tool where the score is an attempt to occupy a space that exists between performance and composition. That means I’m less interested in watching the film over and over in preparation for a live score. I need to keep an element of surprise. I’ll watch it once or twice perhaps and then make notes, do some reading and then start getting on the tools. I might find a theme that resonates after the initial viewings and I’ll start building from those fragments, but rarely actually watching the film as I’m trying out various approaches. In many ways, I like to forget the details of the film during that part of the preparation.

The aim is to get a scent and then chase that runaway animal, without ever really catching it. I know that sounds weird, and I did laugh out loud as I typed that, but there’s some truth to it. I couldn’t think of anything more boring than breaking down a film scene-by-scene and then attempting a synced reproduction of a composition. Not going to happen. With Berlin, Symphony of a City, I will probably pay attention to the five acts within the film and may develop some themes for each, but at the same time I’m not necessarily wedded to that. I’m not interested in hitting cues, but I’m very interested in capturing an overall arc of the visual and connect to that at different points throughout, but also be disconnected at other times. Ideally that tension is what may bring some communication between myself and the film and following on from that, hopefully, also with the audience.

Rosie Hays / Most musicians we commission to create and play a live score for a film are completely new to the process. Some are even fairly new to watching a silent film. You’re rare in that you’ve done this before. You’ve worked on a number of silent film accompaniments here at the Gallery and you’ve toured live music with a film for the Goethe Institute previously. Where do you start when thinking about the film and the music combined?

Heinz Riegler / It helps if I like the film. If I can construct some connection to it. Or project a connection at least. If I believe it’s possible, that’s all that matters. It’s easy with this film, because I do really like it, so should be a walk in the park. I like imagining the lives of the human beings in it, the promises, the betrayals, the hope, and the meaning/meaningless, I like placing myself in the historical context and I like to think about how it may relate to us today. Being an Austrian born in 1969 I have a vast pool of guilt and family history to tap into when it comes to that era of European history, so that helps too. It’s a rich experience watching that film, because it does a great job at hinting at things without necessarily whacking you over the head with an ideology. Hopefully, there’ll be some merging of sound and vision in the cinema, but it’s definitely easier if you can manage to resonate with the vision. What is also interesting is that there’s been a huge history of scores that have been created for this film over the last 96 years. I’ve not listened to any of them except an excerpt from musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry, who made a piece inspired by the film, commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk in 1984. It’s a great listen and I may take some cues from his approach.

Rosie Hays / For ‘Berlin, Symphony of a City’ I’d love to hear what style of music you’ll play, what instruments you’ll use and what the audience should expect from your performance.

Heinz Riegler / I recently read about Kurt Weill’s score for The Threepenny Opera which debuted in Berlin in 1928, one year after Berlin, Symphony of a City first screened. Weill is said to have defied traditional operatic conventions by incorporating elements of popular music genres like jazz and cabaret. I intend to follow his lead and also bring a popular style to the film, a style formed from within a present day urban experience. I’ve not yet found a suitable name for it, but the working title is ambient terror.

I’m going use a variety of instruments, some which I’ve built, some of which I’ve bought in shops. I imagine some synthesisers will make an appearance, perhaps even an electric guitar, but I cannot be sure at this point. I promise to not play the kazoo.

Rosie Hays is Associate Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Upcoming live music & film

Live Music & Film: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City 1927
Live Music & Film: Nothing But Time 1921–2012
Live Music & Film: Man With a Movie Camera (with violin) 1929

City Symphony special ticket offer

See the full series and save! Buy 5 to 9 tickets and receive a 10% discount. Buy 10 tickets and receive a 20% discount. Get tickets

The Australian Cinémathèque
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Featured image: (left) Production still from Berlin, Symphony of a Great City 1927 / (right) Heinz Riegler; Photography: Amelia Paxman; Courtesy: Heinz Riegler

#QAGOMA

Our City Symphony Live Music & Film event for August is immersed in the colour, light and culture of the Indian metropolis Kolkata. Released in 1969 and known then as Calcutta, this exceptional documentary portrait of the city opens a window into intimate moments of washing in the river, preparations for a wedding ceremony through to political unrest and protest on the streets.

