Cinema and live music together? That’s The Myrna Loy. Bring your whole family to this wonderful evening, pairing a silent Buster Keaton film with fun and inspiring live music.
We’ll screen the classic Buster Keaton movie, “The General,” while acclaimed cellist/composer and movie buff Gideon Freudman, of Cello-Bop fame, plays an original soundtrack to the film live from the stage.
Working with an electric cello and real-time electronic effects, Freudman creates elaborate sound textures, haunting melodies and driving rhythms that beautifully enhance and energize the imagery of silent films.
Gideon Freudmann’s music is a unique, improvisational blend of classical, blues, jazz, electronic, funk and folk. In his performances and recordings, Gideon uses an electric cello to riff imaginatively on musical conventions and traditions. At times atmospheric and often playful, his signature sound exists in its own unique dimension: nuanced, intricate and fun!
Gideon uses technology to create music that is passionate, complex, creative and compelling. He loops and layers his sounds with pedals and amplifiers, sculpting orchestras out of thin air. As Perfect Sound Forever describes Freudman: “There is sense of humor, a spirit of eclectic adventure, and a mastery of classic and jazz forms in these pieces. This fusion of talent & experiment makes for a peerless and unforgettable collection of gems.”
The General is a silent film, released in 1926, an action-adventure-comedy adapted from the 1889 memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. Though it was not popular at first, it is now often ranked among the greatest American films ever made.
In 1963, Keaton told his biographer, “I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made. Because I took an actual happening out of the… history books, and I told the story in detail too.”
Listen below to a fun (not film-related) original piece by Gideon Freudman:
