Werner Herzog on his Collaboration with Musician Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh)

Excerpt from "Werner Herzog on Krautrock, Silence and Music in Film" (2017) at the Red Bull Music Academy, New York. In full length here: • Werner Herzog on Kraut...
Excerpts: 1) "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (Opening Scene / 1972) 2) + 3) "The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner" (1974)
Florian Fricke (1944-2001) was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music using the Moog synthesizer within the krautrock group Popol Vuh. His music and that of the band however soon evolved in a completely different direction, and he almost completely abandoned synthesizers in favor of the acoustic piano.
In 1967 he met German film director Werner Herzog and the two formed a lifelong friendship. Fricke played a role in his first movie "Lebenszeiche" (1968). Fricke was later responsible for the soundtracks of several of Herzog's movies, among them "Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht" (with Klaus Kinski and Bruno Ganz), "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and "Heart of Glass". Fricke also made a cameo appearance in Herzog's "Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle" (1974).

[@cjsvinyl]

This....is glorious. So many people that are still playing catch up to the Krautrock genre, as well as Werner Herzog just do not know yet. It is this that is art, and of music. I'm very proud of my extensive collection of Florian's work, including everything on LP. This genre will slowly continue to grow in its greatness, but it's up to us to help others to see. Lebe für immer Mann der Größe!

[@brianfergus839]

Fantastic interview. Thank you for posting!! I wish they’d talked a bit about Herz aus Glas and Nosferatu, two of my favorite soundtracks

[@mwmingram]

Thank you for uploading this. Such a treat!

[@Doviderus]

Great partnership. When going to see a new Herzog's film I always expected it would be imbued with the Florian Vuh's unique spacey astounding soundtrack.

[@from-Texas]

The path towards immortality is through Hell

[@harmonicres]

Wow incredible interview and my quintessential Popuh Vuh track from Aguirre. That vocal choir I am almost positive was a mellotron(this was after he gave up the Moog) but the way Fricke approached the instrument was much more deep and spiritual then anything the kosmiche scene ie Tangerine Dream ever could muster. Music like this is truly unique and is pure art rather than mass processed product.

[@miklosromaninvsky3436]

Moments which were the direct result of Fricke’s interfacing with not only the Moog synthesizer (in 1969, Fricke owned one of the very first Moog synthesizers in West Germany) but also the lesser known choir-organ. The choir-organ was a unique, handmade instrument capable of producing sounds similar to a mellotron recorded with substantial tape echo. The creator of this machine was an Austrian by the name of Herbert Prasch, owner of Bavaria Studios in Munich where his self-made keyboard instrument was stored. This machine, according to Amon Düül II guitarist John Weinzierl, was ‘comprised of four big boxes with tape recorders and four sets of keyboards’ and was initially used by American keyboardist Jimmy Jackson on Amon Düül II’s 1971 album, “Tanz Der Lemminge.” Jackson later continued his choir-organ contributions throughout Amon Düül II’s fifth album, “Wolf City,” as well as the one-off Amon Düül II project, Utopia. (The highlights included: “Surrounded By The Stars,” “Green-Bubble-Raincoated-Man,” “Jail-House Frog” and most noticeably of all -- both Amon Düül II’s and its offshoot Utopia’s respective versions of the terrifying “Deutsch Nepal.”) It was at this time of the “Wolf City” sessions that Florian Fricke lent his Moog synthesizer to Amon Düül II, which indirectly led to his discovery of the choir-organ through several hubs of associations: not only with Bavaria Studios (where Popol Vuh had recorded many of their albums since their inception) but Amon Düül II (who shared a common member with Popol Vuh in Daniel Fichelscher) as well as Herbert Prasch (who also worked as a sound engineer on films directed by Werner Herzog.) Regardless of the sequence of events, Fricke did discover the choir-organ, did recordings for Werner Herzog’s film and then... Magic did happen

[@brianfergus839]

@@miklosromaninvsky3436 Great info!

[@1656581]

Merci Miklos !!!

[@thomasweber9384]

This music is magic and glorious so much apart of my life in the 70's along with many other German artists and other European musicians...

[@sinusiridum551]

Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze,Ash Ra Tempel,Cosmic Jokers,Can,Amon Duul,Agitation Free,Faust,kraftwerk,Neu,and so on : magic forever ! also Terry Riley ( and Brian Eno for ambient music).

[@clangersspace2679]

Wow. Good to return to this. He had the right man to achieve what he wanted and then some.....strange, isn't it, that the Steiner music has never been released. Strange also, that Herzog omitted any mention of this most transcendental of musicians from his recent memoir.

[@liltick102]

Why Do I Still Sleep? Is Vuh’s best track