Cellist and composer Lori Goldston’s live film scores draw on years of wide ranging musical experiences and preoccupations, including work with Nirvana, David Byrne, Earth, Ellen Fullman, Mirah, Laura Veirs, the Wedding Present and Cat Power, and with traditional Japanese, Turkish, Brazilian, Chinese and experimental orchestras and chamber groups. Her sound is full, subtle and meticulously rendered, moving easily across a wild spectrum of of influences, including psychedelia, folk and early music.
She has performed her live scores at the Kennedy Center, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Chicago Humanities Festival, Portland’s TBA Festival, On the Boards, the Northwest Film Forum, New York’s River to River Festival, Bumbershoot, the Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, WNYC’s New Sounds Live, Olympia Film Festival, Experience Music Project, Contemporary Arts Center in Troy, NY, Minneapolis’s Cedar Cultural Center and Joe’s Pub in NYC.
“Lori Goldston’s affection for the film allowed her to become its full collaborator; her music constituted a kind of physical enactment of listening. She began in silence—absorbing the moment and the film—and then her sound emerged, shifting and responding to what she took in.”
Matthew Stadler, Artforum
“Lori Goldston’s accompaniment to the film offered a rare, light touch and restraint that breathes just under the frame…never competing for attention or complicating the vision of the filmmaker.”
James Bond, Full Aperture Systems, Inc., Chicago
Renée Falconetti as Joan of Arc.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
France, 1928
90 minutes; 16mm or DVD
Original score composed and performed by composer/cellist Lori Goldston.
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When performing her dream-like cello score to accompany Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent film masterpiece, “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” Lori Goldston has been praised for keeping it a truly live experience — even for her. Drawing from medieval secular and liturgical music, free improvisation and electronics, the score was originally commissioned by Emily Charles of the Fine Arts Theater in Berkeley in July of 1998.
“The grammar of editing has changed over the years so sometimes it’s hard for people to watch silent films,” she says. Studying the film and the filmmaker, she uses music to translate the movie’s original intent, helping people appreciate mood, pace and timing.
Lori felt privileged when her accompaniment to “The Passion of Joan of Arc” debuted with an introductory talk by Marie Falconetti, daughter of Renée, whose performance as Joan has been described as one of the finest ever recorded on film. In addition to accompanying the film at such venues as Time-Based Art Festival and Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon, the Olympia Film Festival and for the Pike Street Cinema and Shining Moment Films in Seattle, Lori collaborated with producer Tucker Martine to record it.
This program is available in 16 mm or DVD.
Other scores available for performance:
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Directed by F.W.Murnau
USA, 1927
94 minutes
Original solo cello score to be premiered by cellist/composer Lori Goldston at the Northwest Film Forum Winter 2010.
Passing Fancy
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Japan, 1933
100 minutes
Original score by Lori Goldston. Performed by Lori Goldston, cello; Phil Gelb, shakuhachi (bamboo flute); Greg Campbell, drum set and percussion.
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Ghosts Before Breakfast and The Seashell and the Clergyman
"Ghosts" directed by Hans Richter
Germany, 1928
"Seashell" directed by Germaine Dulac
France, 1928
55 minutes; 16 mm
Two surreal classics, plus a short subject early trick film, "Down in the Deep". Original score composed and performed by composer/cellist Lori Goldston.
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