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PHILIP MILLER, COMPOSER: MUSIC FOR THE FILMS OF WILLIAM KENTRIDGE 1. Memo 3:08 2. Felix in Exile 10:27 3. Hotel 4:07 4. Weighing and Wanting 5: 53 5. What a friend we have in Jesus 6:11 6. March 4:05 7. Stereoscope 8:19 8. Weighing and Wanting(re-mix) 6:15 9. Edited extracts from a radio interview of William Kentridge and Philip Miller 20:42 smaller type= Mary Rorich???, Classic FM, Johannesburg TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 69: 27 ALL MUSIC COMPOSED BY PHILIP MILLER (except track 5) Cover drawing by William Kentridge Mastered by Peter Cornell Photography by Jo Ratcliffe Published by David Krut Publishing CC P O Box 892 Houghton, Johannesburg 2041, South Africa Publisher's E- mail: dkrut@icon.co.za
page 2 Philip Miller was born in London in 1964 and grew up in Cape Town. After first practising as a lawyer in Johannesburg, he left law to become a composer. He studied composition with Jeanne Zaidel -Rudolph in South Africa and Joseph Horovitz in London. In the last few years, he has composed many of the film scores to William Kentridge's animated films.
1. Memo playing time: 3:08 Memo was a colloborative film made in 1994 with the artists Robert Hodgins, Deborah Bell and William Kentridge. It depicts a rather beleaguered man sitting behind his desk which starts to take over from him. The challenge for this film score was to find sounds that could signify all the various objects that came to life on his desk - the typewriter, the wall clock, pens and an array of other objects. With these objects in mind, I decided to write a piece of music for prepared piano, attaching keys, chains, and paper clips to its strings. Although the film's action required a chaotic mechanical feel, there was also a pathos to the man's fight to keep control of his desk so I composed a soothing lullaby which lies underneath all the madness of the sounds of the prepared piano. The prepared piano and all other instruments were played by the composer
2.Felix in Exile playing time: 10:27 The score for this film was composed in 1994 and this recording is in its original form before it was edited to fit the action of the film. By grounding the melody in an appergiated figure, I tried to evoke the feeling of forward motion - of a wheel that constantly turns. William had initially used the slow movement to Dvorak's American String Quartet as a guide when he was making the film and somehow or other I had to find a way of capturing some of the exquisite lyricism of the Dvorak, without ending up with a second rate pastiche. The score was never composed scene for ????? - instead I tried to capture certain emotive qualities which the images evoked- of loss and nostalgia. The beautiful playing of the string trio helped I believe to capture this spirit. String Trio violin Jan Pustejovsky viola Marjan Vonk cello Peta Ann Holdcroft
3.Hotel playing time:4:07 This score was composed in 1997 for a collaborative project with William Kentridge, Deborah Bell and Robert Hodgins. The action of the film takes place in a series of hotel rooms off a long corridor with a lift at the end- where guests and furniture gradually reveal themselves. The scoring of the music started at the same time as the artists themselves began to animate each scene. The idea behind composing this piece, was not to compose a complete linear soundtrack to the film , but instead to write many different musical fragments -which would allow for a number of possibilities - both musically and in terms of the editing process. I sampled 'found' sounds to incorporate into the music - not as an end of process addition- but rather using these sounds as additional instruments to the traditional instruments in my synthesiser which are integrated into the music itself.
Listen out for lift doors, lift bells and bed -springs. All instruments and samples created and played by the composer
4.Weighing...and Wanting playing time 5:53 This piece was composed in 1997. Certain images in this film were a very useful starting point for me when approaching the composition of this score. Visual cues such as an old scale which moved up and down, as well as other objects (such as fragments of a tea cup ) which re-constituted themselves in the course of the film's narrative, allowed me to find a pulse or rhythmical breath to the music - The music was written in three sections - almost a 'filmic rondo' The opening slow section relies heavily on the strange dry sounds of string harmonics. The second section relates to images of anger and destruction and is written with an energy and rhythm which is very much in contrast to the earlier slow section. In the last section, I return to the main musical motif found in the first section, finding a musical closure for the images which have re -formed and grouped themselves. String Trio violin Ivo Ivanov viola Marjan Vonk cello Peta Ann Holdcroft
5.What a friend we have in Jesus playing time: 6:11 This was recorded in 1999 for the film Shadow Procession made for the Istanbul Biennial. The extraordinary accordionist and singer, Alfred Makgamelele has worked with William before on his theatre production of "Woyzeck on the Highveld". I came along to the studio to hear Alfred sing and at the end of the session ended up jamming to the traditional hymn " What a friend we have in Jesus " which Alfred sings in Sotho while I do my best to give a gospel -styled piano accompaniment. Vocals and accordion Alfred Makgamelele piano played by the composer arrangement by Alfred Makgamelele and Philip Miller
6.March playing time: 4:05 I have included this piece for the CD, although strictly speaking it should not be here as it was never composed for any of William's films. It was a rough idea to be used in his theatre production of "Faustus in Africa" which was staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg in 1995. At the time that the play was going into production, I went to study music in London and was not able to take up the project. I remember listening to a lot of marching brass bands at the time, and probably the most important influence was watching a video of a very out of tune brass band playing for some big state ceremony in Lusaka, Zambia. I coerced the percussionist to play out of time and as badly as possible. percussion Richard Carter all other instruments played by the composer
7.Stereoscope: playing time: 8:19 This score was composed for a film made in 1999 which was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The film depicted the character Soho Eckstein in his room. Using a split screen, the main character Soho Eckstein appears in his room both when it is empty and when it is also filled with chaos and disorder. This split between Soho's inner emptiness juxtaposed with another reality of outer chaos needed to be conveyed in the music. I tried to achieve this by writing a very simple theme for the piano and allowing it to gradually be taken up by the various instruments in the ensemble, eventually evolving into something jagged and frenetic in its rhythm to reflect the madness in Soho's other world. Although I created many of the sounds for the score together with sound designer Wilbert Schubel, I decided that this work needed its own space to stand alone as a piece of music without any of the sound effects. String Trio violin Minas Berberyan viola Marjan Vonk cello Peta Ann Holdcroft. trumpet Ishmael Kambule piano the composer.
8.Weighing and Wanting (re-mix) playing time:6:15 I have included this version of the score with the sound design mixed into the music because it is interesting to hear how the sound effects can change and bring another element to the music. The eerie string harmonics which I used in this composition combined with the strange subterranean sounds which the sound designer Wilbert Schubel created, seem to compliment each other rather well. |
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