Pandora’s Box, Re-Scored, Live

Australian composer Jen Anderson wowed Australian audiences in 1993 with performances of her live score accompanying G.W. Pabst’s 1928 classic PANDORA’S BOX. During 2017 Jen and her string quartet are showcasing a revamped score to accompany a beautifully restored version the film. Restoration work was undertaken by Deutsches Kinemathek in Berlin. In this acclaimed German silent film, Lulu (Louise Brooks) is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön (Fritz Kortner), his musical producer son Alwa (Franz Lederer), circus performer Rodrigo Quast (Krafft-Raschig) and Lulu’s seedy old friend, Schigolch (Carl Goetz). When Lulu’s charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all. ‘Jen Anderson has composed a well-cued string score for the film that alternatively caresses and stalks the screen images as it glides from lush classical celebrations to almost Bernard Herrmann-like frenzy’ Greg Burchall – the Age, Melbourne. ‘Deliciously haunting and atmospheric, Anderson’s score combines musical elements from ’20s Germany with a powerful contemporary aesthetic’ Ed St John – Sunday Telegraph, Sydney.