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Posted: |
Mar 25, 2012 - 6:20 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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Compilation albums are never comprehensive enough to satisfy the completist because of the selective nature of the album's production (which films to include/exclude, plus the selection of a single cue to represent the whole of a film).
Nevertheless, due to lack of commercial viability for releasing complete editions of monaural sound recordings from vintage non-English cinema, this 3-disc set from Universal France surveying music from Nouvelle Vague films is likely to be the most satisfactory compilation we'll witness for material such as this. Indeed, some tracks within contain selections which are not available elsewhere.
So for cinema connoisseurs, here it is:
Rather than approach this volume with track-by-track descriptions, I'll submit a summary of its contents.
50 films are gathered within these 3 CDs, plus a couple of bonus tracks along with a few vocals sung by actresses such as Anouk Aimee, Anna Karina, Jeanne Moreau & others.
40% of this volume is music by Georges Delerue and Michel Legrand (11 selections of Delerue plus 9 by Legrand). However, Maurice Jarre is represented by only 2 tracks.
There's 4 selections apiece dedicated for composers Paul Misraki, Antoine Duhamel, & Pierre Jansen.
Only 1 sampling is collected for each of the following: Fiorenzo Carpi, Jean Constantin, Sacha Distel, Giovanni Fusco, Serge Gainsbourg, Bernard Herrmann, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Magne, Alain Romans, Francis Seyrig, Martial Solal.
One of the selections is by Miles Davis, while 4 others are samples from classical music: Bach, Diabelli, Mozart & Satie.
That's the role-call of who is present on these 3 CDs. Obviously, fans of Delerue and Legrand benefit the most from this set. I'm also very grateful for the inclusions of Duhamel and Jansen (2 composers who rarely get any recognition for their contributions to French cinema).
However, there are some inconsistencies regarding who is not represented here.
Some token films by directors Resnais, Franju, Melville, & Vadim are to be found within, but the bulk of their output is overlooked. For example, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR & L'ANNEE DERNIERE A MARIENBAD by Resnais are sampled, but MURIEL or LA GUERRE EST FINIE are nowhere to be found.
Roger Vadim's collaborations with Michel Magne or Paul MIsraki are absent, plus the scores by Jean Prodromides are nowhere present on these CDs.
Even some directors are completely passed over, like Rivette (!), Rappeneau, Jessua, & Clement.
Why are Rivette films such as PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT or LA RELIGIEUSE ignored? Are the collaborations between Alain Jessua and Jacques Loussier below the station of the Nouvelle Vague? Universal France's love of Michel Legrand apparently doesn't extend to Legrand's music for films by Rappeneau. Rene Clement had some of his films scored by Nino Rota, Claude Bolling, & Lalo Schifrin - where are these?
Will Serge Nigg's uncompromising music for LE COMBAT DANS L'ILE ever get recognition, let alone a soundtrack release?
It's apparent that there is some serious selectivity as to what constitutes Nouvelle Vague in contrast to commercial cinema. One can understand the omission of many of Brigit Bardot's movies as being too plebian in nature, by why does the Nouvelle Vague wash over every film score ever written by Georges Garvarentz?
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Can't think of a single French NEW WAVE score that impressed me.
go figger
brm
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Can't think of a single French NEW WAVE score that impressed me.
go figger
brm
are you one of those "freedom fries" guys? 
Not me, pal!
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*
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How about THE 400 BLOWS (Jean Constantin), BREATHLESS (Martial Solal), and most of the scores Delerue composed for that them ?
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How about THE 400 BLOWS (Jean Constantin), BREATHLESS (Martial Solal), and most of the scores Delerue composed for that them ?
Like i said, i love the films but i dont remember the music as being special.
I don;t think, as a rule, these directors put alot of thought into their scores.
Many seemed to just slap some jazz or Baroque music on as an afterthought.
COurse, i could be totally off-base on this
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Posted: |
Aug 3, 2015 - 1:31 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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How about THE 400 BLOWS (Jean Constantin), BREATHLESS (Martial Solal), and most of the scores Delerue composed for that them ?
Like i said, i love the films but i dont remember the music as being special.
I don;t think, as a rule, these directors put alot of thought into their scores.
Many seemed to just slap some jazz or Baroque music on as an afterthought.
COurse, i could be totally off-base on this
I would say the opposite was true -- the directors were HYPER-aware of the music, as they were all filmatic tools. After all, that was their project. The degree of narrative integration varied, though -- from the more typical approach in Truffaut's films to the outright experimentation in Godard's films (btw, I recently saw his GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE from this year, and it seemed like a return to form, somewhat, for the legendary director).
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