“Since 2011, it’s been an annual tradition at the Henderson Pavilion, with the Henderson Symphony providing live orchestral accompaniment for a silent movie,” writes Carol Cling in Saturday’s (6/3) Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada). “But this year’s attraction, ‘The Loves of Pharaoh,’ isn’t just any silent movie. The cast-of-thousands German epic, released in 1922, was lost for almost a century—and had to be reassembled … from footage found in various countries, from Germany and Russia to the U.S. (via Italy)…. ‘Loves of Pharaoh’ is one of the few silents that boasts its own original score, composed for full orchestra and written to accompany its original release. The movie’s director, Ernst Lubitsch … commissioned opera composer Eduard Kunneke to score the epic…. Says Alexandra Arrieche, HSO’s conductor and artistic director, ‘The tunes are very beautiful’ and could ‘stand without the movie.’ … Unlike contemporary movie scoring, where musicians and conductor have click tracks … the Henderson orchestra is using ‘a very old style,’ … with Arrieche ‘doing it by sight and by ear.’ … Nicole Johnson, public relations coordinator for the city of Henderson, which collaborates with HSO on the annual program … says ‘It’s been a fan favorite for a number of years.’ ”
Posted June 6, 2017
