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Fritz Lang's 1927 German expressionist sci-fi epic, Metropolis is heralded as a pioneering work of the genre, and was among the first feature-length films of science fiction. A masterpiece of early cinema, Metropolis is a breathtaking showcase of Bauhaus, Cubist and Futurist design.
Quite tragically, a commercial soundtrack of the original score was for most of the century unavailable to the public. Save for a considerably abbreviated rock-and-roll reinterpretation by Music producer Giorgio Moroder, featuring Freddie Mercury, Loverboy and Adam Ant in 1984, no original soundtrack was produced.

However, a breakthrough came in 2008, after a damaged print of Lang's original cut of the film surfaced in the archives of the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires. The resulting restored edition premiered in Berlin and Frankfurt simultaneously on 12 February 2010 for The Berlin International Film Festival, and ARTE presented a live broadcast.



This restored edition featured the original score composed by Gottfried Huppertz, conducted by Frank Strobel and performed by The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

(Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin). An album of the performance was issued only on compact disc, and exclusively in Austria on the Capriccio label, #C5066 in June of 2011. This 2010 reconstructed version was created to sync with the 35mm restored edition, 3945.5m = 144:12 at 24 fps.



All of the album credits and liner notes are in German, and Amazon user James Wyatt offered corrections and a translation of the disc's printed tracklisting. He notes that there are two track name errors on this album -

Track 19 'Fredersen und falsche Maria' is mistitled as Track 20 'Freder im Wahn' and Track 20 'Freder im Wahn' is mistitled as Track 21 'In Rotwang's Salon"

To correct these errors -

Rename Track 19 as 'Metropolis: II. Zwischenspiel: Fredersen und falsche Maria'

And rename Track 20 as 'Metropolis: II. Zwischenspiel: Freder im Wahn'

Wyatt kindly offers an English translation for the tracklist:

01. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Metropolis Theme
02. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Machinery
03. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Stadium
04. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Eternal Garden
05. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Maria with Children
06. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Machine Shop - Moloch
07. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Office Fredersen
08. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Narrow - Drive
09. Metropolis: I. Prelude: In the House of Rotwang
10. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Man Machine
11. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Rotwang and Fredersen
12. Metropolis: I. Prelude: In the Catacombs
13. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Tower of Babel
14. Metropolis: I. Prelude: Freder and Maria
15. Metropolis: I. Prelude: The Pursuit
16. Metropolis: II. Interlude: The Cathedral
17. Metropolis: II. Interlude: In the Laboratory - Transformation
18. Metropolis: II. Interlude: Freder and Rotwang
19. Metropolis: II. Interlude: Freder and false Maria
20. Metropolis: II. Interlude: Freder in Delusion
21. Metropolis: II. Interlude: In Rotwang's Salon
22. Metropolis: II. Interlude: The Dance
23. Metropolis: II. Interlude: The Death
24. Metropolis: III. Furioso: Freder and Josaphat
25. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Revolt of the Workers
26. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Heart machine
27. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Flooding
28. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Escape
29. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Dance of the Workers
30. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Pyre
31. Metropolis: III. Furioso: On the Roof of the Cathedral
32. Metropolis: III. Furioso: The Reconciliation

This recording is essential for any collector of silent-era scores, sci-fi memorabilia, or for any lover of epic and dramatic orchestral works. Finally, Fritz Lang fans have a proper score of his greatest work available for their music libraries.

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