‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ Composer Volker Bertelmann On Creating “Destructive” Sounds For A Unique Score
09.02.2023 - 23:17
/ deadline.com
For All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger wanted the film to be created from a German perspective. He tasked composer Volker Bertelmann with the job of creating a score he’s never done before, giving him few insights into what he wanted for the final cut. Based on the 1928 novel of the same name, the film follows Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), a young German soldier who experiences the horrific reality of serving on the front line. Bertelmann wanted to use instruments connected to that time period, so he used a refurbished harmonium passed down from his grandmother.
DEADLINE: How did you get involved with All Quiet on the Western Front?
VOLKER BERTELMANN: I think this is the fourth film I’ve done with the director, Edward Berger. In October, I received a phone call from him and he said, “I would love to have you doing this, and can you come to Berlin and watch the movie with me, and then we can discuss what’s going on?”
And so I went to Berlin and saw the whole movie, and we were very briefly talking about it. The film leaves such a strong impression and you can’t really talk so much after a film like that, which I think is great because you also start to discuss that with yourself. What was that? Why am I feeling this? Edward said to me that he wanted to have a score from me that I’ve never done before. That was the first thing he said. The second thing is he wants to have something for Paul Bäumer’s stomach, which is the main protagonist. He wanted to have something destructive in the music and he wanted to have some snares that were played by somebody who can’t play the snares.
DEADLINE: That’s very specific.
BERTELMANN: Yeah, it’s very specific. Honestly, that took me the longest because I mean, I’m
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