NOSFERATU

« a symphony of horror »

The silent film concerts of the Prima Vista Quartet

 

The string quartet is particularly well suited to the film of Murnau. "Nosferatu" is an intimate and claustrophobic film : everything takes place in seclusion rooms, prisons, asylums, hospitals and castles. The expressive intensity of the string quartet fits perfectly with this context.


Moreover, the austerity of the film is more on the side of an ensemble known for its dense language than that of a flamboyant orchestra. You can also add that "Nosferatu" was designed in Germany during the 1920s, and therefore it is steeped in a climate which makes it an aesthetic close cousin of the works of the Viennese School, whose main representatives, (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern), regarded the string quartet as the instrumental genre par excellence. However, if the partition of Baudime Jam is by no means written in the twelve-tone system, it clearly belongs, however, to the modern aesthetic of the early 20th century.


> The film is presented in its original tinted version, as restaured by the Bologna’s Film Library

The masterpiece of German Expressionism

the film

DIRECTOR  Friedrich W. Murnau

YEAR  1922

DURATION  1h33

COMPOSER  Baudime Jam (2002)

« Prima Vista gives voice and life to Nosferatu. The musicians have enthralled the audience with an original musical accompaniment of high quality. The score composed by Baudime Jam, characterized by its stylistic unity, ideally sticks to the image. »


Jérôme Tatti (La Montagne)


« Music is an integral part of the film, as if it were integrated. »


A. Bertholet (Le Dauphiné Libéré)


« The score of Baudime Jam, with its rich and contrasted textures, keeps close to the framework of the film. »


G. Corneloup (Anaclase)


« There is a harmony between music and movie. »


(Le Parisien)

photos : Fanny Arnaudin

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