The Pulse of Berlin and Paris

Kultur Ensemble invites you to an evening of two landmark silent films of the 1920’s with live electronic scores. Travel from Berlin to Paris through Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) and René Clair’s Paris qui dort (1923), performed with live scores by German electronic music duo Gebrüder Teichmann and French musician Stéphane Scharlé. Both films explore the city through rhythm, movement and visual experimentation. A century after their release, these new scores revisit their imagery through electronics, percussion and improvisation, creating a dialogue between early cinema and contemporary music. 

“In the early 1920s, when the silent era of film-making was still in full swing, the genre of the city symphony emerged. Exactly what constitutes a city symphony is somewhat fluid, but broadly speaking it can be defined as a poetic, experimental documentary that presents a portrait of daily life within a city while attempting to capture something of the city’s spirit.” The Guardian

Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927) with live music by Gebrüder Teichmann 

Berlin awakens. Trains stream into the city, factory machines begin to turn, streets fill with workers, shoppers and revellers. Across five acts following the course of a single day, Walter Ruttmann’s celebrated Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis transforms urban life into a visual composition of movement, rhythm and speed. 

Widely regarded as one of the defining works of the city symphony genre, the film captures the dynamics and contradictions of Weimar-era Berlin through innovative montage and visual experimentation. For this live performance, electronic music pioneers Gebrüder Teichmann create a contemporary soundtrack that amplifies the film’s mechanical energy and human vitality, drawing connections between the industrial rhythms of the early twentieth century and the electronic soundscapes of today. 

Paris qui dort (1923) with live music by Stéphane Scharlé  

A night watchman of the Eiffel tower realises one morning that Paris hasn’t woken up… Only a small number of people, arriving to Paris by plane, has escaped this strange spell. For the first time, and with the experience of numerous image creations, Stéphane Scharlé embarks on a solo adventure, setting to music Paris qui dort, the first film shot by René Clair.  

Stéphane Scharlé explores new soundscapes using drums augmented by a unique electronic control system, with triggers and a new interface that enables him to generate loops and double the drums with a multitude of electronic sounds and effects. The result is a surprisingly modern soundtrack that echoes repetitive music, minimal electro leaving space to improvise.