Customer Reviews

Wings Of Desire

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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...

The music doesn't sound as outre as it did when the film was released in 1987, but the variety of music contained in this disc makes it perfect travelling or party music, if you are having an intellectual sort of a party. Many of these pieces have an ennui about them that in retrospect presages the end of the Communist era and the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the city that is the main subject of the film from which this music is taken.

Although I have seen the movie several times, I am at a loss to recall the scenes in which some of the incidental music occurs. This is surprising, because the music is so strong (Laurie Anderson and Nick Cave, among other artists). I take this as just a mark of how well integrated the music is into the film. This CD stands by itself as worthwhile if you have not seen the movie and do not intend to.

I enjoy listening to this CD very much. It is a powerful piece of music which stands on its own independent of the film. The first 13 tracks are incidental music written by Jurgen Knieper (sorry, no umlot on this keyboard) to accompany Bruno Ganz' superb reading of Lied Vom Kinsein written by Peter Handke. Knieper's music evokes feelings of emptiness as a result of loss. It is a shame that the cellist is not given the credit this performance deserves. The elongated phrases leave a great big hole in my heart. Handke's poem asks probing questions which are simple and childlike, "Why am I me?", "Why I am I here and not there?". Yet, these go unanswered as these questions defy answers. Although Rainier Maria Rilke (1875-1926) did not write these words, his poem "Childhood" posits this longing from a different perspective.

"It would be good to give much thought, before

you try to find words for something so lost,

for those long childhood afternoons you knew

that vanished so completely -and why? "

The introduction of Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld updates the longing and despair in the CARNEY. Nick Cave's reading of the sad story of a circus horse named "Sorrow" is powerful. Existential isolation and the hopelessness of our own existence seems coupled with the dead horse who will not be kept down even in death. Lauie Anderson's beautiful Angel Fragments fits well in this collection. SIX BELLS CHIME performed by Crime and the City, along with FROM HER TO ETERNITY, another Cave/Bargeld masterpiece, both contribute the modern sense of isolation developed by Knieper's earlier music. The guitar is the force which fixates your attention on the neurotic, unrequited search for meaning in SIX BELLS. FROM HER TO ETERNITY stands as one of the most desparate love songs. If you enjoy music which evokes strong feelings of longing, this CD will be interesting to you.

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.

Nice disc, with a slow and peaceful romantic start (Lied vom Kindsein), with sometimes spoken extracts from the film. I find it a bit too slow sometimes, though (which is why I gave 4 and not 5 stars).
My best part is the second part of the disc, starting with The Carny from Nick Cave, with a mysterious atmosphere (Cavelike, I will say). I then simply love track 15 (Zirkusmusik), it's absolutely fabulous, reminds me a bit of the Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain for those who know this movie (soundtrack). Angel Fragments (No16) is really angel-like, kind of flying music. Then tracks 17 to 19 are again full of mystery, in the Nick Cave style. Pas Attendre (No20) is nice, with good guitars, soft and groovy, a bit tortured. The disc ends with a nice piano slow. Hope this helps you, it's a good buy !

Looked everywhere for this little gem and finally found it @ amazon. Seller gave great customer service. Wonderful to listen to. very calming music.

The soundtrack to Wim Wenders' film "Wings of Desire" is a collection of beautiful orchestral music composed by Jurgen Knieper (I think), pieces from various artists framed (Crime and the City Solution, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) or underscored (Tuxedomoon, Sprungt aus dem Wolken) in the film, as well as some of the wonderful narratives. The soundtrack is a great CD, even if you did not like the movie.

Some of the music on this album is truly astonishing, and some of it is sort of nebulous. This album I'd recommend strongly as a jumping-off-point: there's a lot of artists on it that one might find enjoyment in if one likes Nick Cave's work (Bad Seeds or Birthday Party).
But gawd, listening to Bruno Ganz nattering on "wien das kinde kinde wahr..." gets a bit old.

Some of the music on this album is truly astonishing, and some of it is sort of nebulous. This album I'd recommend strongly as a jumping-off-point: there's a lot of artists on it that one might find enjoyment in if one likes Nick Cave's work (Bad Seeds or Birthday Party).
But gawd, listening to Bruno Ganz nattering on "wien das kinde kinde wahr..." gets a bit old.