Alhambra Records is proud to present on this CD the world premiere release in stereo of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino’s complete original score for the 1961 Arabian Nights fantasy movie THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (Italian title: LE MERAVIGLIE DI ALADINO) which gives further proof of the enormous versatilty of the Italian composer. The movie is a delightful spectacle which takes some liberties with the famous 1001 Arabian Nights tale about the boy Aladdin and doesn’t take itself too seriously so that it is often more a slapstick comedy than an exciting adventure movie. It was co-directed by Henry Levin – who acted as a supervisor – and by Mario Bava whose typical visual style shines through in scene after scene. US actor and dancer Donald O’Connor, who had starred in several major musical films during the 1950s, was cast as Aladdin and he lends an irrepressible energy and a youthful charm to the character, whereas among the supporting cast we find such famous names as Terence Hill (here still under his real name Mario Girotti) who plays Prince Moluk, Michèle Mercier (as his beloved Princess Zaina) and Vittorio De Sica (as the genie). In 1961 Lavagnino was one of the busiest film composers in Italy with a prodigious output of more than a dozen scores for a variety of genres. Despite this frenetic activity and the short time span he was given for the completion of each score, his melodic inspiration and inventiveness almost never ceased. A case in point is THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN which even today sounds as fresh and infectious as ever. One of the strong points of Lavagnino’s style has always been his special flair for exotic music, for exciting rhythms and for splashes of local colour which is just what was needed for this kind of picture. The title sequence immediately sets the mood and atmosphere for a colourful fairy-tale fantasy with its enchanting and charming oriental dance which resembles a kind of playful ballet and in fact describes the mechanical movements of a dancing doll. Equally attractive is the festive exotic march which Lavagnino has composed for the procession sequence at the beginning of the movie. Often it is also the task of the burlesque music to keep the picture in motion and to even speed up the tempo of the visuals. One of the highlights of the score is of course the luxuriant love theme for Princess Zaina which has all the typical imprints of Lavagnino’s romantic style and is scored for sensual high strings with harp accompaniment. Besides those thematic ideas the score also offers an almost nostalgic accordion melody as a witty musical contrast to the man-killing Amazon huntresses, mysterious flute, harp and vibraphone music for the magician’s experiments in the subterranean caves and robust dramatic music for the action scenes. We hope that many fans of the composer and of classic Italian film music will enjoy this spirited fantasy score with its quite peculiar exotic and magic flair.
This exciting CD project – the ninth CD in our Lavagnino series - has only been possible thanks to the generous support of the three daughters of the composer - Bianca, Iudica and Alessandra Lavagnino -, who still had open reel tape copies of the original master tapes in their personal archive which we were allowed to use. Our CD edition which contains a 12-page booklet with extensive liner notes and numerous colour stills from the movie as well as a rare original letter by Miklós Rózsa (in which he expresses his admiration for Lavagnino) will be limited to 400 copies and can now be pre-ordered at SAE: http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/32329/THE-WONDERS-OF-ALADDIN-LE-MERAVIGLIE-DI-ALADINO-400-EDITION/
The CD will be available here in Germany in about 8-10 days.
