I was delighted to present an introduction to my live soundtrack for Lotte Reiniger's 1922 silent film Cinderella, at the Queen Mary University of London event Framing Lotte Reiniger.
The event took place on Friday 8th December 2017 and involved presentations from four scholars, about their recent work on pioneering German animator Lotte Reiniger: Elinor Cleghorn (Independent scholar, Sussex), Rachel Palfreyman (University of Nottingham), Katherine Rochester (Bryn Mawr College, USA), Caroline Ruddell (Brunel University). The evening was introduced Alasdair King and Tashi Petter.
“The study of Reiniger straddles a number of different academic disciplines (German Studies, Film and Animation Studies, Art History) and artistic movements (Silhouette Craft, Modernism, Shadowplay, the Decorative, Folk Art). Therefore, our speakers will reflect on their chosen frame or framework for approaching this important but neglected artist. ‘Framing Lotte Reiniger’ will showcase the diversity of research being conducted within the field, offering a platform for sharing ideas and helping to forge a network.”
The papers were followed by a Q & A panel and a screening of Reiniger’s silhouette animation work, including Cinderella.
I created a soundtrack for this film a few years ago, for live solo piano. This was recorded in a performance in 2013, and it was this recording that was used in the screening at Queen Mary University. Watch the film with my soundtrack on YouTube.
Since the process of composing and performing the soundtrack connected with many of the areas explored by the four speakers, I was very pleased to give a brief introduction about this as part of the event.
In this particular accompaniment I aimed to come as close to contemporary screening practice as I could - this involved detailed observation of the film, research into contemporary film scoring techniques and relevant performance practice, repertoire research, development of original music and creative reworking of existing pieces and themes, followed by the synthesis of the musical ideas into a cohesive whole.
The event was supported by the Queen Mary Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, the Queen Mary Department of Film and the German Screen Studies Network.