Friday 10 September 2010
Thursday 9 September 2010
Friday 3 September 2010
Sunday 27 June 2010
Press Release 26th January 2009
German Expressionist Cinema: an Introduction
In From Morn to Midnight (original title: Von morgens bis mitternachts, directed by Karlheinz Martin, b/w, silent, Germany, 1920) a bank employee (Ernst Deutsch) is so affected by the plight of an elegant lady from Italy (Erna Morena), whom the bank has refused the money she needs to buy a painting, that he helps himself out of the till and sets off for the lady's hotel, determined to help her. But when she declines his offer of money and refuses to run away with him, he becomes a fugitive from justice, seeking refuge in the crowded bars, dance halls, theatres and hostels of the city at night.
The film is based on Georg Kaiser's drama of the same name, first staged in 1917. Under Karlheinz Martin's direction we follow the course of the hero's moral breakdown. Convinced that his family has neither understanding nor feeling for him, he turns his back on them. But the pleasures of the metropolis at night prove to be short-lived. Finally he accepts the invitation of a young Salvation Army officer (Roma Bahn) to seek help at an Army refuge...
The actors, whose faces are illuminated by intense white spot lights, play in front of symbolically decorated flats set against dark backgrounds. They present a world devoid of enlightenment and dominated by urge, fear and money.
The film will be introduced as a classical example of Expressionist outlook and method by Geoffrey Sweet. Geoffrey will accompany the film on the piano with a score of his own which includes compositions of the time by Alban Berg and Hanns Eisler.
The film lasts seventy two minutes, and the whole presentation is expected to take about two hours.
Geoffrey Sweet is a free-lance pianist and lecturer. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and was a Junior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he was awarded a doctorate in early twentieth-century German literature.
In From Morn to Midnight (original title: Von morgens bis mitternachts, directed by Karlheinz Martin, b/w, silent, Germany, 1920) a bank employee (Ernst Deutsch) is so affected by the plight of an elegant lady from Italy (Erna Morena), whom the bank has refused the money she needs to buy a painting, that he helps himself out of the till and sets off for the lady's hotel, determined to help her. But when she declines his offer of money and refuses to run away with him, he becomes a fugitive from justice, seeking refuge in the crowded bars, dance halls, theatres and hostels of the city at night.
The film is based on Georg Kaiser's drama of the same name, first staged in 1917. Under Karlheinz Martin's direction we follow the course of the hero's moral breakdown. Convinced that his family has neither understanding nor feeling for him, he turns his back on them. But the pleasures of the metropolis at night prove to be short-lived. Finally he accepts the invitation of a young Salvation Army officer (Roma Bahn) to seek help at an Army refuge...
The actors, whose faces are illuminated by intense white spot lights, play in front of symbolically decorated flats set against dark backgrounds. They present a world devoid of enlightenment and dominated by urge, fear and money.
The film will be introduced as a classical example of Expressionist outlook and method by Geoffrey Sweet. Geoffrey will accompany the film on the piano with a score of his own which includes compositions of the time by Alban Berg and Hanns Eisler.
The film lasts seventy two minutes, and the whole presentation is expected to take about two hours.
Geoffrey Sweet is a free-lance pianist and lecturer. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and was a Junior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he was awarded a doctorate in early twentieth-century German literature.
Saturday 26 June 2010
Friday 25 June 2010
Monday 24 May 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
Thursday 20 May 2010
Saturday 15 May 2010
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Saturday 1 May 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Monday 19 April 2010
Williams Research Center, New Orleans
On a recent visit to New Orleans I spent many a happy hour in the Williams Research Center, which is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection. I am grateful to the staff there for introducing me to some marvellous music, a couple of examples of which - by Lucien Lambert and Basile Barès - I have recorded for this blog.
Saturday 17 April 2010
Friday 16 April 2010
Thursday 15 April 2010
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Monday 5 April 2010
Saturday 3 April 2010
Sunday 28 March 2010
Saturday 27 March 2010
In The Black Bull, Frosterley
Duncan Davis photographed Geoffrey last weekend. Geoffrey played for customers in The Black Bull in Frosterley in Weardale. He included Lucien Lambert's "Le Niagara", Louis Moreau Gottschalk's "Marche des Gibaros" and Jelly Roll Morton's "Original Jelly Roll Blues" in his programme. Geoffrey got to know these pieces on a recent visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, U. S. A. Their composers were born in New Orleans.
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