Music Written & Performed for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Around 2010, I was approached to develop an idea to perform a live score for a motion picture. Although I had contributed music to film projects before, this was the first time I was asked to write original music for a full feature.

Having dabbled with different variants of what could be considered noise and dark ambient music before, and having a lifetime of deep appreciation for the horror genre in cinema, it seemed more than appropriate to pick one, if not THE most influential horror films of the silent era and, perhaps, of all time: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The initial plan was to feature a string quartet performing alongside live electronics from me. However, because the economic fallout of the early 2010s was still affecting funding for all sorts of projects—especially cultural ones—the project was unfortunately shelved indefinitely.

Fast forward to 2012, when I was asked if I would be interested in resurrecting the project with a smaller budget, to which I agreed. I decided to scale back, replacing the string quartet with a prepared piano and rearranging some of the early ideas to accommodate the new format.

The premiere of the live score took place at the MUDAS Contemporary Art Museum of Madeira on May 11th of 2013, featuring Nuno Filipe of Nuno & The End fame on grand piano and me on live electronics.

This record gathers excerpts of some of my favourite pieces from the early sessions of the composition process, as I struggled to figure out how to write and perform to picture with machines and live instruments.