Search - Wings of Desire :: Wings of Desire (Soundtrack)

Celestial score and melancholy goth songs

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 12/15/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The soundtrack of Wim Wenders' hauntingly lyrical movie Wings Of Desire consists of the melodic and reflective instrumental score by Jurgen Knieper, highlighted by the sad cello, and on occasions, the harp, but things turn celestial once the angelic choir and sounds that come in, particularly in the opening title music, "Der Himmel Uber Berlin", (The Sky Over Berlin) which is one of the movie's alternate titles. "Die Kathedrale der Bucher" (The Cathedral of Books), is the score used in the library where the angels flock, standing by patrons, tuning into their thoughts. This number is more celestial, with the operatic feminine choir and soloist.""Der Sterbende auf der Brucke" (The Dying Man on the Bridge) features the melancholy cello used in the title track, as well as the harp. There is a scene in the movie where the angel Damiel joins his mind and words with the dying man, who is repeating what Damiel says and thinks as he dies. The violin and harp number "Potzdamerplatz" features the ancient poet Homer's vain quest to find the title place, which is presumably in the Soviet sector of Berlin that he can't get to.The sweeping angelic "Urstromtal" (The Glacial Valley) with its choir is one of the most dazzling of melodic numbers in the album.Six of the tracks are film dialogue, four of them being Bruno Ganz reciting Lied Vom Kindsein (Song of Childhood), taken from verses by Peter Handke. He does the first three verses, and each are roughly forty-seven seconds on average. The second one is the most profound; translated in German, it means "When the child was a child, it was the time for these questions: Why am I me, and why not you? Why am I here and not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Is life under the sun not just a dream? Is what I see and hear and smell not just an illusion of a world before the world? Given the facts of evil and people, does evil really exist? How can it be that I, who I am, didn't exist before I came to be, and that, someday, I, who I am, will no longer be who I am? "The other is a lengthy 5:45, titled "Marions Liebesklarung" (Marion's Declaration of Love) and it's Solveig Dommartin, who plays Marion the independent but lonely aspiring circus performer. And there's a brief "Final Word" by Curt Bois, who plays Homer the poet.The rest are songs and miscellaneous stuff, such as the "Zirkusmusic" (Circus Music) performed and composed by Laurent Petitgand, who plays the circus bandleader in the movie. Laurie Anderson's haunting "Angel Fragments" with electric piano-like keyboards, and her wordless vocals is the track played when the man on the bridge is about to commit suicide, and where the angel Cassiel fails to save him.The stoner-like post-punk goth of Crime and the City Solution's slow bizarre and "Six Bells Chime" with that clanging guitar, Simon Bonney's Jim Morrison-like vocals, is my favourite vocal song here, with that "you're seventeen" refrain. Nick Cave's two songs, the gothic eight minute "The Carny" is the track Marion plays on her record player in her trailer, a sharp contrast from the punk attack of "From Her To Eternity"
Of the final three songs, the one that really gets me is the haunting and morose piano and cello-backed "When I Go" by Israeli group Minimal Impact. "Pas Attendre" (Don't Wait) by Sprung aus der Walken features a slow rhythmic drum beat and guitar that has the post-punk gothic sound prevalent in Germany.All in all, soundtrack that ably reflects the haunting, melancholia of the movie, although English translations to the Handke text and Marion's monologue, also written by Handke, would've helped."

Der Himmel ueber Berlin

Eric V. Stone | Chicago, IL United States | 11/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I last saw this movie on the big screen in Dresden, Germany.
From the Siegessaeule to the Wall, the film shows a Berlin of the not-too-distant past, and the future. The soundtrack to this Wim Wenders film includes tracks by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, as well as Laurie Anderson and Crime & The City Solution.
The CD will make you want to look up and see if any angels are staring down at you..."

Music that triggers desire

yorgos dalman | Holland, Europe | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are many things that can be said about this poetic film and it's fantastic love story - good things I mean, this is one of those gems that is full of lyrical, arresting scenes, partly because of the imagery but in this case also thanks to a truly astonishing soundtrack. It's an almost perfect blend of original compost music (by Jürgen Knieper) and dazzeling pop songs.

The original music consists of a string orchestra with a choir of angelic voices. The pieces are mundain and heavenly at the same time, sad and melancholically, and at a whole: captivating.

Sometimes, when I listen to Mr. Kniepers music late at night, when the rain slams against my bedroom window, I have visions of flying high above over my own funeral, and for some reason, I am more filled with sense of releaf than sadness.

The songs are an excellent choise of what might be described as `alternative pop'. Nick Cave (who also performs in the movie with his band The Bad Seeds) has two classic tracks here, `The carny' and a specially for the movie updated version of `From her to eternity'. Next is Crime & The City Solution with the dreary but beautiful `Six Bells Chime'. Laurent Petitgand, Laura Anderson, Tuxedomoon, Sprung aus dem Wolken and Minimal Compact follow. Some of these names will ring a bell, others are to most of us scarcely known, but they certainly all have the same heartbeats and blood flow.

Unfortunately however, the album also has a frustratingly overlong monologue by actress Solveig Dommartin, which may very well work in the movie but not as a part of the album. The short poems called `Lied vom Kindsein' (`Songs from childhood'), spoken by angel Damiel (Bruno Ganz), are at best interesting lyrical intervals, depending on the mood you are in today.

I myself am in a good mood, and consider this album a treat for every one of us lost souls, who are in search for love and maybe even a little bit of heavenly bliss.

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