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Posted: |
Aug 10, 2022 - 9:25 AM
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By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
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This is an absolutely beautiful score by Pino Donaggio, for the 2-part Italian TV drama, re-telling the tragic 1949 plane crash of the Italian football team Turin, on their way home from Portugal, after a friendly game (and 4 games away from - potentially - completing another title-winning season).
https://it-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Tragedia_di_Superga?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Scored in that classic Morricone* style and tradition, complete with Edda-styled wordless vocals in some cues.
It's just lovely stuff from the other Italian Master.
There are 4 'source/dance style' cues (4, 8, 11, 19) which can easily be skipped or programmed out, if you don't want to break the flow of the dramatic scoring.
It's available on an Italian CD (Sette Ottavi/Rai Trade) which runs 53 minutes and is just exquisite, with nary a stalk or slash in ear-shot.
Any other fans out there?
*I wonder if Morricone would have passed on scoring this anyway, being a loyal Roma fan. Those football passions run deep.
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re-telling the tragic 1949 plane crash of the Italian football team Turin
I never really looked into it, but from the cover I always assumed it was a CHARIOTS OF FIRE-esque foot-race type film.
But yeah, it's a great score. Since I could never find it for under 20 quid I held off buying it for a long time but I think it was a discussion on here a few years ago that got me to finally take the plunge.
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Posted: |
Aug 18, 2022 - 11:13 PM
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By: |
RonBurbella
(Member)
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Well, the CD arrived perfectly. I gave it a first listen while I ate a late breakfast, just to "dip my toe in the musical water," so to speak and get the general layout of the score. I was inspired, so forgive the lost post. The CD has 26 cues and runs 53:48.
In doing this, I knowingly broke Soundtrack Listeners' Rule Number One: SEE THE FILM FIRST!!
Hearing the score without seeing the film first gives you only a partial exposure to the art of the score, but leaves out the art of the film and it's visual and emotional impact. TOGETHER, they form a unified work of art.
Of course, I have done this many, many times in the past, especially when a new Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams score appeared in the stores on Tuesday, and we weren't going to see the film till the weekend. It's a minor forgivable sin.
When she was alive, my wife would wonder why I picked some film for us to see in the theater....that is, until the credit "Music Composed by..." came up. Then she would whisper in my ear "So THAT'S why you picked this one!" Another variation of this remark would come up during an argument (in answer to a question): "Why don't you go and ask John Williams!" She thought, as an Obstetrician?Gynecologist, I wanted to see IT'S ALIVE for the horrific opening Delivery Room scene...until the "Music Composed by Bernard Herrmann" came up. I only got a "look" in the dark that time. 
I gave the CD a second listen when I sat down to pay a pile of bills and could just stop and concentrate and replay appealing cues.
I found that the strings and piano cues that open the CD were nostalgic/romantic in flavor. And I'm a sucker for strings! Throw in a concertina here and there for ethnic flavor and you've won me over. I had to put the bills aside for another time and do some internet research on the subject of film while I listened to the score.
I was somewhat stunned to learn that the tragedy of the plane crash that killed the entire Italian unbeatable championship soccer team happened just about two weeks before I was born! The film was a Telefilm. So a score for an Italian Telefilm would have a much lesser audience. So we're lucky to have this CD. The film is told in deeply sentimental retrospect, from the point of view of the one soccer team member who had to miss that trip because of a family emergency. All his other teammates died. How very sad. The cues that reflect these emotions are so affecting. There are also contemporary-sounding cues that I suppose underscored the teammates having good camaraderie and fun. These lighter cues are appropriately sprinkled in between the deeper cues to give the listener a break from the heavier emotional cues. I liked that sorting of the cues. I don't know if they followed the film order or were arranged that way for a better album presentation. At the end, the wordless female solo vocal kind of stirred a Morricone-like impression, but was entirely appropriate for the sadness of the tragedy ("La Tragedia"). The solo female vocalist appears to be not credited in the CD booklet. I wonder if one watches the film credits that she is mentioned there. I mean, I'm not expecting it to be Susanna Rigacchi, but I'm just curious.
You can get a little taste of this cue on YouTube in the later half:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu9UDln1l9E
If I was not now retired, I would love to add a good portion of this music to my "office mix" that played in my waiting room. I had a 400-CD carousel that rotated through excerpts from my favorite scores, and would every so often be asked "What is that music...it's beautiful!"
Pick up a copy of IL GRANDE TORINO while they're still around!
Beautiful recommendation, Kev and Gob! I enjoyed it a lot! Even shed a tear during "La Tragedia."
Ron Burbella
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