Mega-Musics

Ten new pieces of music. Ten. In a single update. Tis crazy!
Orchestral

• Noble Race
  
• Spider’s Web
  
• Dawn Hit
  

• Overture
  
• Village Dawn
  
• Awaiting Return
  
• March of the Mind
  

• Midnight Meeting
  
• Dance of Deception
  
• Land of Phantoms
  

These are all pieces I pulled out of the score I recently completed for “Nosferatu”.
Noble Race The montage of scenes where Hutter and Orlock race back to Ellen. The piece in the soundtrack proper is changed slightly from this excerpt – here I restored a final crecendo near the end which doesn’t work in the film. It incorporates all the main themes from the film – but only rarely in counterpoint. There seems to be some problem with the tymp in this mix… I’ll leave it as an exercise to the editor to figure out how to de-emphasize that in your own film.
Spider’s Web Tritone (Locrian) theme in harpsichord for the Knock character. This theme is found throught the score – but this is one of the only parts that I could pull out as a stand-alone piece.
Dawn Hit Just a lush string chord. In the score, it is heard as “the cock crows” in the film. I put it online because it would be easy for people to use in a large number of applications.
Overture A piano piece that sets the stage to Noferatu. A hideous life-sucking vampire horror movie? Nope. A love story about self-sacrifice. So – a love story with a tragic edge. You should hear that within the first 20 seconds. On a technical level, I do an altered chord to give your brain a bit of a jolt (A Major in the key of C Major). It works because it acts as a dominant to the D Minor… blah, blah, blah… theory, theory, theory…
Village Dawn After Hutter goes to sleep at the local Inn, he gets up to a happy happy day. Well… not totally happy – but happy enough. This is a very simple happy tune… but something is wrong. It is in 5/8 time. Hrm… too subtle? Probably – but I’m not going to crank on the tympani. If it sets you off just a bit and you don’t know why – that’s PERFECT! If it passes unnoticed… that’s fine, too.
Awaiting Return Hanging out on a beach waiting for the return of a husband? Have I got the piece for you! This is based off of Holst’s “Thaxted” which is used earlier in the film when Hutter’s journey begins. And so, while waiting for the journey to end – here it is… but in romantic piano style (as tends to follow Ellen around).
March of the Mind I forget why this piece exists. Hey! Give me a break, I speed-wrote this whole pile of music in under a week!
Midnight Meeting Oh! Oh-ho-ho! This is my favorite! Se we have a couple of vampire themes, and a couple of living people themes in this soundtrack. So… what happens if you smash them all together in a fuge? THIS! mwahaha!!! haha… ha… heh?
This piece happens when Hutter and Orlock “first” meet in the courtyard of the castle. They size each other up – hense the playing of all themes in a clear, yet crazily intermixed short piece. You can hear the interactions of the motivators and the reactors both living and not.
It is pretty seriously cool. There aren’t enough fuges written these days.
Dance of Deception Pipe organ peppy and dark tune. In the film, it occurs at the docks – where it looks like Orlock is just playing with the silly mortals. This is the original improvised sketch that I was unable to improve on… given the time constraints.
Land of Phantoms Not really music… just plain creepy-sounding percussion. This occurs when Hutter is given a ride in the Phantom Carriage. This might be a bit over-the-top. The music is actually more creepy to me than the film.
Yay! There’s my initial thoughts on these pieces. And yes, I stand by my interpretation of Nosferatu as a love story.