It's a misconception that silent movie music was the stuff of thirdrate music hall, or the musicians were anything less than top-drawer. Neil Brand has scored films, TV documentaries and radio dramas, and, as one of the world's most renowned silent film accompanists, has shared the stage with Paul Merton on the latter's Silent Clowns tour.
Performing to clips of Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and Douglas Fairbanks, this is part amicable career lampoon, part introduction to the quick-witted craft. To illustrate the challenge of predicting how a drama will unfold, Brand asks the audience to help direct a score to the 1929 German film People On Sunday. Unluckily for Brand, we couldn't decide whether a woman has just been murdered or made love to - just the sort of radical differences of interpretation he then must grapple with when improvising to a William S Hart Western, sight unseen.
A richly diverting hour of entertainment - Brand should break his silence more often.
Until Mon, Pleasance Dome, 5.30pm, £7 to £9.50.
Neil Brand: The Silent Pianist Speaks
Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Festival
