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Karl Bartos — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(Bureau B BB, 2024, DL)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2024-07-09

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Cover art

Karl Bartos was a member of Kraftwerk starting with Radio Activity in 1975 through Electric Café and departing in 1990. Though not a prolific band, Kraftwerk was quite influential with their sterile man-machine music. Bartos started as a drummer and was a classically trained percussionist, playing in orchestras before, during, and after his Kraftwerk days. Between 2012 and 2014 the Frederich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation digitally restored Robert Wiene’s surreal classic 1920 silent psychological thriller The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Bartos is a long time admirer of Weimar-era cinematography, helping to create the Kraftwerk track “Metropolis” inspired by Fritz Lang’s 1927 classic. The original orchestra soundtrack for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Giuseppe Becce has been lost to time and in 2005 Bartos conceived of the idea that he would like create an entirely new soundtrack. To accompany the crystal clear images on the restored film, Bartos explored his library of musical compositions, recreating pieces he had written as a young classical musician from his pre-Kraftwerk days. Mixing sound effects to match the on screen action (creaking doors, footsteps on gravel, turning pages of a ledger, subliminal dialog, etc.) with his musical compositions, this exquisite 76-minute soundtrack is as far as Bartos has gotten from Kraftwerk. There are no techno rhythms, synth sequences, or vocoded vocals. Instead there are elements in the tradition of the Baroque Age of Bach, early Romanticism of Mozart, dissonance of Schoenberg, unsettling Stravinsky meters, and harshly dramatic Philip Glass repetitions. And mixed in are the barrel organ and calliope of the funfair, surreal backwards musique concrète, and some catchy melodies. Bartos has created a very imaginative, emotional, and cinematic soundtrack (37 tracks in six acts) that is inextricably intwined with the movie. To quote Bartos “There’s something about this film. No matter how many times you watch it, it keeps its secrets. Who is mad and who is not always remains a question of interpretation.” The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari remains an enigma, but now one with the soundtrack and soundscape it deserves.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Karl Bartos

More info
http://karlbartos.bandcamp.com/album/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari

 

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