The Castile and León Symphony Orchestra (OSCyL) will perform the film’s soundtrack live, conducted by Christian Schumann, at the Miguel Delibes Cultural Centre
The Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (OSCyL) revives one of the jewels of silent cinema with the concert-screening of The Wind, Victor Sjöström’s masterpiece, which can be seen on October 31 at 7:30 PM in the Jesús López Cobos Symphony Hall at the Miguel Delibes Cultural Centre. The event, included in the Special Screenings section of the 70th edition of the festival, will present the 4K digital copy restored by New York’s MoMA of this 1928 classic. German maestro Christian Schumann will conduct the live performance of Carl Davis’s score.
Directed in 1928 by Swedish filmmaker Victor Sjöström, The Wind tells the story of Letty, an innocent young woman played by the legendary Lillian Gish, who leaves her native Virginia to move to the inhospitable West of Texas. There, the incessant and threatening wind becomes a metaphor for the hostility she encounters, both in her cousin’s jealous wife and in the men who stalk the vulnerable protagonist.
The film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has been meticulously restored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) with the support of the Lillian Gish Film Preservation Fund, allowing today’s audiences to enjoy this masterpiece in all its visual splendour.
Sand in the ears
The OSCyL will perform the score composed by Carl Davis in 1983 specifically for this film. According to conductor Timothy Brock, this work has a unique character: “Composed for string orchestra and percussion, it has a relentless and penetrating impact that only these instruments can convey. With an extensive list of varied percussion instruments, it gives you the tangible sensation of sand in your ears that is impossible to remove.”
The musical direction will be in the hands of German maestro Christian Schumann, who already conducted the concert-screening organised by SEMINCI together with the OSCyl in 2023, featuring Harold Lloyd’s The Little Brother. Schumann is an international reference in film music conducting, having collaborated on important projects at the Krakow Film Music Festival and recorded soundtracks for films and video games with prestigious ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Tickets, priced between €15 and €20, are available at the box office and on the Miguel Delibes Cultural Centre website.