The Hands of Orlac
[silent film, Robert Wiene, 1924]
live-music: Prefarkt by IzP [2007]
duration: 99'
[first performed: dec 5th 2007, Essen / Germany]
FILM:
A surgeon attempts to transplant two hands; the patient is the pianist
Orlac, who is seriously injured. The operation should symbolize hope
for him, however his new hands are the hands of an executed murderer.
MUSIC:
Orlac’s oppressed condition, which concentrates over the course of the
entire film, and his body, which increasingly nears the brink of
having a heart attack, form the emotional tissue of the film music.
Compositional decisions were influenced by the idea of the ways in
which a surgeon might work on a damaged body.
Music for amplified accordion, electric bass, keyboard, live
electronics, acoustically “preserved” metal chimes, and prerecorded
sound.
[translated by Eric Flesher / USA]
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