The title initially raises a few questions: For which films did Conrad Schnitzler write music? Do we know any of them? Additional research is not necessary in this case, however, since »Filmmusik 1« contains a selection of recordings from two tapes from the electronic musician’s archive, who died in 2011, labelled »Filmmusik«. The tapes from 1975 and 1980 lack any reference to their possible use as a soundtrack, and the pieces have no titles that would indicate any corresponding (short) films. The vast majority of the material dates from 1980 and follows Schnitzler’s approach of combining various individual tracks recorded on cassette. He frequently uses a kind of static groove as a basis, over which he arranges the remaining effects. This is often beautifully crisply reduced, something Schnitzler was very good at, but here and there the results could also be described as daddling over a solid foundation. Basically, the following applies: the more laconic, the better. In contrast, Schnitzler could perhaps have better gone without one or the other freewheeling melody – in the classic style of the Berlin School.
Filmmusik 1
