line-up
eric sleichim > artistic direction, concept and composition
BL!NDMAN [DRUMS]
tom de cock > percussion
yves goemaere > percussion
hannes nieuwlaet > percussion
ruben cooman > percussion
david helbich, mike schmidt > voices (German)
SECRETS OF A SOUL is a BL!NDMAN production, coproduced by deSIngel
With thanks to the Grame/Lyon (centre national de création musicale) for the development of the electronics for soundmanipulation and to the royal belgian film archive.
BL!NDMAN is supported by the Arts Administration of the Ministry of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels-Capital Region. BL!NDMAN [sax] play Selmer Paris Saxophones.
SECRETS OF A SOUL
Silent movie, with live score performed by BL!NDMAN [drums] and live-electronics
Georg W. Pabst made the movie ‘Secrets of a Soul’ in 1926, three years before his major success ‘Pandora’s Box’. Eric Sleichim is the first composer to create a contemporary soundtrack to this film. |
When Martin Fellman suddenly feels the inexplicable urge to kill his beloved wife, he seeks an answer to his problem by visiting a psychiatrist. While on the couch, different memories and a long dream from the first part of the movie pass by again. Through the analysis of the dream, the psychiatrist is able to explain facts from Fellman’s past and concludes that the urge to kill is to be seen as a result of an underlying jealousy of a friend from his youth and an inferiority complex because he is childless. As soon as Fellman realises which problems are causing his sudden urge, he is cured instantly.
In order to develop the elaborated dream sequence, Pabst consulted two assistants of Freud, who himself was rather averse of the cinematographic medium and had refused all collaboration. The didactical structure of the film, which can be considered as characteristic for the New Objectivity, and the almost stereotypical presentation of the psychoanalysis may seem remarkable to a 21st century audience. For the composer Eric Sleichim, it lays down a specific challenge, trying to give a contemporary musical answer to the question of how the brain is working.
After previous successful silent movie-projects, Eric Sleichim returns to this medium once again. His new composition is scored for the four percussionists of BL!NDMAN [drums] and live-electronics. The Lyric Suite of Alban Berg, also dating back to 1926, inspired Sleichim’s use of musical material. BL!NDMAN [drums] adds to the striking visual impact of the performance, using infrared signals to manipulate electronically modified sounds.
audio
programme
director > georg w. pabst (1926, berlin)
script > colin ross, hans neumann
professional advise > dr. karl abraham, dr. hans sachs
actors
the man > werner krauss
the woman > ruth weyer
the mother > ilka grüning
the cousin > jack trevor
the doctor > pawel pawlow
production of the movie
neumann-film of the ufa-kulturabteilung
duration > 75’
archive > transit-film
première > 5 February 2009, deSingel – Antwerp
SECRETS OF A SOUL played among others on the following locations:
- 2011
- LUXEMBURG - Philharmonie Luxembourg
- 2010
- GRONINGEN- Grand Théâtre
- FRANKFURT (D) - Mousonturm
- 2009
- ANTWERPEN / ANVERS - deSingel
- BRUSSEL / BRUXELLES - flagey
- WIEN (A) / WENEN / VIENNE - Konzerthaus (Grosse Saal)