Get tickets to City Symphony Live Music & Film series
Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA
Sunday 27 August, 11.00am

Calcutta 1969 was shot by French filmmaker Louis Malle who came to prominence during the 1950s with the iconic films Elevator to the Gallows 1958 and The Lovers 1958 with Jeanne Moreau. Malle travelled to India to film his six-part documentary magnum opus Phantom India 1969. Reportedly when Malle was in the editing stages for the documentary series, he was so struck by the footage shot in Kolkata he created the feature film. Calcutta went on to premiere at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. While this is a French perspective of Indian culture that has come under criticism for a focus on the impoverished rather than developing aspects of India, the film showcases an interesting complexity of urban living and a fascinated curiosity for the vibrancy of street life.

Nepalese tabla player Dheeraj Shrestha will provide a live score during the screening, grounding the film in both a traditional and contemporary take on this snapshot of Kolkata in the 1960s. Dheeraj is an internationally acclaimed Tabla percussionist whose rhythm improvisation uniquely draws from a range of musical styles including classical, traditional, and fusion through to film music. City Symphony curator Rosie Hays asked musician Dheeraj Shrestha about encountering the documentary Calcutta and his musical style.

Rosie Hays / You will be crafting a new live score for the film ‘Calcutta’. What did you think of the film when you watched it? Were there specific moments that struck you?

Dheeraj Shrestha / When I watched Calcutta, I was immediately captivated by the intricate interplay of emotions and visuals.

Rosie Hays / You play three instruments, the Tabla, the Nepalese folk percussion instruments the Maadal, and the Meditation bowl. What instruments will you play for this performance, what musical styles will you utilise and what can the audience expect from your performance?

Dheeraj Shrestha / For this performance, I have composed several styles of musical pieces accompanied by other melodic instruments. In the olden days, silent movies were often accompanied by tabla percussion. Additionally, the life of Kolkata and its societies is heavily influenced by culture and people’s way of thinking. Therefore, as a tabla percussionist, I will be playing live tabla and folk drums from Nepal for this performance, aiming to create a unique and captivating musical experience for the movie.

Rosie Hays / I’m mindful that this documentary about Kolkata was produced by a French filmmaker (Louis Malle) who was a visitor to the city. In recent times, ‘Calcutta’ has faced some criticism; critiques consider the documentary to be an outsider’s ethnographic observation of the impoverished communities of Kolkata. I think the film has some interesting dynamics going on. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to ask you to accompany the film so that the documentary would be grounded in music that was sensitive to these different perspectives. What are your perceptions of the film? Are there any particular emotional elements you would you like to highlight or any specific thoughts you hope to convey in the score you are crafting?

Dheeraj Shrestha / Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to compose and accompany the film Calcutta showcasing the power of music. Honestly speaking, there are many emotional elements that I can relate to. However, if I have to highlight a few, they are the contrast between poverty and elite class lifestyle, as well as the portrayal of the protests.

Rosie Hays / You have said that you were first drawn to the Tabla and Maadal as these instruments ‘speak to your heart and give you a sense of grounding, and earthy sensations’. Do you have any thoughts on how the playing of these instruments can influence our experiences in built environments, such as the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA?

Dheeraj Shrestha / Yes, I believe that the playing of these instruments can certainly influence our experiences. The tabla and Nepalese percussion have a remarkable ability to shape the ambiance of music and provide an earthy sensation. Not to forget, there are also other musical instrumentations we are using which can help set moods and establish a deeper connection between the audience and the environment.

Rosie Hays / I understand that you frequently visit Nepal to understand more about the spirituality in music and knowledge of Nepalese traditional music. How does deepening your understanding of the theoretical and spiritual side of music influence the way you play?

