You are listening to THE CONVERSATION, the Peeping Archivist’s podcast where film archivists talk to film archivists.
For our first interview series, we wanted to put words on an art too often, and unjustifiably, considered mute: silent cinema. This is the Sound of Silence, the first season of The Conversation.
Our fifth interviewee is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. He can play not one, not two, but sometimes more than three instruments over the course of a single performance. This true orchestra man, you will have recognised him, is no other than Stephen Horne.
Stephen started accompanying silent films when he was at university, and has not stopped since. Besides being a house pianist at London’s BFI southbank for 30+ years, he also regularly performs at silent and restored film festivals around the world.
Stephen has also composed the scores for a wide diversity of DVDs: Irvin Willat’s war drama Behind the Door, the British masterpiece Cottage on Dartmoor and the Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Sports, Tales from the Shipyard collection. One of his most remarkable achievements remains his work on the reconstruction of the soundtrack for The Battle of the Ancre and Advance of the Tanks and The Battle of the Somme for the Imperial War Museum.
We met Stephen in 2018 at the Cinema Lumiere during Il Cinema Ritrovato for a passionate conversation on the state of the profession. For an hour, Stephen discussed his search for authenticity, the challenges with difficult material and the importance of recontextualisation, and why he would not perform Birth of a Nation. But most of all, he explained his view on transmitting and preserving the particular experience that is silent film accompaniment.
Photo credit: Pamela Gentila
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