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The Passion of the Cold / Baroque

by Silence

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1.
Prologue 03:14
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2.
The True Nature of Happiness 04:14
lyrics
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Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont: THE TRUE NATURE OF HAPPINESS Man is happiest when sad What goals can the happy have? They might as well be dead Believe me, happiness can fill the bravest heart with dread Quick, you look content - a remedy must be found Lies do wonders, even in small amounts Come, I will cheer you up by bringing you down Your misery is all that counts It is nothing, the least I can do Anything for you Away with happiness, if you please All you need is war to help you find your peace A smile in itself is useless unless it brings others to their knees
3.
Baroque Variations: Equality 01:26
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4.
Concert for Guillotine and Tired History 05:00
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5.
Fêtes galantes 01:22
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6.
Butoh-Baroque 02:22
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7.
Sublime Symmetry of Letters 04:52
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8.
Halfway There, Mostly Nowhere 04:06
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Madame Marie de Tourvel: HALFWAY THERE, MOSTLY NOWHERE If I am you If I am every man Then this is one sad world If you are me If you are all I am Then this is one sad world We are hostages of character We are prisoners of habitudes We are refugees in no-man's land Halfway there Mostly nowhere If this is all All that we'll ever be Then this is one sad world If I am us If I'm humanity Then this is one sad world
9.
Theatre of Beasts 02:33
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10.
Baroque Variations: Brotherhood 03:22
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11.
Baroque Variations: Freedom 01:56
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12.
Dance of the Dead 03:20
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Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil: DANCE OF THE DEAD She separates heads from hearts Under her blade thoughts and feelings part Contempt is left intact Love becomes abstract Lies become a form of art She is Justice without the blindfold She is Virtue measured in gold She is the world Cold as ice Killing time Living of vice She's courage needed to be vile A promise broken with style At her feet, heartless heads dance the dance of the dead with an unrelenting smile She is Reason to deprave She is Freedom to enslave She is the world Cold as ice Killing time Living of vice
13.
Religion of Lust 04:24
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14.
Sounds Shameful, as if You Were in Love 03:25
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15.
Guillotine 04:22
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16.
The True Nature of Happiness - Reprise 03:59
lyrics
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Man is happiest when sad What goals can the happy have? They might as well be dead Believe me, happiness can fill the bravest heart with dread Quick, you look content - a remedy must be found Lies do wonders, even in small amounts Come, I will cheer you up by bringing you down Your misery is all that counts It is nothing, the least I can do Anything for you Away with happiness, if you please All you need is war to help you find your peace A smile in itself is useless unless it brings others to their knees
17.
Beyond My Control 04:14
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about

Silence have often flirted with classical music. Even a cursory glance reveals a multitude of classical elements strewn throughout their works. Many of the duet's live performances featured acoustic arrangements performed by classical ensembles. In 2006, Silence wrote a 7' piece for piano and string orchestra, Nippon, for Laibach's Volk album. However, it wasn't until 2007 that the duet was given the chance to write an exclusively orchestral work.

In April 2007, the duet was assigned to write the soundtrack for Barroco, Tomaž Pandur's adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' epistolary novel Les Liaisions Dangereuses and Heiner Müller's adaptation of the latter, Quartet. The massive production, produced by Teatro Fernán Gómez / Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid, provided the ideal opportunity for the implementation of an idea that was glimmering in Pandur's and Silence's minds since their first collaboration, the 2006 Tesla Electric Company: gracing a theatre play with an orchestral soundtrack.

Instead of opting for the obvious choice and writing Baroque-reminiscent pieces, Silence decided to emphasize the timelessness of malice - the play's subject - by superimposing different genres from different historic periods. A closer look at the score thus reveals a wide array of references. The latter - including Albinoni, Sarasate, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Khachaturian, Gorecki, Vangelis, Sakamoto and many others - trace an arch from early 18th century to the present and provide the soundtrack's unclassifiable, all but 'universal' sound. Three months of work were required to complete the score for the 34-piece string orchestra and soloists.

The recording sessions - headed by multiple Goya award winning sound engineer José Vinader - took place at the renowned Teatro Real in Madrid between July 16th and July 18th 2007. Conducted by José Antonio Montaño and performed by the Orquesta Escuela de la Sinfónica de Madrid, the soundtrack features three remarkable soloists: Margarita Sikoeva (violin), Dragos Balan (violoncello) and Riccardo Bini (piano).

The score includes three songs (The True Nature of Happiness, Halfway There, Mostly Nowhere and The Dance of the Dead), which were performed live during the play - in Spanish - by actor Asier Etxeandia. The songs featured on the album were recorded in English by Benko.

Benko also appears on The True Nature of Happiness - Reprise, an electronic adaptation of the aforementioned orchestral piece.

The soundtrack, "... a tantamount 'protagonist' of the play" according to Delo (Slovenia) and "beautiful" according to El Confidencial (Spain), is one of Silence's most ambitious and complex works to date.

credits

released September 1, 2008

Music, lyrics, arrangements, programming and production: Silence.
Conductor: José Antonio Montaño.
Assistant to Mr. Montaño: Juan Portilla Franco.
Performed by the Orquesta Escuela de la Sinfónica de Madrid.
Soloists: Dragos Balan (violoncello), Riccardo Bini (piano) and Margarita Sikoeva (violin).
Tracks 15, 16 and 17 recorded by Silence at Daily Girl, Ljubljana.
All remaining tracks recorded by José Vinader at the Teatro Real, Madrid.
Violin on track 15: Margarita Sikoeva.
Acoustic guitar on track 17: Igor Leonardi and Benko.
Mastered by Tom Meyer at Master & Servant, Hamburg.

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