F W Murnau’s Sunrise – 1920s silent film with live accompaniment at the RNCM Concert Hall
Chris Horkan
The RNCM continues its popular series of live accompaniments to silent films with Sunrise.
F W Murnau’s landmark 1927 film – subtitled A Song of Two Humans – marks both the pinnacle and end of the silent film era. The romantic drama, which places nameless characters into a monochrome fairytale, was one of the first films to have a synchronised musical score and sound effects soundtrack – with Charles Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette and Frédéric Chopin’s A minor prelude both featuring.
This one-off screening, however, will be accompanied by French organist and composer Thierry Escaich, who has written over 100 pieces and won France’s Victoires de la Musique Composer of the Year award three times.