Dheeraj Shrestha / I feel that spirituality is the combination of theory and the spiritual. Recently, I saw a mesmerising performance of the robotic popping dance portraying a combination of theoretical and spiritual elements, particularly within the mother-son dynamic, symbolising the act of caring for a sick mother. Hence, this performance illustrated the outcome of humans’ emotional connections with theoretical scientific knowledge.

I am fortunate enough to frequently visit Nepal which has given me opportunities to enrich my understanding of music inherited from my parents and guru. This has influenced my music that goes beyond the technical aspects that involves connecting emotions with theory.

Rosie Hays / I’d love to hear how you have approached making the score for this film, such as where you started when thinking about making music for this particular piece of art?

Dheeraj Shrestha / Creating the score for this film has been an exciting process because I have been given the opportunity and room to improvise music. Therefore, I mainly did a lot of improvisations. I started by watching the movie and grasping its essence, underlying theme, and the city life of Kolkata and music. Most importantly, I have emphasised the sounds of Kolkata and its culture.

Rosie Hays is Associate Curator, Australian Cinémathèque, QAGOMA

Upcoming live music & film

Live Music & Film: Calcutta 1969
Live Music & Film: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City 1927
Live Music & Film: Nothing But Time 1921–2012
Live Music & Film: Man With a Movie Camera (with violin) 1929

City Symphony special ticket offer

See the full series and save! Buy 5 to 9 tickets and receive a 10% discount. Buy 10 tickets and receive a 20% discount. Get tickets

The Australian Cinémathèque
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image. The Australian Cinémathèque at GOMA provides an ongoing program of film and video that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere, offering a rich and diverse experience of the moving image, showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and international cinema, rare 35mm prints, recent restorations and silent films with live musical accompaniment by local musicians or on the Gallery’s Wurlitzer organ originally installed in Brisbane’s Regent Theatre in November 1929.

Featured image: (left) Production still from Calcutta 1969; Dir: Louis Malle; Image courtesy: Gaumont / Dheeraj Shrestha; Photograph © Dheeraj Shrestha

#QAGOMA

A distinctly poetic and at times romantic sensibility permeates our July selection of City Symphony films, The Poetic Cities of Joris Ivens.

Prolific composer, bassist, lecturer and founder and artistic director of Topology, Robert Davidson will craft a unique soundscape comprised of double bass with looping pedals to build up layers of sound, along with piano and electronic sounds to accompany the screening.

Get tickets to City Symphony Live Music & Film series
Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA
11.00 am, Sunday 16 July

Filmmaker Joris Ivens applies his unique vision to cities in Chile, The Netherlands and France. In Rain 1929 umbrellas unfurl and bicycles splash through puddles as a storm hits the streets of Amsterdam. Travelling to Chile …à Valparaiso 1963 is a collaboration with lauded French New Wave director Chris Marker and a portrait of the titular seaport town.

A unique take on one of the world’s most filmed cities, The Seine Meets Paris 1957 shoots the French capital from a boat gliding down the famous river – the camera captures the wealth of living that happens along the banks – spying lovers holding hands, fishermen hauling in their catch and chic Parisians having lunch in the sunshine.  

This collection of three short films has a live score crafted by accomplished composer Robert Davidson. Davidson is founder and artistic director of Topology and will be in solo-mode performing a unique soundscape comprised of mostly double bass with piano to build up layers of sound and some electronic experimentation. We asked Robert about his preparations for the forthcoming performance.

Q: You were given three films to watch and craft a live score for, where do you begin when thinking about what music you’ll create? What did you think of the films when you watched them?

A: First I simply watched each film, making notes of what aspects I thought I’d like to highlight or reflect in the music. Pretty soon I started to play along with the film, improvising and finding ideas. Once I had some principle musical ideas, I separately worked with them, getting to know them and potential variations and extensions. Then I looped individual short scenes of about 20-30 seconds, playing along with them, and working through the film that way. Then I played through the whole film in a semi-improvised way, using the ideas I found in the looping process. The next stage was to write out some music in order, to give an overall structure, though still with areas for improvisation. I practised this score without the film, and once I felt confident with it, played through sections as written, and finally through the whole film many times. I really enjoyed each of the films for their curious visual language, close observation and (my favourite thing) taking me to a different time and place.