Track listing:
01. - Main Title 2:17 02. - The Procession 1:27 03. - The Marketplace 1:18 04. - Aladdin on the Run 5:41 05. - The Genie 1:13 06. - Djalma‘s Dance 1:13 07. - The Caravan - The Grand Vizier of Basora 1:04 08. - The Deadly Mechanical Doll 0:31 09. - The Caravan Sets Off - On the Way to Basora 2:04 10. - Princess Zaina (Longer Version) 2:06 11. - Attack on the Caravan 5:27 12. - Mirage 1:31 13. - The Amazons 1:47 14. - The Genie is Summoned Again 1:29 15. - The Genie and the Amazon 0:59 16. - The Grand Vizier - The Magician 1:14 17. - Prison Break and Recapture 3:33 18. - The Dancing Doll 1:02 19. - Secret Way to the Palace 1:08 20. - The Skeleton - The Cows - The Prisoners Escape 1:16 21. - The Babies are Switched - Rescue of the King‘s Newborn Baby 1:07 22. - Princess Zaina Enters 0:44 23. - Aladdin‘s Dance 2:06 24. - Wedding Gift from the Beggars 0:47 25. - Palace Fight 1:18 26.- The Grand Vizier’ s Horsemen 1:22 27. - Aladdin’ s Duel with the Grand Vizier 2:46 28. - The Flying Carpet – Finale (Film Version) 1:08 BONUS TRACKS 29. - The Marketplace (Longer Version) 1:32 30. - Princess Zaina (Film Version) 1:23 31. - Finale (Longer Version) 1:21 32. - Attack on the Caravan (US Version) 5:31 33. - Mirage (US Version) 1:00 34. - Prison Break (US Version) 2:06 35. - Fanfare #1 0:14 36. - Fanfare #2 0:05
Orchestra Cinefonica Italiana Conducted by Carlo Savina (Tracks 1-31, 35-36) and Mario Ammonini (Tracks 32-34)
You can listen to various sound samples of the CD in this Youtube video we have put together:
Youtube videos with excerpts from our previous Lavagnino releases are also available here:
Cool! Another Bava film score comes to light. Plus another notch in my Lavagnino collection. This light Lavagnino so do not expect CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT or THE NAKED MAJA but has him in an unexpected fantasy mode. I saw this as a kid and was mostly confused. But as an adult I found it was witty, had the usual cornucopia of Bava visual designs, a nice bevy of hot ladies and Donald O'Connor even gets to revive a moment from "Make 'em Laugh" from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. I have long ago gotten used to that "dubbed" hollow sound of dialogue from all those Italian westerns. Speaking of which there is Terence Hill as the prince.
Just got my copy this afternoon after pre-ordering it from SAE back in November. Alhambra has done a fine job on the sound quality, graphics, and on the informative booklet. 65 minutes of bright, colorful, exotic magic carpet music-about 53m from the original release, and 12m minutes of alternate cues. With a run of only 300 copies, it might sell out fairly quickly. How many more Sword & Sandal/Fantasy scores are still out there waiting to be un earthed? Either never released on vinyl, unreleased on Cd, or unexpanded on CD?
THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN is a CD I have played many times in the last week. The film may not have had much of an impact on its initial release, but this is one grand score. If only music elements for THE SAVAGE INNOCENTS could be found. Stefan has said many times that nothing exists on THE SAVAGE INNOCENTS.
One of the most enjoyable Lavagnino scores I've purchased in a long time, and that's really saying something because so many of them have been extraordinary. This is a classic adventure score with everything one loves from a Lavagnino creation. Absolutely you do not want to miss this one. Everyone involved deserves major kudos!
How many more Sword & Sandal/Fantasy scores are still out there waiting to be un earthed?
Very few or almost none on LP only or not expanded. A very large number (70+) of unreleased peplums from different composers, most of them probably lost. It depends what you mean by Fantasy. There were of course almost no science-fiction movies before 1975. There were, however, plenty of adventure movies (Medieval, Pirates, etc) where the music usually not unlike that of peplums.
So just for A. F. Lavagnino, I've made the list below. A large number seems to be on DVD (I don't own them - so in a few cases that might just be some rip sold on DVDr), offering a preview of what may be lost.
