The restored film score of Abel Gance's legendary epic1927 film "Napoleon" is being premiered on Thursday and Friday inParis - under the baton of German conductor Frank Strobel.
Reconstruction of the film's music took 14 years, and resulted in ascore that as compiled from 104 separate pieces by 48 composers andwhich weighs 33 kilograms.
The mammoth work, which is a French national treasure, will celebrateits world premiere in two parts on July 4 and 5 at the Seine Musicalein Boulogne-Billancourt, one of the largest concert halls in France.
Under the direction of Strobel, over 250 musicians will accompany the7-hour version of the silent film, whose ?4.5 million ($4.8 million)reconstruction is itself regarded as an epic achievement.
Strobel is known for his film concerts. He has conducted performancesof the restored versions of "Metropolis" and "The Tired Death" byFritz Lang, among others. The "Napoleon" epic is nevertheless achallenge for the director of the European Film Philharmonic andformer chief conductor of the WDR Funkhausorchester in Cologne.
"The score is extraordinarily stylistically diverse. It covers around300 years of music history and ranges from Mozart and Wagner toBeethoven, Liszt, Haydn, Berlioz and Penderecki," he told dpa inParis. Strobel calls the composition, compiled by SimonCloquet-Lafollye, a kaleidoscope that is a fully thought-out system.
the conducter is no stranger to the work of Gance, having alreadyprovided musical accompaniment for two works by the avant-garde filmpioneer.
The epic film is designed as a grand spectacle that portrays NapoleonBonaparte as a superman. With over 400,000 metres of film, thousandsof extras and a wide array of film techniques on display, the filmwas widely regarded as the work of a megalomaniac at the time it wasmade.– dpa
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