Instrumentation
2(I=picc.II=afl+picc).1.ca.2(II=Ebcl+bcl).asax(ssax).1.cbsn - 2.2.1.btrbn.0 - perc(3): 2 glsp/xyl/vib/mar/3SD/TD/2 tgl/3 tpl.bl/tamb/2 whip/2 siz.cym/5 susp.cym/guiro/BD+cym/cyms/2 flexatone/2 vibraslap/waterphone/ BD/hi-hat/coke.cym/2 ch.cym/bell tree/bunch of keys/2finger.cyms/spring coil/4 tam-t/3 gong/3 bells/4 timp/4 tom-t/crot/2 rototoms/mark tree/anvil/cabassa/3 vlcbow - pno(2)=(cel+harmonium) - accordian - vln.db
Availability
Full score and parts for hire
Programme Notes
Starring: Gibson Gowland, Jean Hersholt, Zasu Pitts
Director: Erich von Stroheim
Production Company: MGM USA, 1924
Film Print: 35mm B&W print available from Photoplay Productions (Film Speed: 16-20 frames per second) Recorded for Video
Although Greed was not a financial success in its day, it is regarded now as one of the greatest American films. Greed tells the story of a giant misfit from the Californian gold fields who, after an apprenticeship to a quack dentist, sets up a practice in San Francisco. By wooing an innocent woman away from his best friend, he creates a vicious love-triangle that destroys them all, culminating in a final struggle set in Death Valley. Carl Davis uses very unusual orchestral combinations to capture the expressionist style of the film. There are interludes of spit-and-sawdust piano, parodies of German band music and starkly bleak passages that explore the darker sides of human emotion.