Peplum 1960 Messalina Venere imperatrice [DVD: yes] 1960 La rivolta degli schiavi [DVD: yes] 1961 Il colosso di Rodi [DVD: yes] 1961 Ursus e la ragazza tartara [DVD: yes] 1961 Orazi e Curiazi [DVD: yes] 1962 Ulisse contro Ercole [DVD: yes] 1962 Il vecchio testamento [DVD: yes] 1962 Il tiranno di Siracusa [DVD: yes] 1963 Sansone contro i pirati [DVD: yes] 1963 Ercole sfida Sansone [DVD: yes] 1963 I dieci gladiatori 1963 Zorro contro Maciste [DVD: yes] 1963 Golia e il cavaliere mascherato [DVD: yes] 1964 Sansone contro il corsaro nero [DVD: yes] 1964 Ercole contro Roma [DVD: yes] 1964 Ercole contro i tiranni di Babilonia [DVD: yes] 1965 Golia alla conquista di Bagdad
Adventure 1953 Africa sotto i mari 1955 Tam tam mayumbe [DVD: yes] 1955 Il falco d'oro 1956 Orlando e i Paladini di Francia 1961 I fratelli Corsi [DVD: yes] 1961 L'ammutinamento 1962 Marco Polo [DVD: yes] 1962 La leggenda di Fra Diavolo 1963 L'invincibile cavaliere mascherato [DVD: yes] 1963 Il mistero del tempio indiano 1964 Il sole scotta a Cipro 1964 Il ponte dei sospiri [DVD: yes] 1965 I predoni del Sahara 1965 Il mistero dell'isola maledetta 1965 L'uomo di Toledo 1965 Una raffica di piombo 1966 Zorro il ribelle 1967 Gungala la vergine della giungla 1967 Per un pugno di eroi 1968 Il figlio di Aquila Nera 1968 Rose rosse per Angelica 1969 Zorro marchese di Navarra 1969 Tarzana, sesso selvaggio [1970 Il Corsaro: stock music only] 1970 Le tigri di Mompracem [DVD: yes] 1971 Zorro alla corte d'Inghilterra [DVD: yes]
Western 1952 Il bandolero stanco [DVD: yes] 1964 Sansone e il tesoro degli Incas [DVD: yes] 1965 Sette ore di fuoco [DVD: yes] 1965 Solo contro tutti 1965 Viva Gringo [DVD: yes] 1965 Ocaso de un pistolero [DVD: yes] 1965 L'uomo che viene da Canyon City [DVD: yes] 1965 Gli uomini dal passo pesante [DVD: yes] 1967 Kitosch, l'uomo che veniva dal nord [DVD: yes] 1968 Una pistola per cento bare [DVD: yes]
Spy/Action 1964 Hot Enough for June [DVD: yes] 1965 A 008, operazione Sterminio [DVD: yes] 1966 Le spie amano i fiori 1966 Un milione di dollari per sette assassini 1967 Delitto a Posillipo 1967 Assalto al tesoro di stato
Obviously it is also difficult to classify, especially since Lavagnino scored movies for Romans vs. Vampires, Pirates, Zorro, and the musketeers(!). I can understand that by 1965 they stopped having any more new ideas...
So just for A. F. Lavagnino, I've made the list below.
1962 Le sette folgori di Assur [DVD: yes] 1964 La rivolta dei sette [DVD: yes] 1960 Le notti di Lucrezia Borgia 1970 Il corsaro [DVD: yes]
You can remove all those titles from your Lavagnino list. A few notes: - LE SETTE FOLGORI DI ASSUR was composed by Carlo Savina. Originally, Mario Nascimbene had been slated to do the score, but then refused or had no time to do it The score and also the tapes are available in the Savina estate in the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Digitmovies or Beat should have no problem at all to release this Savina score any time they want to on CD.
- LA RIVOLTA DEI SETTE was not scored by Lavagnino, but by Franco Mannino. It may be that a bit of Lavagnino peplum stock music was additionally used for a few sequences, but nothing new was composed by him for this film.
- LE NOTTI DI LUCREZIA BORGIA was scored by the rather obscure Polish-Italian composer Alessandro Derevitzky. The music is owned by Edizioni Musicali Firmamento. A lot of the Derevitzky tracks were formerly published on Fonit library LPs without mentioning their origins, but of course almost nobody knows about them. Lavagnino had nothing to do with this film.
- For IL CORSARO Lavagnino did compose nothing at all. Only Lavagnino stock music from the CAM archive (mainly from SALADINO) was inserted into this movie.
