https://www.quartetrecords.com/product/les-deux-amis-e-la-chiamano-estate/ Wow!! 5 euros for this beauty (two beauties, actually). A small, intimate chamber-like score (about 9 performers) for the the headliner title, plus a gorgeous, rich, sensual, orchestral score (the LSO) to E La Chiamano Estate. Both are exquisite. They certainly don't write them like this anymore. Recommended (most highly).
In fact, for much of the score of E LA CHIAMANO ESTATE Sarde combined the long track "Le récit de la maison Templar" from UN TAXI MAUVE with the music from BIRGIT HAAS (above all the music from the first track "La femme dangereuse" on the Music Box disc). The result is quite intiriguing, but it is also the reason why you get almost no new themes. Interestingly, both UN TAXI MAUVE and BIRGIT HAAS had also been recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra - just as E LA CHIAMANO ESTATE. So some older players of the orchestra could well have had a déjá-vu experience when they got to play the E LA CHIAMANO score.
Thanks for the info, Stefan. I love many Sarde scores, but would never call myself a completist or authority on his music. I have read here, quite a few times, how he's virtually the French James Horner, due his penchant for borrowing from classical pieces and his own previous works.
I wouldn´t say that Sarde has or had a penchant for borrowing from classical pieces in the way Horner did it. This is a completely wrong prejudice which mainly comes from those few scores like THE BEAR or LORD OF THE FLIES which are known internationally (and for THE BEAR it had been director Jean-Jacques Annaud´s special wish that Sarde should adapt that Tchaikovsky piece!), but in general it is not really valid for most of his French scores he composed during the 70s and 80s. That he borrows from himself has instead become much more of a problem above all during the last 20 years or so. And as I said, the score for E LA CHIAMANO ESTATE is briilliantly done in itself, but it heavily leans on TAXI MAUVE and BIRGIT HAAS - so it is more or less a combination of these two scores. And above all BIRGIT HAAS already had that slight Herrmann/Hitchcock flavour particularly in Sarde´s handling of the string section.
Just a short addendum to my posting. Please understand that there is of course some sense in this nice dedication by Sarde on the last booklet page of the LES DEUX AMIS CD: “Musiques en hommage à Georges Lautner, Laurent Heynemann et Yves Boisset.”
- Yves Boisset was the director of UN TAXI MAUVE - Laurent Heynemann was the director of BIRGIT HAAS - Georges Lautner was the director of LES SEINS DE GLACE - one of the two main themes in LES DEUX AMIS - the melancholy one often played by the piano - is the one from the Alain Delon movie LES SEINS DE GLACE from 1974 (on the other hand, the second, more playful main theme in LES DEUX AMIS which you can hear for example in track 3 comes from PREMIERS DESIRS from 1983)
No, as far as I know he didn´t re-use his main theme from FORT SAGANNE. He also didn´t re-use his theme from LES CHOSES DE LA VIE as for him - he stated this in an interview several years ago - this was a "completed" theme which he would not re-use anymore.
I don't know a lot of Sarde's scores, but I have a mighty handful (including the Heyneman), and so much is available on Spotify et al. I've been getting to know more. So thanks for this shout out, and for Stefan's reminder of the connections to the Haas on the Heyneman album.
The most startling lift to me was when I realized the the main theme to Tess (my first Sarde) turned out to be mostly lifted from Brahm's third symphony. But listen to what he does, versus what Brahms did. That's recreation as much as appropriation.
I must say I didn't buy this CD. Not just because of the reused ideas but simply because the sound samples didn't convince me at the time of its release. Would you say it's that good? I can indeed change my mind...
It's probably not worth it if you don't like small ensemble chamber-like scores (the titled score) and have the original versions of the second score, but it's a steal at 5 euros in my opinion.
Laurent, I must say I enjoyed the CD very much when it was released a few years ago. Everything is composed in a musical style which otherwise you won´t hear anymore nowadays among current scores and for me personally it is a nostalgic journey back to the late 70s and early 80s when in my opinion Sarde was at the peak of his career. LES DEUX AMIS is a very delicate, subtle and melodic score which is an enchanting listening experience. It all depends on how you react to the various recyclings and if you dismiss them or can accept them. I like the themes from LES SEINS DE GLACE and PREMIERS DESIRS very much (you also get one cue from QUI CÉST CE GARCON? which is track 11 on the CD) and therefore I have no problems in listening to them in this new chamber music context (it is only a string sextet plus piano, harp and clarinet). I find for example track 4 particularly magical and alluring where the theme from SEINS DE GLACE is performed by piano whereas in the original it was performed by violin. So one of the charms of this score is that you also get new versions and variants of the already known themes. And for me this is such a beautiful theme which I can listen to again and again and don´t ever get tired of it. E LA CHIAMANO ESTATE is quite different and a more brooding and mysterious score with a deeply yearning quality. It is interesting to hear how Sarde tries to join the tracks from UN TAXI MAUVE and from BIRGIT HAAS - it is quite fascinating how the original motifs and themes now partly overlap and partly drift apart in this new context for a duration of about 25 minutes and it never gets boring. The instrumentation mostly for strings (without violins) is again superb and the music is strong and intense.
