CAM/Sugar will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Piccioni´s birth in December with a compilation album on the Decca label which will have the title "A Modern Gentleman - The Refined and Bittersweet Sound of an Italian Maestro". All the music comes from either the CAM or the Sugar archives and has apparently been put together in a similar way as their "Morricone Segreto" album: "Piero Piccioni was undoubtedly the most "dandy" of Italian film music composers - the most stylish one, in art as in life. On the centenary of the composer's birth, CAM Sugar celebrates his art with a compilation that draws from both his well-known and lesser-known works, alongside a precious handful of tracks that, surprisingly, have remained unreleased until now. The result is a journey of rediscovery, of the unique, dazzling and unmistakable sound of the Turin-born composer."
Here below is the track listing with a lot of already well-known tracks, but also a few like those from ADDIO ALEXANDRA and TRE PER UNA RAPINA which have never been released before. From the very somber PER QUESTA NOTTE only two tracks had been released on a CAM single in 1977 which did never appear on CD till now. Likewise from MANI IN ALTO (two tracks on a 1961 RCA single). I don´t know where "Tema di Doni" and "Tema di Titina" are supposed to come from, but maybe the later one is from TOH È MORTA LA NONNA from 1969 as there is a character in this movie with the name Titina.
1 Pop's Lolly Piero Piccioni 2 Dior Dance Piero Piccioni, Nora Orlandi, I 4 + 4 di Nora Orlandi 3 Mani in alto - M16 Piero Piccioni, Nora Orlandi 4 L'assassino (Titoli) Piero Piccioni 5 Autoradio Piero Piccioni 6 Tre per una rapina (Titoli) Piero Piccioni 7 I dolci inganni - M11 Piero Piccioni 8 Dea di un Sogno Piero Piccioni 9 La notte brava (Atmosfera Romantica) Piero Piccioni 10 Danza selvaggia Piero Piccioni 11 Tema di Donì Piero Piccioni 12 Tema di Titina Piero Piccioni, Nora Orlandi 13 Chorus in FA Piero Piccioni 14 Tema Favola Piero Piccioni 15 Le altre - M10 Piero Piccioni 16 Significa amore Piero Piccioni 17 Per questa notte - M20 Piero Piccioni 18 Addio Alexandra - M6 Piero Piccioni, Nora Orlandi 19 Citta e campagna (Finale) Piero Piccioni 20 Magic of New York Piero Piccioni 21 Stampe erotiche Piero Piccioni 22 Riavanti... Marsch! - M25 Piero Piccioni 23 Papa Funky Piero Piccioni 24 What Is There To See? Piero Piccioni, Jason Piccioni 25 Io so che tu sai che io so (Titoli) Piero Piccioni 26 Rag. Arturo De Fanti, bancario precario (Tema Valzer - Piano Elettrico) Piero Piccioni
ADDIO ALEXANDRA TRE PER UNA RAPINA PER QUESTA NOTTE MANI IN ALTO TOH È MORTA LA NONNA
It is a unfortunate that we only get teasers, because a few years ago we used to get unreleased scores in full.
Another CAM score is "Cristo si é fermato a eboli" although watching the film, there is not much unreleased music apart from variations of the themes already on the single.
Otherwise tape definitively exist for "Racconto d'estate" and "Nude, calde e pure", so hopefully they are also released at some point.
My favourite unreleased score is "Caccia alla Volpe", very similar to the comedy scores for Alberto Sordi films from the mid 60s.
Another CAM score is "Cristo si é fermato a eboli" although watching the film, there is not much unreleased music apart from variations of the themes already on the single.
There are two versions of the film: The theatrical one with 150 minutes and the longer TV version with 270 minutes. Piccioni had written quite a lot of music besides the main theme, but director Francesco Rosi demanded that only the main theme should be used in the movie and nothing else. Piccioni could then use parts of his complete score in the longer TV version. Nevertheless, as I know the complete score I can tell you that there is still some music which remained totally unused and which with its impressionistic atmosphere is quite similar to the music that Piccioni later composed for Rosi´s CRONACA DI UNA MORTE ANNUNCIATA. I would say there is material for a CD with about 40-45 minutes of music. The best way would of course be to couple this score with TRE FRATELLI, but I don´t know if it is possible at all and if it will ever happen. One really big problem is that CAM/Sugar are not the only rights owner for EBOLI and that the co-owner is Cristaldi Film/Vides.
