Sun 10.6. 16.00 ORANGERIE
ANIMATED MOVIES BY WALT DISNEY AND LADISLAS STAREVITCH
WITH MUSIC BY PAUL DESSAU
The term Mickey-mousing is utilised within the field of film to describe soundtracks which illustrate every action on the screen with the appropriate music. When the young Paul Dessau composed music for Disney films, he pursued an opposing concept – his music communicates much more than is actually depicted on screen. In 1928, the Berlin illustrated magazine “Film-Kurier” commented on Dessau’s music for trick films: “This type of event should be preserved simultaneously in film history and the history of musical development”.
The 25 musicians of the Collegium Novum Zurich adhere to the principle of placing contemporary music within an explanatory context through special performance formats.
“Dessau im Wunderland” [Dessau in Wonderland] interlinks two early puppet animation masterworks dating from 1927 (Starevitch’s “Die Wunderuhr” [The Magical Clock] and “Der verzauberte Wald” [The Enchanted Forest]) with episodes from Disney’s “Alice” series in which a real child strays into the world of film animation in the 1920s.
David Philip Hefti Musical Director
