Glasgow Film Festival will screen FW Murnau's 1926 film with Alex Menzie's new score on Friday.
This Friday, the Glasgow Film Festival will screen FW Murnau's silent film adaptation of Faust with a new score by Alex Smoke.
As you can hear in the clip below, the soundtrack marries classical and electronic composition—one of Smoke's distinct talents. Stringed ensembles have often featured in the Scottish techno artist's productions, like his 2007 track "Prima Materia" and his remix of Steve Reich's "Proverb." He's been tapped for fully classical work before as well: in 2006, Arts Council England commissioned him for a piece to accompany the human genome project.
According to Smoke, there is a "large sound design aspect" to the score, which, in his own words, "contains aural references to many Faustian pacts of our times, including nuclear power, Middle East politics, consumerism, Aleister Crowley, etc." Stringed accompaniment is performed by the Scottish Ensemble, and the project is funded in part by the Scottish Arts Council. At this point plans for the soundtrack's release are still sketchy, though Smoke intends to put out a "stripped techno" version through his own Hum+Haw imprint.