Metropolis

by Frank Strobel

Overview

This CD by Frank Strobel and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra may be the most important commercial soundtrack release of the last 70 years (which is about as long as soundtrack albums have existed). The music was composed by Gottfried Huppertz (1897-1937) in 1926 for Fritz Lang's fantasy/polemic epic Metropolis, and comprised one of the most ambitious film scores of the silent era; it also influenced a whole generation of composers who followed in Huppertz's footsteps in sound films, even as most of those who were from Germany trudged their way to Hollywood after Hitler's rise. Across the decades that followed, the movie Metropolis -- though heavily edited soon after its original release and later degraded from unauthorized printings and showings -- built a reputation as one of the grandest science fiction/fantasy movies of all time. Huppertz's music was mostly forgotten, except by scholars, and manipulating the movie's musical accompaniment became almost a game by producers -- Giorgio Moroder revived interest in the movie in the '80s among the MTV generation by grafting a rock soundtrack onto the film and issuing it as a first-run movie. But Huppertz's original work survived and played an essential role in the restoration of the movie to full-length, which was issued in 2010. The same method of working -- which, in contrast to the usual method for film composers, had Huppertz present for much of the actual shooting of the movie -- which allowed his notes to guide the film's restorers, also gave him an opportunity to write a magnificently deep, full body of music. He was formulating his work as he watched the shoot, and composing even before the film was edited, so that his score very much plunged inside of the film's action, the meaning, and the underlying content. It's no surprise that it wowed audiences in 1927, who felt they were getting far more than just "accompaniment" as they watched the movie unspool. And it's just as impressive in 2011, especially as presented here, in state-of-the-art audio by Strobel and company. Huppertz's work is very Wagnerian at times, but he also is clearly influenced by Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Bruckner, and he incorporates jazz rhythms into appropriate places (mostly depicting the decadent Yoshiwara district). And while there are lush passages intended for 70-plus players, there are also small-scale chamber-like sections as well, and parts for solo organ. This is very much a product of Weimar Germany, as was the movie itself -- experimental and daring, and drawing freely from a multitude of creative streams. And apart from the other virtues of this CD, there is precious little music of that era available, much less with the depth and richness of an opera or a symphony. And one need not even know the movie to love the music, though hearing the music properly for the first time (a version of this score was promised in 2001 and never appeared), it may reintroduce the movie to yet another generation. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	06/28/2011
Label:	Capriccio Records
UPC:	0845221050669
Rank:	122074

Tracks

1. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Metropolis-Thema
2. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Maschinen
3. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Das Stadion
4. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Die Ewigen G¿¿rten
5. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Maria mit Kindern
6. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Maschinenhalle - Moloch
7. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. B¿¿ro Fredersen
8. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Der Schmale - Autofahrt
9. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Im Hause Rotwangs
10. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Der Maschinenmensch
11. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Rotwang und Fredersen
12. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. In den Katakomben
13. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Der Turmbau von Babel
14. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Freder und Maria
15. Metropolis~1. Auftakt. Die Verfolgung
16. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Im Dom
17. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Im Laboratorium - Verwandlung
18. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Freder und Rotwang
19. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Fredersen und falsche Maria
20. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Freder im Wahn
21. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. In Rotwangs Salon
22. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Der Tanz
23. Metropolis~2. Zwischenspiel. Der Tod
24. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Freder und Josaphat
25. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Der Aufstand der Arbeiter
26. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Die Herzmaschine
27. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Die ¿¿berflutung
28. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Die Flucht
29. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Der Tanz der Arbeiter
30. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Der Scheiterhaufen
31. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Auf dem Dach des Domes
32. Metropolis~3. Furioso. Die Vers¿¿hnung

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Frank Strobel   Primary Artist,Conductor
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra   Orchestra

Technical Credits

Frank Strobel   Music Editor,Restoration
Nina Goslar   Booklet Editor
Susanne Beyer   Technician
Hermann Leppich   Technician
Wolfram Nehls   Recording Producer
Peter Moormann   Liner Notes
Marvin Koerber   Music Editor
Fritz Lang   Recording Editor
Stefan Lang   Booklet Editor
Henri Thaon   Engineer
Christian Schwalbe   Producer
Anke Wilkening   Music Editor
Gottfried Huppertz   Composer
Maria Graetzel   Producer