Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925),
featuring original musical accompaniment by Cameron Carpenter
2013-07-28
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Sunday, July 28, 2013
[7:30 PM seated and waiting, 7:32 PM, lights down, brief house announcements, CC entrance]
The Martini Brothers played a short set in the Davies Hall lobby before the show – we heard about 30 minutes of their set, and I probably would have showed up earlier to hear the whole thing if I’d realized it was happening.
In his speech, Cameron noted how “modern” this film seems by comparison with most films of its time – an observation which I wholeheartedly agree with. He also noted that while the bulk of his accompaniment would be original, the concluding section would include a transcription of Joseph Jongen's Toccata, the fourth movement from his Symphonie Concertante, for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 81 (1926). While I found the film to be an excellent piece of entertainment, Ting was diligent enough to perform post-performance research which revealed that it represents a fanciful interpretation of historical events at best. Such is what could be expected for a propaganda film glorifying the Russian revolution, no?