Thanks for the tip, guys and for the thorough description, Stefan. LES SEINS DE GLACE is indeed a favourite theme, such a sad and poignant tune. And I also like the fascinating atmosphere of IL FAUT TUER BIRGIT HAAS, so I should possibly get it and listen to it in its entirety. Thanks again for highlighting this release.
I got the CD in the meantime and am really enjoying it. Believe it or not, I borrowed it shortly after it was released and even stockpiled in my computer tracks 4, 7 and 12 since I like so much the theme from LES SEINS DE GLACE and had forgotten about it! Anyway, I like this CD very much, especially LES DEUX AMIS of which the main theme is really superb. By the way, can we say for sure that it is an original tune? Since I've embarked on a huge Sarde career anthology, your identifications are very helpful, Stefan. It's indeed sometimes very tricky to recognize where a tune was used first. As an example, when I played again the main theme from LUCIE AUBRAC in order to select one excerpt for my compilation, I knew at once I had heard it before. It took me a while to figure out that we are dealing with a completely new version of the superb Martiny dry from LA VALISE.
Anyway, I like this CD very much, especially LES DEUX AMIS of which the main theme is really superb. By the way, can we say for sure that it is an original tune?
Laurent, I suppose that you mean the playful and nostalgic theme which is heard for the first time on the CD in track 1 from minute 0:45 onwards where it is played by the piano. This main theme does of course come from PREMIERS DESIRS from 1983. And track 3 "Les baisers" then is almost identical with the penultimate track on side A of the PREMIERS DESIRS LP ("L´été, les jeunes filles"). Not that many people will notice this as after all these years PREMIERS DESIRS is still not available on CD.
Anyway, I like this CD very much, especially LES DEUX AMIS of which the main theme is really superb. By the way, can we say for sure that it is an original tune?
Laurent, I suppose that you mean the playful and nostalgic theme which is heard for the first time on the CD in track 1 from minute 0:45 onwards where it is played by the piano. This main theme does of course come from PREMIERS DESIRS from 1983. And track 3 "Les baisers" then is almost identical with the penultimate track on side A of the PREMIERS DESIRS LP ("L´été, les jeunes filles"). Not that many people will notice this as after all these years PREMIERS DESIRS is still not available on CD.
Yes Stefan, thanks a lot for your help, I mean this piano tune which is back in Le tournage and La course. Interesting to know that it stems also from PREMIERS DESIRS. I indeed don't have this LP. While selecting cues for my career survey, I decided to repeat a few ones that are really outstanding. I think for instance of the theme from CHERE INCONNUE reused in HAREM and COLETTE, each time in a different guise. It's so moving that I can put it twice or thrice.
And track 3 "Les baisers" then is almost identical with the penultimate track on side A of the PREMIERS DESIRS LP ("L´été, les jeunes filles"). Not that many people will notice this as after all these years PREMIERS DESIRS is still not available on CD.
Sorry, I made a small mistake and this is not quite correct as I have just checked it again. There are no track titles on the back cover of the LP (only on the LP itself) and so I confused them a bit. "Les parasols" on side B of the PREMIERS DESIRS LP is the actual track which I meant which is almost identical to "Les baisers". You can also listen to it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luURVpAKvbw&list=PLz8P6XHu4TN1QB-VASP9IFR-O2wMm4mT3&index=17
While selecting cues for my career survey, I decided to repeat a few ones that are really outstanding. I think for instance of the theme from CHERE INCONNUE reused in HAREM and COLETTE, each time in a different guise. It's so moving that I can put it twice or thrice.
Are you sure that the theme appears in different guises in COLETTE and HAREM? A few years ago I had compared COLETTE and HAREM and even came to the conclusion that in both cases it is even the same recording we got to hear in both CDs. However, on the HAREM CD you get about 10 minutes more music than on the COLETTE CD (track 8 "Hamman", track 11 "The Desert" as well as the Jimmy Sommerville song are only on the HAREM CD). You can hear some rustlings of the instruments and some background noise at the exact same spots of the tracks on the COLETTE and on the HAREM CD. By the way, the track "Trahison" on the COLETTE CD corresponds with the track "New York" on the HAREM CD, but only the first 30 seconds with street noises and muezzin chant have been removed.
Are you sure that the theme appears in different guises in COLETTE and HAREM? A few years ago I had compared COLETTE and HAREM and even came to the conclusion that in both cases it is even the same recording we got to hear in both CDs. However, on the HAREM CD you get about 10 minutes more music than on the COLETTE CD (track 8 "Hamman", track 11 "The Desert" as well as the Jimmy Sommerville song are only on the HAREM CD). You can hear some rustlings of the instruments and some background noise at the exact same spots of the tracks on the COLETTE and on the HAREM CD. By the way, the track "Trahison" on the COLETTE CD corresponds with the track "New York" on the HAREM CD, but only the first 30 seconds with street noises and muezzin chant have been removed.
I'm not at home and can't check it right now but had the feeling that the magical "Tu souriras peut-être" from COLETTE wasn't available in the very same version in HAREM but I may be wrong of course. I put this track in my top 5 from Sarde. The intense Jimmy Sommerville song is also a real treat and I will pick it to represent HAREM. There are a couple of scores I don't have yet at my disposal. Would you say that RODIN recycled old material as well?
