Allentown Band to perform soundtrack to Buster Keaton’s ‘The General’
Dolby digital surround sound? IMAX? Lucasfilm
THX?
Fogetaboutit!
In August of last year, the Allentown Band needed none of the above to wow a near-capacity audience at
Miller Symphony Hall when it performed a live soundtrack to the classic 1925 silent horror film “Phantom of the Opera.” Band conductor Ron Demkee had the crowd booing the bad guys, cheering the good guys, and nearly everyone up on their feet at the climax of the spellbinding chase scene that ended the film.
Encouraged by that enthusiastic reception, the band returns to Symphony Hall Saturday, Aug. 17, to perform a live soundtrack to “The General,” a 1926 silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. As with “Phantom,” a restored, high-definition version of the comedy classic will be projected on a large screen above the stage as the band plays. The performance will run about an hour and 40 minutes, with one intermission.
One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, the film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. When Johnny’s fiancée, Annabelle
Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train (called “The General”) stolen by Northern forces, Gray pursues the soldiers, using various modes of transportation in comic action scenes that highlight Keaton’s boundless wit and dexterity.
“The General” is based on the book “The Great Locomotive Chase” by William Pittenger, about an actual event in the Civil War, in which Confederate forces pursued a group from the Union Army that had commandeered a train called “The General.” It cost $750,000 to make, a large sum for the silent era. It features numerous special effects and stunt sequences, including an actual train wreck for its climactic scene.
The late film critic Roger Ebert once called it “an epic of silent comedy.”
“There are so many swings in the action, so what I do is select music from our library that reflects the action on the screen,” says Demkee. “My challenge as a conductor is to keep those tempos moving to the point where they fit what is going on.”
Demkee has conducted both the Allentown Band and the Allentown Symphony
Orchestra in accompanying films with a live performance several times. Films such as Holst’s “The Planets,” with video by filmmaker Jose Salgado, and a video version of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” make use of the click track process, which sends audio and visual clues to the conductor, requiring them to match the tempo to the fixed rate of the film.
“It’s a helpful technique, and allows for a great deal of precision in synchronization. But in a way it’s maddening, because it allows you no variation in tempo, no personal give-and-take or nuance as you go with the flow of the music,” Demkee says. But silent films such as “The General” and “Phantom,” on the other hand, involve a unique process, with nothing as high-tech as click track.
“The band members will have cue sheets, and we put their music into a booklet form so they’re not shuffling around looking for things,” Demkee says. “They don’t need to watch the film — what they really need to do is watch me and be alert for any tempo changes or an early cutoff to match a scene and move on to the next. I’m just lucky to have the musicians I have that can respond to all the changes going on, and there are lots of them. It allows me more flexibility than click track, although it’s a bit more challenging.”
Some choices of music are obvious, but others not so. Comedic accompaniment usually always works for chase scenes, where music such as the “Comedian’s Gallup” fits the bill. But there are many surprises.
“When Johnny is in the woods with Annabelle, believe it or not, Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’ works really well, what with a storm going on and all the plotting,” says Demkee. “I’m sure that Schubert or Tchaikovsky had no idea they would be elevated to the realm of silent film.”
Naturally, given the Civil War-era setting, Demkee sought out music from that period. “We draw from the ‘Blue and Gray’ medley by
Clare Grundman, which uses lots of that era’s themes. Later on, we’re doing the ‘Blue and Gray Patrol,’ which is actually a Civil War march by Clarence Dalbey. It’s an original tune that uses fragments of tunes that were popular in either the North or South during the war. It even quotes a little of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’,” says Demkee.
Be sure to check out the band’s newly released CD, “Sounds of Silents,” which will be on sale in the lobby for $15. It’s Volume 32 of the Allentown Band’s “Our Band Heritage” series. It features musical highlights from both the “Phantom of the Opera” and “The General.”
Allentown Band, “The General,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. Tickets: $20. 610-432-6715, www.millersymphonyhall.org
Valley Vivaldi presents final concert of summer season
Returning on Sunday, Aug. 18, for the Pennsylvania Sinfonia’s final Valley Vivaldi concert of the season at Wesley Church in Bethlehem is guest artist Rainer Beckman. The recorder virtuoso has become a familiar figure at the concerts, having played in the opening concert of the series this year, and with frequent appearances in years past.
Beckman will perform Telemann’s Concerto for
Recorder, Violin, Oboe and Continuo on a program that also includes music by Vivaldi, Tartini, Albinoni, and J.S. Bach.
A native of Germany, Beckman performs on the recorder with numerous early music ensembles in the Philadelphia tristate area. He is a founding member of La Bernardinia Baroque Ensemble, a member of Vox Renaissance Consort, and director of the Greater Philadelphia Area Recorder Academy. He also teaches recorder at the Pennsylvania Academy of
Music and directs the school’s early music program.
The program is a wonderful season closer in that it gives many of the ensemble soloists a chance to show off their musical chops. Sinfonia principal oboist Cheryl Bishkoff and violinist Inna Eyzerovich will join Beckman in the Telemann, while violinist Simon Maurer gets the spotlight in Tartini’s Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 1 No. 1.
No less a violinist than Leopold Auer wrote, regarding Tartini, that “Beyond doubt, Tartini strove for the truest possible expression in violin playing. He wished to give his epoch the best possible example of style, in the broadest sense of the word.”
Lawrence Wright, principal trumpet of both the PA Sinfonia and the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, is soloist in Albinoni’s Trumpet Concerto in B Flat, Op. 7 No. 3. This three-movement Baroque classic requires a range up to a high D above the staff. Violinists Rebecca Brown and Mary Ogletree are the soloists in J.S. Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, BWV 1043.
Rounding out the program is Vivaldi’s Sinfonia for Strings in E Minor, RV 134. Joining the featured soloists are Agnès Maurer, viola; Elizabeth Mendoza, cello; Nancy Merriam, bass; and Allan Birney, harpsichord.
A post-concert reception with refreshments follows the concert.
Valley Vivaldi, 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, Wesley Church, 2540 Center St., Bethlehem. Tickets: $35, $25 adults; $30, $20 seniors over 62; $15, free for students. 610-434-7811, www.pasinfonia.org
Steve Siegel is a contributing writer.