Volker Bartleman – sound searcher – synthesisers – modern sounds – German techno – relatable – universal – relevant – recurring motif – shocking – alert – new – the fresh – second version of the film – a combination of classical and modern
Volker Bertleman identifies himself as a ‘sound searcher’. His scoring for the new 2022 version of ‘All Quiet on The Western Front’ shows his ability to represent modern-day themes in a soundtrack focused on past events. It is often difficult to create updated versions of classics. However, Netflix’s version of the movie proved to be highly successful with an artistic approach to representing the vulgar truth.
Despite this film showing historical events from the WW1 German frontline, this modern remake cleverly shows this with an even more fresh style than before. Volker Bertleman uses a combined mixture between synthesisers and classical scoring to weave together the combined themes of the modern day and the historical past. The clever connection between old-school musical techniques and current electrical sound scoring highlights how dated stories still live on through modern themes today.
His unique and attention-grabbing sounds through electronic noise are a symbolic reacquiring motif throughout. They quickly alert the listener taking them out of the comfort zone of a classical moving score. The sounds are abrupt and unexpected which cleverly narrate danger and destruction are approaching. The suddenness from the electric synthesised noise reflects the abruption constantly shown throughout the film through explosions on the battlefield. Every time this same sound is played death is shown on screen; highlighting how common it was and still is in high-conflict wars.
Despite his incorporating modern-day electronic sounds which are factually incorrect to the times in which are presented. This makes the score relevant and responsive to modern-day listeners/viewers. War is a constant theme still in today’s society and Volker Bertleman’s modern scoring techniques highlight this. The use of contemporary sound effects reflects a connection to modern-day society making the themes on screen admissible and more believable.