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Ernst Reijseger: Requiem for a Dying Planet
ByHerzog's two films truly skirt the outer reaches of thought in a most fascinating way. The Wild Blue Yonder is a documentary told from the perspective of a Roswell alien (played by Brad Dourif of One Flew Over the Nest). The White Diamond is about the engineer Dr. Graham Dorrington, who takes a trip to the giant Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, where he hopes to fly his helium-filled invention above the treetops. The results of this wish prove dangerous and deadly, yet Dorrington undertakes it. The cinematography for both films is stunning and required music of the same caliber.
Enter Ernst Reijseger, who recruited Senegalese singer Mola Sylla and the Sardinian group Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei to mash up East and West influences in a most ambitious and very successful assimilation of genera. The collision of traditional mass settings with the humid Mediterranean voices of the island of Sardinia is beautiful in Reijseger's arrangement. Reijseger's setting for Handel's "Dank sei dir Gott is stunning, fitting perfectly the W&W subtext of the AudioFilm. The composer's cello adds an additional voice to the mix: well-composed, performed, and integrated into the musical surroundings of the film music.
Requiem for a Dying Planet is hypnotic in its beauty and stunning in its scope. Ernst Reijseger meets Herzog as an equal on the creative field, and together they produce a super-composition. This moody music is perfect as a film soundtrack. It stimulates consideration and transcends the art of music into another realm.
Track Listing
Intro Dank Sei Dir Gott; Dank Sei Dir Gott; Longing For A Frozen Sky; a Una Rosa; Libera Me, Domine; In Search Of A Hospitable Place; Sanctus; Bad News From Outer Space; Su Bolu
Personnel
Ernst Reijseger
celloErnst Reijseger: cello, voice; Mola Sylla: vocals, mbira, xalam; Voches de Sardinna: Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei: Patrizio Mura, Gianluca Frau, Mario Siotto, Piero Pala, Massimo Roych.
Album information
Title: Requiem For A Dying Planet | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Winter & Winter