NOVECENTO, aka 1900 (1976)
Bernardo Bertolucci's epic, running time 317 minutes, was originally planned as a six-part TV series. But the political content of the film made the director decide to show the movie on the big screen. In some countries the film was cut in two parts to show them separately.
Starring Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Burt Lancaster and Donald Sutherland in leading roles. It took Donald Sutherland years to dare watch the film because he played such a terrible fascist in the film. Ennio Morricone composed, orchestrated and conducted the beautiful music for this huge production. Although it is not mentioned anywhere on the soundtrack, the vocals in the score sound a lot like I CANTORI MODERNI DI ALESSANDRONI. In 1956 before his film music career, Ennio Morricone wrote 5 VARIAZIONI SU UN TEMA DI FRESCOBALDI (5 variations on a theme by Frescobaldi). The fifth theme is the basis for AUTUNNO - 1922 on the NOVECENTO soundtrack.
This soundtrack has everything you can hope for: drama, romance, suspense and action. There are various themes composed for this film. All of them are interesting to listen to. The popular romantic track ROMANZO turned up on almost every compilation album.
Ennio Morricone wrote music for 10 films that year. That is almost one every month. He has always been a very productive composer. NOVECENTO is one of his finest works. The themes play an incredibly magic atmosphere, bringing the audience to focus on the nobility of the land and its peasants. It is amazing how the music of Morricone focuses on the movie scenes here. A short score compared with the length of the movie! So far all editions of this OST have less than an hour of music. Hopefully one day the complete masterpiece score of this long film will be available.
SACCO E VANZETTI (1971)
A true dramatic story that gets the international press is often fit for a movie. SACCO AND VANZETTI is such a story. Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Gian Maria Volonté) and Nicola Sacco (Riccardo Cucciolla) are two Italian immigrants in America, both falsely accused of a robbery. The story of two anarchists who were charged and unfairly tried for murder when it was really for their political convictions. Giuliano Montaldo directed this political drama.
Previous films by Giuliano Montaldo were: AD OGNI COSTO (1967), GLI INTOCCABILI (1968) and GOTT MIT UNS (1969) all have music by Ennio Morricone. It became obvious that Morricone would work again with the director and he wrote for this film an unforgettable score. As solo instruments he used a bassoon, with that characteristic low and round tone, a little sad, an oboe and organ. The orchestration for this film is not always for large orchestra, but there is a special dramatic ambience. Electronic music that produces the sound effects of the shock of the electric chair here is very original and very suitable to accompany the scenes.
And then there's Joan Baez. Female American singer and lyricist of the two songs in the film. She was 30 years old at the time and already an internationally popular folk singer with a beautiful pure voice. During the end credits in the film, the song HERE'S TO YOU sung by Joan Baez is recorded with the vocal group I CANTORI MODERNI DI ALESSANDRONI. The other song is LA BALLATA DI SACCO E VANZETTI. Ennio Morricone wrote the music and orchestrations for both songs.
Track listing
NOVECENTO (DISC ONE)
Total Time: 50:21
1. Romanzo 4:05
2. Estate - 1908 5:01
3. Autunno - 1922 4:43
4. Regalo di nozze 2:45
5. Testamento 2:25
6. La polenta 1:07
7. Il primo sciopero 2:48
8. Padre e figlia 1:26
9. Tema di Ada 4:50
10. Apertura della caccia 5:44
11. Verdi è morto 2:30
12. I nuovi crociati 3:32
13. Il quarto stato 1:33
14. Inverno - 1935 2:45
15. Primavera - 1945 2:06
16. Olmo e Alfredo 2:18
SACCO E VANZETTI (DISC TWO)
Total Time: 40:11
1. Speranze di libertà 2:30
2. La ballata di Sacco e Vanzetti - I parte 5:03
3. Nel carcere 2:07
4. La ballata di Sacco e Vanzetti - II parte 5:23
5. Sacco e il figlio 1:52
6. Speranze di libertà (#2) 0:46
7. Nel carcere (#2) 2:39
8. La ballata di Sacco e Vanzetti - III parte 6:27
9. Libertà nella speranza 2:05
10. E dover morire 3:04
11. Sacco e il figlio (#2) 1:48
12. La sedia elettrica 2:01
13. Libertà nella speranza (#2) 1:18
14. Here's to you 3:10 |