Q: Did you watch the films with their original soundtracks, or do you prefer to encounter them without sound when you start to think about what music you’ll make? And how did you choose the style of music you’ll use?

A: Yes, I watched all of them with the original soundtrack. The original scores are all very accomplished, particularly the masterful score by Eisler for Regen (Rain). My music is very different from Eisler’s so I had to work out a way to be myself while also connecting with the film. The last thing I wanted to do was to imitate Eisler. M.Philippe-Gerard’s very Parisian score for La Seine a recontré Paris (The Seine Meets Paris) is also something I wanted to contrast my music from – not to evoke Paris too obviously with style. I had to follow my intuition for style, which is less about evoking a scene for me than describing an emotional reaction.

Q: There is a thread of water and the city throughout each of these three short films. In Rain, the filmmakers capture the city as a downpour sweeps across streets, …à Valparaiso is a city built into steep hills beside the sea and the port with its industry is featured, finally The Seine Meets Paris captures Paris from the perspective of the Seine and the life about the riverbank. Are you thinking of incorporating an elemental aspect in your live score for the films?

A: Water is a great motif for the kind of music I like to create. I’m allowing water to inform the musical motifs and melodies, which flow and vary in water-like ways. I tend to steer clear of too-obvious depictions of natural phenomena, but I do allow myself some raindrop motifs and rippling fast notes that repeat and vary, rather like a stream of water stays in one shape but is constantly altering in details.

Q: You’re Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of Queensland and when we’ve spoken previously you mentioned that you’ve set the task of composing music for silent films for some of your students. When we ask musicians to write a live score for silent films, we place an emphasis on the importance of reading the tone of the film and not overwhelming the film with music, instead working alongside the story of the film and to think of the film as a creative collaborator. Do you set guiding principles for your students and did you bring the experience of watching your students craft a score to this performance at GOMA? 

A: With my students, I have discussions about what film music they have found particularly effective in its combination with images, and we try to work out what it is that works for them. I do give some guiding ideas, but of course, rules are also meant to be broken. One is that the images (quite apart from dialogue and sound effects) often take the role of a featured musical part, such as a melody or vocal line, and that one should carefully consider how a melody in the music needs to work in counterpoint with the images. Another analogy for the music is that it is something like lighting, or perfume, rather than directly telling a story or evoking an emotion. Working with the students over a long period has undoubtedly affected my own approach to writing for film, but I don’t know if I can untangle exactly how. I’ve composed music for several documentaries, and given many performances with Topology of a lengthy silent film that I scored: Sally Golding’s editing of 1920s-40s Queensland home movies, ‘Queensland at Home’, and these performances have probably had the biggest effect on the music I’m playing at GOMA.

Q: You’re founder and artistic director of Topology, you’ve collaborated with many other musicians including The Saints, the Brodsky Quartet and William Barton, this time you’re in solo mode. How does being solo change you musical style and what music and / or instruments can the audience expect for this performance?

A: I’ve been really exploring playing solo over the last few years, especially when the lockdown made it almost a necessity for many months. I created a solo piano album (‘Diary Pages’), and have given a number of improvised solo double bass performances. I’ll be playing piano and double bass for the GOMA performance, mostly unadorned by anything electronic. It’s certainly a very different experience playing on my own; I really, really love collaborating and get so much pleasure from performing regularly with a wide range of diverse artists. Playing alone has the advantage of intimacy and directness, and embracing the limitations, which can reveal elegant new ways of doing things. As for film, I enjoy the space and simplicity of a single instrument as a complement to images.

UPCOMING LIVE MUSIC & FILM
Live Music & Film: The Poetic Cities of Joris Ivens 1929
Live Music & Film: Calcutta 1969
Live Music & Film: Berlin, Symphony of a Great City 1927
Live Music & Film: Nothing But Time 1921 – 2012
Live Music & Film: Man With a Movie Camera (with violin) 1929

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