After his first three releases, which have been featured by numerous radios, broadcasts, podcasts and YouTube channels worldwide, Berlin composer Rettward von Doernberg now releases his fourth single, a symphonic film score for the award-winning animated short film “Manic Moondays” by Martin Schiffter.
“Martin Schiffter and I have known each other for a very long time since our school days,” says von Doernberg. “Afterwards, we lost track of each other until when Martin sent me an e-mail from him asking if I would like to do the music for his animated film. Of course, I said I would!”
The story and characters of the film “Manic Moondays” have a lot of charm and heart and the film is minimalist and masterfully realized. After its release, the film was screened at festivals around the world and featured on television.
Von Doernberg outlines his approach. “For the sound palette, I chose a contemporary film orchestra sound and used leitmotifs. Leitmotifs means that individual characters are given a recognizable melody or perhaps just a short, succinct sequence of notes – namely, a motif. This technique was made well-known by the composer Richard Wagner.”
For the new release, von Doernberg mixed the music anew: “I took inspiration from the mix for the film,” explains von Doernberg. “This had less reverb than my music had originally. The balance between individual groups of instruments also differed. However, I couldn’t adopt everything one-to-one. A cinematic mix is still quite different from a soundtrack mix: a cinematic mix can have a lot more dynamics and bass. A soundtrack mix, in contrast, has to be denser and more balanced to still sound good on the kitchen radio and cell phone.”
A short version of the “Manic Moondays” film score is available as of July 4th, 2022 from online music stores and streaming services such as iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. For those interested, the full score can be found on the “Aboard the Caravel” website.
“Aboard The Caravel — Musical Voyages of Discovery”, named after the type of ship used by Christopher Columbus, is a website dedicated to Rettward von Doernberg’s music as well as to various topics concerning a creative life.
Rettward von Doernberg has many years of experience in writing, recording and performing music. His music has been featured on radio, TV, in movies and in video games. In addition, smaller as well as larger ensembles have played his music where he gained experience as a conductor.
He studied at the Musicians Institute and at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also had the opportunity to learn from acclaimed film composers and Academy Award winners such as James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer.
Rettward is also the creator of the free music recommendation service Ditto.Town. It is unique in that it continuously learns from its users and thus delivers ever better results.
