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If you can find them, try THE WITCHES(from Digitmovies) and SARTANA - two of his best in my opinion.
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Posted: |
Jan 7, 2012 - 10:08 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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Glad you're diggin' our suggestions;
we'll keep in mind not to suggest any further out-of-print rarities.
Are you willing, Ken G, to sample the multi-faceted dramatic scoring of Piccioni besides his jazzy music?
If so, then I hope you don't mind my further ramblings about Piccioni (since he's my favorite Italian composer).
Piccioni's late 1950s scores (from what little there is available on disc) sound customary for the era, not unlike "Golden Age" Hollywood. If one likes the soundtracks of Hugo Friedhofer, for example, then early Piccioni may not disappoint. People crossing-over from Jazz and Soul might consider an early Piccioni score (such as 1957's LA DONNA CHE VENNE DEL MARE) too old school for them.
1960 was the first "peak" year for Piccioni, in my opinion, and this phase of blending big band jazz/cocktail lounge instrumentals & songs with orchestral underscoring (typically melancholy in character) continued through 1963 or so:
IL BELL'ANTONIO (1960)
Bittersweet themes, evocative of humiliation just as much as provincial gossip. If ones likes the music of Alex North, one should give this disc a try.
L'IMPREVISTO (1961)
Henry Mancini-type jazzy source music for half; the other half suspense dissonance, at times resembling Leonard Rosenman
HANDS OVER THE CITY (1963), plus others
A new release and very important, too. Piccioni's collaborations with director Francesco Rosi spanned decades (similar to A. Sordi), and yield a significant body of soundtracks. With this album, we get early experimental Piccioni. Lots of darkly hued sustained chords and even electronics from 3 films.
From about the time Piccioni scored CONTEMPT/LES MEPRIS/IL DISPREZZO for Jean-Luc Godard (who favored the Georges Delerue version), Piccioni's music took on lighter tones and more pop-flavored directions throughout the remainder of the 1960s, with much use of organ.
Nevertheless, Piccioni continued to write dramatic scores concurrent with his blossoming presence in the lounge music area. Piccioni gave us an early Euro-Western with MINNESOTA CLAY by '65, the fanciful MORE THAN A MIRACLE in '67, a year which brings forth another favorite Piccioni of mine:
LO STRANIERO (1967)
Introspective, reflective & minimalistic musical sounds, which pulsate hypnotically, offer the listener a sense of solitude quite rare as far as music albums go.
Piccioni began to receive more diverse assignments.
Adult erotica with CAMILLE 2000.
Eastern mysticism & ethnic Indian instruments merged with pop sensibilities in 1970's CIAO GULLIVER:
A heady potpourri of love themes, giallo dissonances, party music sources, classical adagios, plus beguiling vocals sung by Shawn Robinson await you in 1971's LA VOLPE DALLA CODA DI VELLUTO:
This is one I think you'd like, Ken G, if for only the ladies' vocals (which are bewitching)!
Indeed, you could select any Piccioni soundtrack title from 1971 blindfolded and emerge with a satisfying winner.
The year 1971 is another peak for Piccioni, and many of my personal favorites come from this year (like THE LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD and THE DESERTER) ...
The 1972 adaptation of THE MONK is the closest to horror music on disc by Piccioni:
Piccioni was right there at the start of the mid-'70s nunsploitation sub-genre with his 1973 STORY OF A CLOISTERED NUN:
There's Russian classics adapted for Italian TV:
A 1974 police thriller:
...and Piccioni rounded off the decade in Renaissance mode with Sordi's 1979 version of Moliere(!) IL MALATO IMMAGINARIO:
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and thats a list without Wayoutwest's recommendations yet....
be ready for a bucket load of titles!
Masterful organ work (as you will hear in such masterpieces as Puppet on a chain, as Mortenbond recommends above).
Wayoutwest once described Piccioni's western scores as the "gentle westerns". Quite accurate.
I agree with Tonerow, The Deserter is great and still available
Also try these other westerns
Il Gustiziere Di Rio (nice whistling and gentle guitar!)
In Nome Del Padre, Del Figlio, e Della Colt (In the name of the father, son and the colt) (nice gentle trumpet)
Minnesota Clay (as per Tonerow's recommendation above)
Io Non perduno Uccido (wonderful oomba brass and trumpet, but gentle!)
Una Colt in Mano Al Diavolo (nice bass and gentle guitar)
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Posted: |
Jan 7, 2012 - 11:55 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Last year I picked up these two:
"Fumo di Londra" (1997 2 CD set Avanz Records, Japan)
"Playgirl '70" (2010 Verita Note, Japan)
and today I bought:
"Ti ho sposato per allegria" (2010 Verita Note, Japan)
I've been collecting works by Maestro Piccioni for a number of years and now have 29 scores (albeit some are only 3 or 4 tracks) by him; notwithstanding approx. twice as much by John Williams and more than four times as much by Jerry Goldsmith I now find I much prefer the works of this brilliant Italian composer.
My exposure to his films is very limited so I can't say that I think his scoring was first class ... but the music he produced is usually very welcoming and pleasing. Not everything works ... I'm not so taken with his Western scores (though Minnesota Clay does have a superb theme ... the track Tumble Weed is brilliant!)
I'm only guessing the sounds of the three albums you have (I'm envious ... each is usally too pricey for me, even when you can find them) but his lounge style is best shown (in my collection) in scores such as Adua e le Compagne, Le Bell'Antonio, L' Imprevisto, Peccato Mortale (No encontré rosas para mi madre) and Appassionata, the first being an absolute favourite of mine.
In a different style, but very highly recommended is Le Monache di Sant'Arcangelo.
Mitch
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Posted: |
Jan 7, 2012 - 12:47 PM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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I've just thought that a better question might be: "Which ones by Piero should I avoid?" Ha!
Indeed!
And that's a much tougher question, too.
Hhmmm ... there's a number of Piero's albums I've purchased solely because his name was on them and I may have listened to them once or twice, and they now sit on a shelf.
As I implied above, these are from Alberto Sordi comedies which, even though they seem to have been very popular in Italy, don't appeal to me personally.
But just because I tend to avoid them doesn't mean they won't yield pleasure to others.
Tell you what, though, there is one CD to avoid more so due to how Piero's music was treated.
I'm referring to GDM/Legend's CD of THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, which is reallly a Carlo Savina album.
Piero wrote music for L'UOMO CHE RIDE which was rejected.
This music is culled together in a 12-minute suite on the last track of the CD, and it sounds poorly preserved.
It is so densely orchestrated that, in suite format, it sounds a mess.
It might have been a better listen if sequenced differently, or maybe the music just simply wasn't on target conceptually.
Also, I'm disappointed with Piccioni's TEMPEST from 1958. It sounds older than '58, but, more to the point, it doesn't sound like the Piero we've come to know and love.
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