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 Posted:   May 22, 2025 - 3:59 AM   
 By:   Amer Zahid   (Member)



Quartet Records, in collaboration with GDM and EMI General Music Publishing, presents an expanded and remastered edition of Armando Trovajoli’s infectious score for the Ettore Scola film noir IL COMMISSARIO PEPE (1969), starring Ugo Tognazzi and Silvia Dionisio. The film is about Pepe (Tognazzi), a police commissioner in a little town in the Italian Venetian province who investigates a prostitution ring run by two pensioners. During his investigations he also learns that a former manicurist has shacked up with ten students, the prefect’s daughter prostitutes herself to keep her pimp, a famous doctor has sex with his young patients, a headmaster has his eyes on the pupils, a noblewoman organizes orgies in her villa, the local convent is run by a lesbian and his own girlfriend poses for a hardcore magazine. He wants everything to come out in the open, but his superior put obstacles in his way.

The collaboration between Armando Trovajoli and Ettore Scola has been one of the most celebrated in Italian cinema during their four decades together, producing classics such as L’ARCIDIAVOLO, BRUTTI SPORCHI E CATTIVI, DRAMMA DELLA GELOSIA, LA TERRAZZA, LA FAMIGLIA and PASSION D’AMORE, among others. For Scola, Trovajoli’s music was the voice of his films, the single element that really completed them. In IL COMMISSARIO PEPE, he contributed one of his most celebrated scores, with the famous song “We’ll Keep Trying,” performed by Lydia McDonald, as well as several urban and bittersweet themes to showcase the world of moral decay depicted in the film. The recording also featured other prestigious collaborators such as I Marc 4, Edda Dell’Orso, and Alessandro Alessandroni, making this score even more iconic.

A selection of 10 cues from IL COMMISSARIO PEPE was released on LP in Italy by RCA at the time of the film’s premiere. The same program was released on CD in the 1990s as part of a compilation dedicated to Ugo Tognazzi by Point Records. An extended 18-track version was released in Japan in 2006 in a limited edition. This is the first time the complete score has been released. Produced by Claudio Fuiano, restored and mastered by Chris Malone, the booklet includes a detailed essay by Miguel Ángel Ordóñez on the film, the score and the relationship between Trovajoli and Scola.

Tracklist:

The Original Album

1. Theme 3:37
2. Beat for a nun 2:06
3. A lonely man 3:34
4. We’ll keep trying (Vocal: Lydia McDonald) 2:57
5. Masquerade 3:39
6. Love is a woman 2:32
7. Surrender 2:45
8. Waltz theme 1:48
9. Love theme 2:24
10. Final 2:59

Film Versions

11. Theme (# 2) 3:44
12. We’ll keep trying (Instrumental) 3:36
13. Theme (# 3) 1:16
14. Il commissario Pepe (Jazz lounge) 3:57
15. Theme (# 4) 1:26
16. Il commissario Pepe (Shake) 1:17
17. Surrender (# 2) 2:42
18. Theme (# 5) 2:40
19. Beat for a nun (#2) 1:01
20. Walz theme (#2 – fast) 0:39
21. Theme (# 6) 1:47
22. Surrender (#3) 1:46
23. Theme (#7 – organ) 1:08
24. Final (#2 – alternate) 2:13

Total Disc Time: 58:25

https://quartetrecords.com/product/il-commissario-pepe/

 
 
 Posted:   May 22, 2025 - 5:00 AM   
 By:   slint   (Member)

Thanks. So about 6 extra tracks, but I will have to compare the editions.

 
 
 Posted:   May 22, 2025 - 6:08 AM   
 By:   Dorian   (Member)

Thanks. So about 6 extra tracks, but I will have to compare the editions.

I have the Japanese Argus cardboard edition with lots of bonus tracks. It's a great score, one of my favorites from Trovajoli.

 
 
 Posted:   May 22, 2025 - 6:09 AM   
 By:   Dorian   (Member)

(double post, sorry)

 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 6:56 AM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

Can never have enough Trov

 
 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 11:24 AM   
 By:   Laurent78   (Member)

Just played the samples and it's an instant purchase for me. Thanks to various compilations, I was familiar with a couple of excellent tracks such as Masquerade but the whole score seems to be very worth it. I also enjoyed the excerpts from KILL ! From Berto Pisano, I only have one CD so far : LA NOVIZIA. But this one will no doubt be more exciting.

 
 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 11:28 AM   
 By:   slint   (Member)

I also enjoyed the excerpts from KILL ! From Berto Pisano, I only have one CD so far : LA NOVIZIA. But this one will no doubt be more exciting.

You should try Sissignore, Interrabang and La svergognata, some of my favourite scores ever! In the style of Morricone/Nicolai, but with a special infectious touch. La Novizia is certainly a lesser effort.

 
 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 11:44 AM   
 By:   Laurent78   (Member)

Thanks for advising these scores, Slint. I'll try to see if they're available on YouTube in order to make up my mind. Back to Trovajoli, IL COMMISSARIO PEPE is the 5th CD by this composer to be released by Quartet. And I assume it won't be the last...

 
 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 1:31 PM   
 By:   David Anthony   (Member)

I think La Novizia is superb definitely not a lesser effort from Pisano. Anyway great Trovajoli score.

 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 1:54 PM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

Thanks for advising these scores, Slint. I'll try to see if they're available on YouTube in order to make up my mind. Back to Trovajoli, IL COMMISSARIO PEPE is the 5th CD by this composer to be released by Quartet. And I assume it won't be the last...

Yeah slint's advice is good - they are a great trio and I think from memory the whole scores are on youtube, laurent.

Yeah keep the Trovs coming.

 
 
 Posted:   May 23, 2025 - 2:33 PM   
 By:   slint   (Member)

I think La Novizia is superb definitely not a lesser effort from Pisano.

Maybe I need to reconsider. In my notes I wrote that it is similar to La svergognata but with a smaller scope. I guess if it had been released first, and not 20 years after La svergognata, I might have viewed it differently.

 
 
 Posted:   Jun 12, 2025 - 1:13 PM   
 By:   Prince Damian   (Member)

Groovy baby!

This came n the other day in my bundle of quartet goodies. And what a delight. I haven't bought a Trov in ages. I don't think there's a single bum track. I even like the song( think of words like haunting, melancholy, autumnal).

 
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