 |
 |
 |
|
NOSFERATU - A Symphony of
Horrors
(Director: FW Murnau, 1922, Germany)Funded by The Arts Council of England's National Touring Programme And The Danish Composer's Guild
"One of the most poetic of all horror films, a film that survives repeated viewings" - Geoff Andrew, TIME OUT
This tour was completed in 2002 and it was a sell out success for Spotty Dog Films.
A stunning newly scored accompaniment of the seminal vampire film. Murnau's Nosferatu is a legend in itself. It stars the unforgettable Max Schreck with his famous claw-like nails, bat ears and rodent teeth. His menacing performance was the first celluloid Dracula created before cliché and parody. The film narrowly escaped total destruction by a litigious Mrs Bram Stoker and remains a much-loved silent film classic. This 1922 German film has been creatively re-scored by Danish film composer, Helle Solberg with live accompaniment being played by highly acclaimed Scandinavian musician's Mattias Rodrick from Sweden on the Cello and Geir Draugsvoll from Norway on the Accordian.
The Artists
Since graduating from London University's Goldsmith's College in 1992 with a Bachelor of Music degree, composer Helle Solberg has since studied for a Masters of Composition for Screen at The Royal College of Music where she graduated in 1997 and also gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Compostition and won the Adrian Cruft Prize in Composition with her Small Thoughts for a Stringquartet. She has written music for 5 documentaries for BBC World Channel. She has composed Serened for mezzo-soprano and 8 celli for the Danish State Conservatory of Music in Odense, Piano Trio for the Esbjerg Ensemble at the Danish State Conservatory and composed music for the Norwegian Trio Alpaca for the Music Festival of Stangvik in Norway.Mattias Rodrick also classically trained at The Royal College of Music in London and Malmo College of Music in Sweden and also at Rochester in the USA. He has received a chamber music diploma with highest grades from the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has performed at many large scale venues and for a number of Gala concerts including in the presence of HRH Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace, The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal College of Music String Ensemble and One of the Young Swedish Soloists of the year in 2000.
Quotes:
SensationalSue Arnold – The Independent
The cello, as foreboding as a lighthouse foghorn, carries a portent of doom and terror and enhances the dangerous, seductive sexual undercurrents too, while the accordion is rhythmic, fretful, building wave upon wave of tension. Solberg conveys every single emotion and event in the film
Yorkshire Evening Post
The vampire has been given a new lease of life.
Derby Evening Telegraph