As interest in the vampire genre of horror is set to be given yet another Hollywood boost later this year, the most famous Dracula film of all — the iconic 1922 release 'Nosferatu'- has also been given a musical lease of life with a new score courtesy of composer Phil Lawrence.
Masterpiece
Phil has long been regarded as one of the UKs leading film industry composers, with a number of critically acclaimed sound tracks to his name — and he has now become the ninth composer to set the silent movie masterpiece 'Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens' (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror) to music.
The German expressionist film was directed by F.W. Munau and starred the incredible figure of Max Schreck as Count Orlok — the vampire of the title.
Such was its impact on audiences that even today the black and white images, such as the shadow of the count walking up the stairs to the bedroom of his victim, still send a shiver down the spine.
Horror buff
"As a bit of a horror buff, I couldn't resist the opportunity to orchestrate a new score,"Phil told 4BR. "The vampire genre is huge around the world — and it can all be traced back to this darkly disturbing, and genuinely frightening work of art by F.W. Munau.
The original score has long been lost and several composers have tried various ways and techniques to interpret the story themselves, but I felt I had to bring the work back to its roots — with Gothic drums and orchestration for voices and orchestra that reflects the story as well as the characters."
Huge stir
He has certainly done that and more — right from the strident opening motif which can be heard on the soundtrack link to the film (link below) — and it has already created a huge stir within the 'horror community' as Phil playful calls them.
"The film's iconic status means that whenever someone tries to do something with it — from Werner Herzog's homage adaptation in 1979 to this new score, the response is huge. I will now be taking it to the Cannes Festival in a few weeks time and hope that it will create the same stir there!"
The film's iconic status means that whenever someone tries to do something with it — from Werner Herzog's homage adaptation in 1979 to this new score, the response is hugePhil Lawrence
Van Helsing
Strangely, the release comes at a time when another 'Vampire' score of Phil's is being worked on in Australia with Andrew Snell and Darebin City Brass — Preston Band.
"Andrew is kindly working on my score to 'A Visit from Van Helsing' — who as vampire buffs know, is the nemesis of Count Dracula.
I didn't plan things this way, but it's great that even 120 years after it was written by Bram Stoker, Dracula can inspire two completely different pieces on the same subject matter."
Interest
He added: "With interest now from other parts of the brass banding work for my other works such as 'Bach Variations' and 'A Day in a Life of a Knight', I may even consider making this into a test piece. Now that would take some playing!"
