Wings of Desire (Soundtrack) Review
The soundtrack of Wim Wenders' hauntingly lyrical movie Wings Of Desire consists of the melodic and reflective instrumental score by Jurgen Knieper, highlighted by the sad cello, and on occasions, the harp, but things turn celestial once the angelic choir and sounds that come in, particularly in the opening title music, "Der Himmel Uber Berlin", (The Sky Over Berlin) which is one of the movie's alternate titles. "Die Kathedrale der Bucher" (The Cathedral of Books), is the score used in the library where the angels flock, standing by patrons, tuning into their thoughts. This number is more celestial, with the operatic feminine choir and soloist."
"Der Sterbende auf der Brucke" (The Dying Man on the Bridge) features the melancholy cello used in the title track, as well as the harp. There is a scene in the movie where the angel Damiel joins his mind and words with the dying man, who is repeating what Damiel says and thinks as he dies. The violin and harp number "Potzdamerplatz" features the ancient poet Homer's vain quest to find the title place, which is presumably in the Soviet sector of Berlin that he can't get to.
The sweeping angelic "Urstromtal" (The Glacial Valley) with its choir is one of the most dazzling of melodic numbers in the album.
Six of the tracks are film dialogue, four of them being Bruno Ganz reciting Lied Vom Kindsein (Song of Childhood), taken from verses by Peter Handke. He does the first three verses, and each are roughly forty-seven seconds on average. The second one is the most profound; translated in German, it means "When the child was a child, it was the time for these questions: Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here and not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Is life under the sun not just a dream? Is what I see and hear and smell not just an illusion of a world before the world? Given the facts of evil and people, does evil really exist? How can it be that I, who I am, didn't exist before I came to be, and that, someday, I, who I am, will no longer be who I am? "
The other is a lengthy 5:45, titled "Marions Liebesklarung" (Marion's Declaration of Love) and it's Solveig Dommartin, who plays Marion the independent but lonely aspiring circus performer. And there's a brief "Final Word" by Curt Bois, who plays Homer the poet.
The rest are songs and miscellaneous stuff, such as the "Zirkusmusic" (Circus Music) performed and composed by Laurent Petitgand, who plays the circus bandleader in the movie. Laurie Anderson's haunting "Angel Fragments" with electric piano-like keyboards, and her wordless vocals is the track played when the man on the bridge is about to commit suicide, and where the angel Cassiel fails to save him.
The stoner-like post-punk goth of Crime and the City Solution's slow bizarre and "Six Bells Chime" with that clanging guitar, Simon Bonney's Jim Morrison-like vocals, is my favourite vocal song here, with that "you're seventeen" refrain. Nick Cave's two songs, the gothic eight minute "The Carny" is the track Marion plays on her record player in her trailer, a sharp contrast from the punk attack of "From Her To Eternity"
Of the final three songs, the one that really gets me is the haunting and morose piano and cello-backed "When I Go" by Israeli group Minimal Impact. "Pas Attendre" (Don't Wait) by Sprung aus der Walken features a slow rhythmic drum beat and guitar that has the post-punk gothic sound prevalent in Germany.
All in all, soundtrack that ably reflects the haunting, melancholia of the movie, although English translations to the Handke text and Marion's monologue, also written by Handke, would've helped.
Wings of Desire (Soundtrack) Overview
A little bit of everything can be found on this soundtrack toGerman director Wim Wenders's 1987 film: theme music, songs from the film, and even some dialogue. It's an eclectic mix, but it hangs together well, instantly evoking the moody, somber texture of Wenders's remarkable story of an angel's desire to once again become flesh and blood. Jürgen Knieper's solemn, meditative string compositions dominate the first half of the disc, interspersed with actor Bruno Ganz's reading of the Peter Handke poem "Lied Vom Kindsein (Song of Childhood)"; it's a dramatic effect that works here almost as well as it does onscreen over sweeping panoramas of a still-divided Berlin. And even if you haven't seen the film, several songs featured prominently in it make this soundtrack an essential listen--namely, Nick Cave's relentlessly spooky "The Carny" and Crime and the City Solution's brilliantly droopy "Six Bells Chime." Elsewhere, we get full-length versions of songs heard only (tantalizingly!) in the background in the film, including Tuxedomoon's
très européen "Some Guys" and Laurie Anderson's ethereal "Angel Fragments."
Wunderbar!--Steve Landau*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Mar 13, 2010 17:30:17
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