The Indiependent sits down with contemporary classical duo Rasa Daukus and Will Larsen, known as Tess Said So, to discuss their award-winning live musical score for the 1922 gothic horror classic Nosferatu. Reimagined in the unique format of a double concerto for piano, percussion, prepared electronics, and symphony orchestra, the complete film-length album includes 27 individual tracks synchronised to 27 chronological film cues.
The Indiependent: There are many silent films from the era where the score is missing, why did you pick Nosferatu? Was there a personal connection to the film, or did you just want to create music for something, and Nosferatu happened to be fitting?
Will: My brother had a poster of Nosferatu up on his bedroom wall when we were kids, and I was intrigued by its imagery. I had also seen David Bowie and Queen use excerpts of the movie in their video for Under Pressure. When we had the idea of writing music for a silent film, of course, Nosferatu was the first movie I suggested.
Did your usual musical style fit nicely into the cinematic world of Nosferatu, or did you have to adapt much?
Rasa: We were very happy to stick with our style. The initial process involved watching and rewatching scenes, and choosing a musical theme that we thought worked well as an expressive arc or undertone with the mood or narrative.
Will: Nosferatu lingers over its images, asking the audience to really soak in what they’re seeing. Where a modern horror movie would rely on much quicker edits, looking to surprise and shock its audience, Nosferatu instead relies on relentlessly building tension. A lot of the music we write is about the space between notes, so it felt like a good fit.
Nosferatu is obviously a silent horror film, so the horror couldn’t be created through the sounds of big spectacles. Instead it was atmospheric, and the musical score contributes to that greatly. How did you go about creating a ‘scary’ atmosphere to match the horror of the film?
Rasa: To be honest, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed working with big spectacles as much. With the film already being atmospheric, and the black and white cinematography playing a vital visual role, I preferred that the music provided a subtle, nuanced backdrop to the imagery, which I think adds to the suspense of the scariness rather than in-your-face shock and horror.
Will: One of my favourite scenes in the movie is when one of the characters chooses to commit suicide rather than be eaten by the vampire. A traditional score would mimic that character’s fear, but we chose to instead write about loss, and the tragedy of his fate. A film score should always reveal more than what is already on screen. If you can see a character is scared, it’s not that interesting if the music is also telling the audience to be scared. It’s not revealing anything more than what is already there. Music can add another layer of story to the mix by expressing what isn’t being said and/or shown to the audience. For instance, we play a child-like lullaby almost whenever Nosferatu is onscreen. You can see that characters around him are scared, but the lullaby makes it creepier when added to the visuals, because it’s giving you the vampire’s point of view instead of the victim’s.
Nosferatu is, of course, turning 100 years old this year. The film, and its original music, were created in completely different, almost unrecognisable times. Did you want to try and stick to a more traditional 1920s musical style, or were you excited to bring Nosferatu into the 21st century?
Rasa: What we wanted to stay true to more than anything else was our original live score—for piano, percussion, and electronics—which we performed at various festivals a few years ago. It was Will, who has a lot of orchestral experience, who drove the idea of reimagining the score as a double concerto for piano and percussion, with symphony orchestra and electronics. As we’d originally taken a contemporary approach, it was super important to keep the style modern. Instrumentally, there are a lot of extended techniques, as well as graphic notation, indeterminacy, and other non-traditional techniques. So yes, we were excited to bring Nosferatu into the 21st century!
Normally when a film score is created the musician(s) are working closely with the director to make sure that the score fits the director’s vision. Of course, F.W. Murnau is dead—did you find it liberating or difficult to not have anyone to answer to, as it were?
Rasa: Liberating. But also, at times nerve-wracking, because we were only getting each other’s feedback, so really had to trust our instincts.
Will: When working with a director, our priority is to compose in a way that fits their vision of their film. Almost inevitably at some point, the director will ask for changes or even a complete re-write of one or two music cues. And that’s ok, but it’s a good day when the director doesn’t ask for changes. We had a lot of good days working on Nosferatu!
Did you listen to previous musicians’ scores for Nosferatu and take inspiration from those, or did you want to take a totally new, fresh approach?
Rasa: I’d listened to parts of the original by Hans Erdmann for reference, but we really wanted a totally fresh approach. Out of curiosity, I’ve also since listened to snippets of other recent live scores, which have all taken a more improvisatory approach than our version, which is completely scored. It’s exciting that such an iconic piece of film history can have a new life—or lives!—in contemporary settings.
Did you feel any pressure writing music for a film as important, iconic, and beloved as Nosferatu?
Rasa: The pressure was really the task of orchestrating the film, rather than the fact that it was for Nosferatu. Writing for a full symphony orchestra is always a big undertaking, and 84 minutes of continuous music is massive! So it was highly stressful at times simply because the job was so huge. I’m indebted to Will for his patience, attention to detail, and orchestral expertise. He’s to credit for most of the orchestrating.
Will: I’ve always looked forward to collaborating with artists better than me. I perform better in the company of good musicians; it’s one of the reasons why playing live with Rasa is so much fun! Equally, composing music for a great film and/or a great director makes it easier to write. It’s much more difficult to write for a project I’m not right for, and inevitably I will compose something I’m less than happy with. So it’d be wrong to be intimidated by great artists, musicians, directors, or even an iconic film—they lift me and carry me to places I can’t even think of on my own. It’s the reason why I enjoy collaborating so much more than working solo.
I have loved your score for the film so far, do you think you will do more film scores?
Rasa: Thank you! Yes!
Will: We’re talking to a director now about doing the music for a feature that goes into production next year. As for other silent movies, the obvious one would be Metropolis, but I’m going to have a chat with Rasa about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It’s another favourite of mine.
The complete album, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror Reimagined by Tess Said So, will be released on 30 September 2022.
Words By Lewis Royle
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