This is a past event
Enjoy Graeme Stephen's award-winning score to the silent film Sunrise realised by his quartet of tenor saxophone (Phil Bancroft), guitar (the composer), cello (Pete Harvey) and drums (Tom Bancroft) whilst viewing the movie on the big screen.
Graeme Stephen's score for F W Murnau's classic film won him the innovation award at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2012. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, to give it its full title, won the 'Unique and Artistic Picture Award' at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929. Written for guitar, cello, tenor saxophone and drums, the piece will be performed on this occasion by Graeme (guitar), Pete Harvey (cello); Phil Bancroft (tenor sax) and Tom Bancroft (drums).
Graeme Stephen was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and has been playing guitar since the age of 9. Today he leads and contributes to a multitude of musical projects in Scotland and overseas, playing a wide array of styles from free improvised jazz to Scottish folk. Stephen’s peerless improvisational skills and talent for composition make him one of Scotland’s most exciting and prodigious musical talents.
He is a very unusual jazz guitarist in that he is as skilled and comfortable playing in a virtuoso way over standards and chord changes, as he is heading into completely free improvised soundscapes. His playing shows the influence of all the great contemporary guitarists Metheny, Schofield, through the sonic inventiveness of Bill Frisell as well as into the more conceptual and fragmented worlds of James Blood Ulmer, Marc Ribot and David Torn.
Stephen's instrument is in a sense more than a guitar, as he seamlessly uses loop pedals and effects as a fully integrated part of his musical language.
As a composer Stephen writes music that reflects his diverse musical interests, but with a gift for melodic and rhythmic accessibility amongst the more expansive free form colours. He has written a significant body of extraordinary film music, with his scores to the early masterpieces of 20s German cinema.
ABOUT SUNRISE
“Graeme Stephen again underlined the qualities that make him a player on the international jazz stage with his latest project presenting a veritable harvest of beautifully written vignettes for his superb group. Where the Aberdeen-born guitarist triumphed in particular, though, was that he didn’t just graft on music to someone else’s work: he actually made the movie – in this case one considered by many to be the finest of its kind ever made by a Hollywood studio – seem almost like a component of the band, a visual singer, if you will” – The Herald
“Stephen made good use of the wide palette of instrumental colour and texture available to him from this unconventional line-up, the combined effect was spell-binding” – The Scotsman
"Murnau’s Sunrise is a compelling story full of drama, with storms both emotional and meteorological, private moments, bustling public scenes, a twisting plot and a not easily reached happy ending. It calls for a detailed score, and it got one here as Stephen set the scene with hypnotic guitar work that gave way to a veritable harvest of beautifully written vignettes" – The Herald
http://graemestephen.bandcamp.com
- Hosted by
- University of Aberdeen
- Venue
- MacRobert Building MR051
- Contact
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This is a FREE event.