Dmitri Shostakovich's Lyric Waltz from Ballet Suite No. 1 in a special music video in which famous images by René Magritte are brought to life by the musicians:inside of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductor Cristian Măcelaru - "Dreamwalker: Shostakovich - Ballet Suite No. 1".

What do the painter René Magritte and the composer Dmitri Shostakovich have in common? At first glance, little. Both lived at about the same time, but they come from completely different cultural areas and never met. If one compares their respective artistic approaches, however, surprising similarities can be found. While the Belgian painter, politically oriented to the left, finds his expression of freedom in surreal pictorial worlds, for the Russian composer it lies in the wild diversity of musical styles. This was an incomparably more existential situation for Shostakovich, as he was exposed to constant censorship by the Stalin regime. The new video of the music video series "Traumwandler" with the WDR Sinfonieorchester brings both artists together and focuses on the playful-parodistic moment inherent in Magritte's paintings and the music from Shostakovich's ballet suite. The orchestral musicians themselves become a pictorial element, musically bringing the visual environment to life.

The members of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Cristian Măcelaru were filmed for a week in front of the green screen. Individual picture elements were animated, partly recreated in 3D, and inserted into René Magritte's world of images as if in a puzzle. Digital technology became an integral artistic component as it set music and images in a unique dialogue.


WDR Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor

WDR Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Producer: Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Editing: Sebastian König, Magdalena Wolf
Director: Alexandra Kravtsova
Camera: Frank Hlawitschka
Graphics/Animation: Bernd Tolksdorf
Sound engineer/recording: Stephan Hahn

Works by René Magritte © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022

Produced at the WDR Studios Bocklemünd and the Kölner Philharmonie.