Terrence Malick's 2011 film The Tree of Life will be screened in Dublin this summer accompanied live by the RTÉ National Symphony, which will perform the film's score using a 100-piece orchestra and choir.
The Tree of Life, director Malick's experimental drama starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn, polarized critics and won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Critical reception has since warmed to the film, with many now hailing it as one of the greatest movies ever made.
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (previously the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland) is collaborating with Wordless Music and Ireland's National Concert Hall for the screening. As noted in the National Concert Hall's announcement of the event, this orchestral showing elicited the need for a unique, silent print of the film:
"For this occasion, Wordless Music has partnered with Fox Searchlight Pictures to produce a new, music-less print of the film for the orchestra to perform alongside."
The theatrically-released version of The Tree of Life featured revered classics from Bach and Mozart alongside modern pieces like David Hykes' harmonically rich "Ascending and Descending" and Hanan Townshend's piano reverie, "Hymn 87: Welcome Happy Morning." Additionally, the film's trailers used compositions like Patrick Cassidy's "Funeral March" to great effect.
The Tree of Life: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album was composed by Alexandre Desplat and released in 2011, accompanying the movie. However, this soundtrack's material was, confusingly, used in only a few minutes of the film. According to a press release from Wordless Music, this screening will feature the score as presented in the finished film:
"In Dublin, a 100-piece orchestra and choir (led by conductor Ryan McAdams) will perform music by Bach, Couperin, Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms, Smetana, Mussorgsky, Mahler, Holst, Górecki, Tavener, Giya Kancheli, Barry Guy, and Zbigniew Preisner."
The screening is scheduled for Friday, June 3 at 8 p.m. at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Tickets are available from the National Concert Hall website: www.nch.ie/online.
We would love to hear from you. Let us know your favorite piece of music from The Tree of Life in the comments section below.
