Description
This score was commissioned for the film “Symphony of a Great City” by Walther Ruttmann. The musicians I choose to perform it with were Klara Lewis and Rainier Lericolais. I made the backing track using tones and pitches from MARX on Abletone Live. I then sent Klara and Rainier all my home recordings through the years I made when visiting Berlin, from the mid-eighties to the present day. The idea was that they could process anything from my source tapes, and not use anything else. This to me seemed an interesting idea, as then all the sounds would come from various times from the city and surrounding countryside itself. All of the sounds were recorded while I made music for two films. “Cycling the Frame” (1988) and “The Invisible Frame” (2009) by Cynthia Beatt. One was shot before the Soviet-era wall dividing the city came down, and the other afterwards. My original sounds for “Cycling the Frame” were recorded on cassette and I used a Casio SK1 sampler and a Revox to track and mix on. Sounds on “The Invisible Frame” were all recorded digitally on a Roland Edirol recorder. Time passes and technology moves forwards. I had a dozen or so dub plates made from these recordings, and Rainier was in control of the wind-up gramophone player we used to start the concerts with. I also had a piano. We have never been able to record this music properly in the studio, so I thought let’s just release “Backing Track” so everyone can have a go and make their own version.
— Simon Fisher Turner
Compact disc in digipak packaging. Limited edition of 250 copies.
Simon Fisher Turner is an English musician and difficult cat to pill. His acting career began with numerous appearances in British television productions when he was in his teens. He’s not actually very happy with those years now, but hey, what can you do! By the time he was in his 20’s he was pursuing twin acting and musical paths, appearing in television and film rolls while performing in a variety of bands. In his 30’s he abandoned acting completely while continuing to explore new forms of musical expression, which with the passing of time became ever more inventive and adventurous. To this day he stands with both feet in film and music, simultaneously scoring films, documentaries and composing site specific soundtracks and producing music all over the world.
An outsider.
Excerpt from Vital Weekly review: ‘Symphony’ is a piece with stretched-out tones, also pitching and shifting but using a lot less source material and exploring various themes within while having that long-form drifting quietness. My movie would be something of an equally sparse movement, with shadows and sunlight, as I found the piece relatively light and airy, with a shade of darkness lingering throughout. Development is very minimal but unmistakably there. Occasionally, I had the impression of hearing flutes and violins, creating a computerised orchestral feeling to the music and keeping warmth throughout.
–Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly, issue #1431, April 2, 2024
