| Beat Records has released a compilation of three scores composed by the under-appreciated Alessandro Alessandroni. Best known for his vital contributions to most of Ennio MorriconeÕs most lauded works (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West), AlessandroniÕs own composing talents have been curiously passed over, regulated to a supporting whistle, twangy guitar, or leading his I Cantori Moderni singing group to enhance the soundtracks by others. BeatÕs collection of music for Suor Omicidi, Lo Strangolatore di Vienna, and Lady Frankenstein goes far in claiming some much-deserved praise for AlessandroniÕs compositions.
Suor Omicidi (The Killer Nun, 1978) begins with a demented chorus of voices intoning Latin phrases and proceeds to move through several more strangely syncopated and fiercely orchestrated tracks culminating in a languidly wholesome pop song.
The score for Lo Strangolatore di Vienna (The Mad Butcher, 1971) doesnÕt take itself so seriously, offering a vaudevillian, Kurt Weil-like approach using piano, harpsichord, and saxophone to invoke an unsettling cabaret of dread.
Lady Frankenstein (1971) is perhaps the most orthodox score of the bunch. Haunting and ominous, its swelling whorls of sound are punctuated with delicately moving passages. Here, AlessandroniÕs use of woodwinds and strings elevates the music past the usual expectations of an Italian horror soundtrack into a realm of beauty and dissonance.
Though not groovy in the usual Roma sense, BeatÕs collection of three of AlessandroniÕs scores should appeal to those who favor rhythms straight from the heart of darkness.
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