MovieScore Media’s latest documentary release is a wonderfully melodic, classical chamber score composed by Leon Gurvitch (Noah Land). Written and directed Jordi Garcia Rodriguez, Non-Citizens deals with the topic of migration, focusing on the people who are caught in the the "Purgatory" where hundreds of immigrants from Central Africa are fighting for survival. Their waiting room is not comfortable: dark nights are spent in collapsing, abandoned factories, meals are shared in crumbling caverns. The documentary contrasts the needs of people in Africa with the abstract, philosophical concerns of a European woman in Berlin in a curious mix ofr eality and fiction. Non-Citizens had a great success with its world premiere at Toronto Black Film Festival 2021 and its score is expected to be performed in live concerts as well.
“As an immigrant myself, I was really fascinated by the plot of the film,” shares composer Leon Gurvitch. “20 years ago I came as an immigrant to Germany leaving behind my past in Belarus, so I had first hand experience about what it feels like to be a stranger and start your life from a scratch on the new ground. As always my “modus operandi” is an old-school composing on paper, so I began to improvise and experiment sound fusion effects in order to express drama accompanying the life of the refugees. I wanted to use African percussion and mix it with modern classical music. As a result I composed 6 tracks with percussion sound elements. I was very happy to work together on this recording with my good friend and valuable colleague – an outstanding cellist Vytautas Sondeckis who enriched this soundtrack with his contribution.”
Born in Belarus, composer Leon Gurvitch has been a resident of Hamburg, Germany since 2001. Coming from a classical musical background, he is working as an assistant professor at the Johannes Brahms Conservatory and has authored more than 300 compositions and arrangements. Some of his most important achievements involve scoring Menahem Golan’s 2001 film Death Game, conducting the premiere of Philip Glass’s opera “Les Enfants Terribles” in Hamburg, winning an international composition prize “Golden Chanukkia” in 2006 in Berlin and making his debut at Carnegie Hall as a pianist and composer in 2017. Gurvitch’s works are published by Boosey & Hawkes; his score to Noah Land was released by MovieScore Media.
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Jeremy [Six Strings]