- Also the very late LE TIGRI DI MOMPRACEM from 1970 contains a score for which Lavagnino mainly recycled older material (I TABU, ULTIMO PARADISO and others). I think only a few percussive suspense tracks were newly added. Anyway, the music is owned by Curci and they won´t have any material of it anymore.
Here's the list of other unreleased Lavagnino soundtracks. That's drawn from IMDB, so there might be errors...
Comedy 1948 Che tempi! 1950 Strano appuntamento 1951 Mamma mia, che impressione! [DVD: yes] 1953 L'uomo, la bestia e la virtù [DVD: yes] 1954 Il matrimonio [DVD: yes] 1954 Un americano a Roma [DVD: yes] 1955 Totò e Carolina [DVD: yes] 1955 Le avventure di Giacomo Casanova [DVD: yes] 1955 La bella mugnaia [DVD: yes] 1955 Ragazze d'oggi [DVD: yes] 1955 Bravissimo [DVD: yes] 1955 Non scherzare con le donne 1955 Lo scapolo [DVD: yes] 1956 Destinazione Piovarolo [DVD: yes] 1956 Mio figlio Nerone [DVD: yes] 1956 Calabuch [DVD: yes] 1957 Femmine tre volte 1957 Il conte Max [DVD: yes] 1958 Amore a prima vista 1958 Pezzo, capopezzo e capitano 1958 Ladro lui, ladra lei [DVD: yes] 1959 Policarpo [DVD: yes] 1959 Ferdinando I. re di Napoli [DVD: yes] 1960 Gastone [DVD: yes] 1960 Tutti a casa [DVD: yes] 1961 Che gioia vivere [DVD: yes] 1962 Dal sabato al lunedì 1963 Carmen di Trastevere 1968 Grazie amore mio 1969 Le calde notti di Poppea 1976 L'Italia in pigiama
Crime/Giallo 1968 Un corpo caldo per l'inferno 1969 Beatrice Cenci [DVD: yes] 1971 Qualcosa striscia nel buio [DVD: yes]
War 1954 Siluri umani 1958 Il cielo brucia 1962 Marcia o crepa 1964 Il piave mormorò
Mondo/Documentary 1953 Magia verde 1958 La muraglia cinese 1958 Calypso 1963 I tabù 1968 Il pane amaro 1968 Scusi, lei conosce il sesso? [DVD: yes] 1969 Africa segreta 1974 Africa nuda, Africa violenta
Documentary 1956 Vertigine bianca 1958 L'incanto della foresta
Drama 1947 Natale al campo 119 1950 Il diavolo in convento 1952 Othello [DVD: yes] 1954 La tua donna 1954 Mambo [DVD: yes] 1955 Cortile [DVD: yes] 1956 I girovaghi 1956 Storia di una minorenne 1956 Il suo più grande amore 1956 Suor Letizia 1957 I fidanzati della morte 1958 The Wind Cannot Read 1958 Passionate Summer 1958 Il bacio del sole 1959 Primo amore 1959 Avventura in città 1960 L'ultimo zar 1960 The Savage Innocents [DVD: yes] 1960 La guerra segreta di suor Katryn 1961 Morte di un bandito 1961 I sogni muoiono all'alba [DVD: yes] 1961 Il relitto 1963 Caterina di Russia [DVD: yes] 1964 Senza sole nè luna 1975 La regenta [DVD: yes]
There has always been some confusion about the real composer of IPNOSI, but it was in fact Roman Vlad, not De Masi and also not Lavagnino. I know the film from the German dubbed version NUR TOTE ZEUGEN SCHWEIGEN and the musical style is clearly recognizable as Roman Vlad`s, particularly the use of the piano. There are even some similarities with his VAMPIRI score there.
LA LLAMA DEL VAMPIRO is one of those titles which gets listed in the CAM catalogue under "repertorio". This means that only older CAM library material by different composers was used for this movie. Therefore Lavagnino didn´t compose anything at all for this film.
