The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

A live accompaniment to the seminal German expressionist silent film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Directed by Robert Wiene in 1919, this cult film is one of the first and most famous examples of German expressionist cinema. The unique, stylised studio sets, in which the whole piece is filmed, set this work apart and give it a highly theatrical quality, and a visual impact which is still mesmerising today. Lynne Plowman's score is an original, dynamic, tightly structured, contemporary music soundtrack to the film. Commissioned and premiered by the London Mozart Players, the work is scored for a chamber orchestra of eleven musicians (plus conductor) and is performed live, alongside presentations of the film on the big screen. "Lynne Plowman has done brilliantly.... her atmospheric and thematic music was given its premiere along with a showing of the film as part of the Riverfront's weekly cinema presentations, here transferred to the main auditorium and with the music performed by members of the London Mozart Players conducted by Michael Rafferty. That cachet alone says a lot about Plowman's reputation as a music-theatre composer, which was employed to provide the almost continuous undercurrent of sound..... As the composer pointed out before the show, it is the look of the film that still captivates, her fine muscular score with its twists and turns reinforcing both the story's sequence and its visual appeal" - South Wales Argus, Thursday 30th April 2009