Genius Over Genius
by digby
Should the composer Richard Einhorn’s “Voices of Light” be heard as an oratorio that accompanies the 1928 silent film classic “The Passion of Joan of Arc”? Or is it the film, by the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer, that accompanies Mr. Einhorn’s 80-minute musical work?
That is the question raised by Mr. Einhorn’s ambitious score. In any event, the audience that packed the Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan on Thursday night for a free performance seemed too swept away by “Voices of Light” to care about its category.
Presented as part of the World Financial Center’s Arts + Events series, “Voices of Light” brought together the Ensemble Sospeso, a contemporary-music group beefed up here to an orchestra of 37, the New Amsterdam Singers, four fine vocal soloists, and Anonymous 4, the officially disbanded early-music vocal quartet, which reunited for this performance. As intended, Mr. Einhorn’s work was performed while the film that inspired it was screened.
“Voices of Light” has been performed more than 100 times around the world over the last 10 years, providing a nice income source for Mr. Einhorn, who has also been a record producer. If nothing else, the composer deserves thanks for introducing new audiences to Dreyer’s masterpiece, which was nearly lost.
Shortly after its premiere, the film was destroyed in a fire. Though shattered, Dreyer reconstructed an acceptable version using negatives from outtakes. Incredibly, the replacement film was lost in a second fire. For decades the work was known only through various bastardized versions. Then, in 1981, as Mr. Einhorn explained to the audience, an intact copy of the original film was discovered in a janitor’s closet in a mental hospital in Oslo. When Mr. Einhorn saw this wonderfully restored print, he was moved to compose his score.
“Voices of Light” has a libretto of Latin and French texts assembled by Mr. Einhorn. Anonymous 4 sing quotations of Joan’s words from the transcript of her trial for blasphemy in 1431. The chorus and soloists sing a patchwork of writings from medieval mystics, mostly women. Mr. Einhorn’s sensitive score deftly shifts styles from evocations of neomedieval counterpoint to wistful modal murmurings over droning pedal tones, from bursts of Minimalistic repetitions to moments of piercing modern harmony.
While never getting in the way, the music heightens the impact of this pathbreaking film, which tells the story of Joan’s trial at the hands of French clerics who supported the occupying English forces in 15th-century France. Most of the characters are shot in discomfiting close-ups. You see the faces of officious and accusing priests, with warts, creviced skin, bad teeth and bulbous noses. You are riveted by the face of Joan (Renée Maria Falconetti), which conveys an eerie mix of wide-eyed fear and delirious elation.
David Hattner conducted a calmly authoritative performance that featured Susan Narucki (soprano), Janice Meyerson (mezzo-soprano), Mark Bleeke (tenor) and Kevin Deas (bass) as the vocal soloists. The score can be heard on a Sony Classical CD. But ideally this music should be experienced as a live complement to Dreyer’s stunning film.
The performance was taped for broadcast on the WNYC-FM (93.9) show “New Sounds” on March 2.
I thought you all should see this because I imagine most of you don’t know that the brilliant “tristero” is also the brilliant Richard Einhorn.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this film on DVD, accompanied by Richard’s amazing score, then I urge you to get it. It’s not like any silent film you’ve ever seen — and of course it’s not actually silent. The score speaks more eloquently than any dialog short of Shakespeare could match.
The film and score are great artistic achievements, but they are also extremely interesting for their sociological insight. Based as it is on the transcripts of Joan’s trial for heresy, I never thought this film would have such resonance to events in my own lifetime — but it does. Same as it ever was.
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