Silent film classics to the tune of the obligatory upright piano are a common event - attempts to create a true musical counterpart to such art films are rare.
In cooperation with the State Art Gallery in Stuttgart, ascolta commissioned a program of film-compositions from prominent contemporary composers including Martin Smolka, Cornellius Schwehr, Cathy Milliken, Casper Johannes Walter and Gunter Lege, which was performed live for the first time to a large and enthusiastic audience in August, 2004. Since then the project has expanded to include new works by Olga Neuwirth, Bernd Thewes, Sven-Ingo Koch, Ludger Brümmer, Oliver Frick and an arrangement of Erik Satie's "Entr'acte by Andrew Digby.
The composers go beyond a simple commentary of the screen action, in the sense of traditional film-music, seeking rather to illuminate and expand on the artistic essence of these early masterpieces. A dialogue ensues between the two art forms, in which the normally perceived primacy of the visual narrative gives way to a more dynamic, at times even competitive, relationship between the two primary senses. The subtle but decisive influence of music on our interpretation of form and content is brought to the fore, for instance through the repetition of the same film with two very different compositions.
The short films, most between 3 and 8 minutes long, are the work of early masters of the Experimental and Dadaistic film genres: Hans Richter, Oskar Fischinger, Viking Eggeling, Walter Ruttmann and René Claire. All were deeply interested in the possibilities of projecting movement, rhythm and music onto the screen. Many of the works were created in a painstaking, frame by frame process, precursing the animated films of the Disney era. They range in style from H. Richter's Cubist "Rhythmus 21/23", R. Claire's Dadaistic "Entre'acte" (with appearances by Erik Satie, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp) to O. Fischinger's humorous "Study Nr. 7" (Brahms' "Hungarian Dance Nr. 5).
Two productions with the German Public Television program ZDF/Arte as well as numerous performances at festivals around Germany have led to an ongoing expansion of the material. In 2008, ascolta premiered new film compositions by Georg Katzer, Martin Smolka, Carola Bauckholt and Friedrich Schenker at the Contemporary Music Days in Dresden-Hellerau. At the same time the Goethe Institute published a DVD with works from the program in a series documenting Germany's cultural heritage.
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