Search - Konrad Elfers :: Funeral in Berlin

Konrad Elfers' "Funeral" ... is a winner!

John Dziadecki | Louisville, CO USA | 08/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So, you may ask, who is Konrad Elfers? Well, I don't know. Apparently, he is/was a West German composer who prior to this film had scored a German thriller "Vier Schlüssel" and then after this film scored the German tv series "Pippi Långstrump". What he's done before or after I don't know. But I can say he knows how to write music and does it very well indeed in this second installment of the original "Harry Palmer" triology.



Elfers turned out to be a good choice for this film. He created a score that compliments the film very well. The music ranges from dark and mysterious to light and breezy. He creates tension with piano and strings and cuts through it with bouncy jazz riffs. Since Amazon does not post sound clips for this title, I must point out that there is a "Harry Palmer" website where you can get a couple Real Audio files to a taste of this very fine score. I'm happy to have it in my collection.



"Funeral in Berlin" was released on RCA Living Stereo CD ... in Spain. The audio quality is excellent. Why this and other RCA Living Stereo CDs are not released in this country remains a mystery. (Mancini's "Hatari!" is available on RCA Living Stereo CD ... in Spain.)



This score was preceded by John Barry's superb score for "The Ipcress File" and was followed by Richard Rodney Bennett's fine score for "The Billion Dollar Brain". "The Ipcress File" was available only in Japan untill Silva rereleased it on CD with dialog clips interspersed. "The Billion Dollar Brain" never received a CD release domestically. It is/was available on a single disc CD in the UK along with "The Ipcress File"."