Nosferatu the Vampyr
Music by Popol Vuh
With the remake in 1978 of classic expressionist Nosferatu (1922), the director Werner Herzog achieved multiple successes: released one of the greatest horror films of the 70s, one of his best films and one of the most remarkable performances of Klaus Kinsky, his legendary partner in career and personal disagreements.
Nosferatu has a recent expanded reissue by label SPV label with 23 minutes more than the previously edition. The classic pieces of Wagner and Gounoud used in the film are not included in the edition. The music of Florian Fricke and his group is a brilliant correspondent to the cadaveric paleness of cinematography. Transcendent in its slow determination and hypnotic in its acidic resonances of plucked strings (as in Mantra and Morning Sun) the music is a rare experience in its static and abstract electronic textures in circular movements. Hore Der Du Wagst for piano and effects, is almost impressionistic in its delicacy. Not all tracks were used in film´s final cut and so the reference to eastern sound of zithers and tablas may sound strangely on the CD edition. The track Mantra is used very briefly in the scene with Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) alone on the beach. Track Die Nacht der Himmel (Jonathan explores the castle of Count) is perhaps the most spectral piece ever written, with its creeping electronic emanations, and intangible melodic lines, almost absent. Der Ruf Der Rorfloete sounds like human vocalization (or inhuman) in its electronic lines. Further go the track On the Way, with chilling Gregorian vocals at the same time heavenly and macabre. It is the theme most used in the film: the opening with the mummified bodies, the way of Jonathan (Bruno Ganz) to the castle, the arrival of the boat in the city of Varna.
Engaging and incredibly strong in its direct simplicity, Nosferatu is a very original example of a soundtrack that worked more in the support to the visual aesthetic of film than following the action.
10
Cadaveric
in
"Werner (Herzog) asked me" Florian do you have music to be afraid by? - Then I remembered some electronic parts I did in the first years of activity. These tracks eventually formed the second part of Nosferatu " - Florian Fricke