To resist conventional genre expectations, the musical DNA of the exhibition soundtrack could be extracted from Requiems and related sacred works by canonical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Prokofiev.
A Requiem—traditionally part of the Roman Catholic funeral mass—is not designed to explain death, but to structure an encounter with it.
Like a liturgical mass:
- The audience gathers
- The ritual unfolds
- Violence is neither justified nor explained
- No absolution is granted
- Everyone departs altered, but not cleansed
This framework offers a powerful parallel for the exhibition experience.
Musically, the soundtrack could draw inspiration from contemporary re-contextualizations of classical material by artists such as Max Richter, Hans Zimmer, Gustavo Dudamel, and Uri Caine—figures who reinterpret historical forms without neutralizing their gravity.
Additionally, composers including Nils Frahm, Alva Noto, and Ryuichi Sakamoto provide a compelling reference point. Even when not directly reworking Mozart or Beethoven, their work inhabits the same ecosystem: classical formal thinking translated through contemporary, electronic, and minimalist execution.
The result would be a soundtrack that functions less as accompaniment and more as ritual space—an atmosphere that does not comfort, explain, or resolve, but quietly insists on attention.
The soundtrack could comprise contemporary reworks of the following pieces:
- Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement
- Chopin: Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op.9, No.2
- Mozart: Requiem K626 Lacrimosa
- German Advent Song: Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
- Vivaldi: RV608 Cum Dederit
- Erik Satie: Gnossienne: No.1
- 13th Gregorian Chant: Dies Irae
- Bach: Air on a G-String
- Schubert: Erlkönig
These reinterpretations can be arranged and produced across varying degrees of dynamic range and structural complexity, from sparse ambient (use in exhibition) treatments to dense, cinematic statements (use in trailers etc.) , while preserving the timeless quality of the original works and the recognizability of their melodies and motifs.