A conversation with the film conductor Frank Strobel
Frank Strobel is one of the most renowned conductors in the field of film music. Until 1998 he was principal conductor of the Babelsberg Film Orchestra. In 2000 he was co-founder of the European Film Philharmonic which he has conducted ever since. He has been an advisor to the silent film programme of ZDF/Arte for many years. Strobel is committed to the performance of historical silent films and original scores in numerous film music concerts.
What are the goals of the European Film Philharmonic?
The European Film Philharmonic is a concert and production association that is dedicated to the distribution of film music. It researches original music and new settings as well as restored film copies that it has compiled in its catalogue, and has meanwhile presented over 100 film concerts and film music concerts. In addition, the Film Philharmonic develops new film concert formats and/or programmes and mediates between orchestras showing special experience in the field of film music and festivals, concert houses and operatic stages.
How did you arrive at film music?
I grew up in an environment in which film played an enormously important role. My parents operated a cinema in Munich; my father is one of the founders of the International Film Festival in Munich and my mother is a film journalist. At the same time, I experienced strong musical influences since childhood, for my grandmother was a pianist. Thus I developed an early interest in both art forms, and experienced at close hand how music and film work together.
What stimulates you about your work as a film conductor?
Film music has very different facets that both fascinate me and spur me on. On the one hand, it is increasingly finding access to the repertoire of symphony orchestras and has meanwhile established itself as another pillar in the programme work of orchestras alongside other specialisations such as opera, ballet and concerto. On the other hand, orchestral recordings are again in ever greater demand for current film productions. And, not least, the renaissance of the silent film during the past thirty years has also led to greater attention devoted to the performance of original music to the film. I consider it important that this music be taken seriously and appreciated in its specific function as film music, even if the ranking of its composers is not always that of a Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Milhaud or indeed Hindemith. In any case, the special technical features of film music must be mastered, for example the synchronisation of the image flow and the music.
How did your occupation with the project "Im Kampf mit dem Berg" come about?
We - that is to say, Nina Goslar, editor of the silent film editorial staff of ZDF/Arte, Anke Wilkening, restorer at the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation and I - had been familiar with both the film by Arnold Fanck and Hindemith's music to the film for a long time. Im Kampf mit dem Berg can justifiably be regarded as a reference work in German cinema history, for it is an important document of a silent film with original music. However, bringing the film and music together has unfortunately proven difficult because the film copies obtained from Moscow and the Federal Archive were much shorter than Hindemith's autograph score. Nonetheless, we have begun the project and were quite far along with it when we were surprised by the discovery of another copy in the Austrian Film Archive last year, which has presented us with another new set of challenges.
What was special about this copy?
It is longer than the two copies that we already knew and also contains almost all the original intertitles, but the order of the film images and intertitles does not at all correspond to the original sequence. The settings become chaotic even within individual scenes.
How were you able to solve this problem?
Fortunately, all the intertitles and many minute indications are noted down in Hindemith's score. We were therefore able to reconstruct the image sequences on the basis of the score. Moreover, information about image contents revealed the gesture and compositional structure of the music. And also the different colourings of the copy helped us during sorting. Of course we took into consideration which scene sequences, image sequences and editing sequences we had in the versions handed down to us, so we did not undertake any arbitrary intrusions into the material. The entire process was exceptionally complex; up until now, we have carried on hour-long discussions about three or four settings.
To what extent has the film changed because of the reconstruction?
The film receives an entirely new diction in its reconstructed version. The Moscow copy has the character of a culture film, a popular-scientific documentary film about the High Alps. In the reconstruction, the documentary aspect is suppressed in favour of an archaic drama, to which Hindemith's expressive music ideally fits – and much better than to the Moscow version. We experienced a completely new film in the reconstructed version together with the music.
The newly found film copy is also shorter than Hindemith's music. How do you solve that problem?
In the beginning we were convinced that we had to leave in black areas. But Hindemith's composition is designed so that one can shorten or lengthen the musical material without losing any of the musical substance. So we can intervene in the score in this way and do without black images.
Did other changes have to be made in the music?
Hindemith wrote his score for the film orchestra of that time, with one player on each part. Nevertheless, his expressive composition is a real challenge for a large ensemble. For this reason we have decided to score the strings in large groups.
What had to be done after the reconstruction of the film material?
Performance material is now being produced in cooperation with Schott Publishers in which the necessary abridgements and smaller revisions are being incorporated. In addition, synchronous points and exact tempo indications with metronome markings have been added. Especially precise work is necessary here because listening and watching habits have changed and faulty synchronisation is no longer so easy to forgive. Material ready for performance will soon be generally available, with a conductor's score and orchestral parts. We are especially happy about this because we want to be finished during the Hindemith memorial year by the 50th anniversary of his death on 28 December.
What plans do you yourself have with the project?
The premiere with the hr Symphony Orchestra will take place in Frankfurt on 10 May. This production will be broadcast in December on Arte; a DVD is also planned. Im Kampf mit dem Berg will be one of the most important projects for the European Film Philharmonic in the coming months with which we shall approach the artistic directors.
Interview by Susanne Schaal-Gotthardt