Music for Audio-Visual Media/RMA Annual Conference

Activity: Participating in or organising an eventParticipation in conference

Description

The Epic of Everest (1924): DVD launch

This presentation introduces a DVD recreation of the music used for the 1924-25 screenings of The Epic of Everest, a recently restored feature-length ‘scientific’ silent travelogue-cum-quest adventure documenting Andrew Irvine’s and George Mallory’s tragic 1924 ascent of Mt. Everest. The film music of the originally screening included on the British Film Institute DVD include the surviving part-compiled score by British concert conductor Eugène Goossens, Snr. and Frederick Laurence, as well as the music of a live prologue involving orchestral prelude music and a performance by Tibetan lamas, an original recording of which survives. The Mount Everest Suite, a piano suite sold as sheet music to raise funds for the expedition, is a DVD ‘extra’. It is extremely rare to have access to musical materials of a full atmospheric silent film presentation in this way. The materials will be discussed and illustrated, and issues associated with the score reconstruction outlined. Reconstruction directed by Julie Brown. Orchestral score conducted by Andrew Gourlay and performed by Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra.
Period6 Sept 2014
Event typeConference
LocationLeeds, United KingdomShow on map