My favourite unreleased score is "Caccia alla Volpe", very similar to the comedy scores for Alberto Sordi films from the mid 60s.
The original tapes for CACCIA ALLA VOLPE are lost. This was also one of the few scores for which Piccioni himself had no private tape copies.
PER QUESTA NOTTE It is a unfortunate that we only get teasers, because a few years ago we used to get unreleased scores in full.
We had for example planned to release the complete score for PER QUESTA NOTTE on Saimel last year, but due to Sugar´s changed policies and their deal with UMG/Decca licensing just wasn´t possible anymore.
A few pages back I mentioned that I had found a copy of the Piccioni 7" for "Chi Dice Donna Dice Donna." Since then, it looks like someone (not me) has posted it to YouTube. A fantastic track!
Piero Piccioni - "Svezia" from "Chi Dice Donna Dice Donna"
I know the title of this thread is asking for recommendations, but I just discovered Piccioni's music a few weeks ago (after ordering the Quartet Centenary releases basically on a whim), and am HOOKED.
I've blown basically all my holiday cash on incredible Piccioni records, and have so many more I'll be picking up next chance I get. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone in this thread for contributing their recommendations and little mini-reviews over the years for all these releases -- it's made navigating the slew of Piccioni CDs so much easier for a new fan like me. I've been feverishly going though this thread basically every chance I've had, and don't feel quite as out of my depth as I did three weeks ago.
So here's a question for everyone -- are there any OOP Piccioni releases that you wish more people (maybe new fans) could hear?
Personally both Lo Straniero and Chronicle of A Death Foretold have truly struck a chord with me, and I wish more people could hear them. Right now, a copy of the Verita Lo Straniero CD will cost you $500(!!!), and it seems like the Saimel release of Chronicle of a Death Foretold from 20 years is very difficult to find as well.
So here's a question for everyone -- are there any OOP Piccioni releases that you wish more people (maybe new fans) could hear?
Personally both Lo Straniero and Chronicle of A Death Foretold have truly struck a chord with me, and I wish more people could hear them. Right now, a copy of the Verita Lo Straniero CD will cost you $500(!!!), and it seems like the Saimel release of Chronicle of a Death Foretold from 20 years is very difficult to find as well.
Glad to learn you are hooked on Piccioni, Slackattack - too bad this hadn't happened sooner than 2021, but you've made remarkable progress these past weeks!
Piccioni is my favorite Italian ... and my 3rd favorite composer overall for films & TV. I think some of Piccioni's followers like only certain time periods and/or musical styles. Folks who love his 'lounge' idioms may not care for his 1950s music or dislike when Piero went 'classical' with period pieces such as Le evasioni celebri. Piccioni's versatility in this regard is outstanding, I say.
Slackattack's tastes seem to run similar to Ag^Janus + my own, so he may pay particular attention to our posts. Having over 100 Piccioni titles in my collection, I'm inclined to recommend around 50 of these without conditions. This would not be fiscally feasible, though, so I need to reduce my enthusiasm.
1. tomba aperta … una bara vuota, Una 2. faro in capo al mondo, Il (The Light At The Edge Of The World) 3. straniero, Lo 4. demonio, Il 5. monaco, Il 6. Salvatore Giuliano 7. dolci inganni, I 8. mani sulla citta', Le 9. bacio, Il 10. Senilita' 11. bell'Antonio, Il 12. ...Dirai: ho ucciso per legittima difesa 13. Senza via d'uscita 14. Toto' diabolicus 15. Islam 16. Uomini contro 17. Fatevi vivi la polizia non interverra 18. imprevisto, L' 19. notte brava, La 20. Mafioso
There are more than 20 faves, of course, but the above contain mostly dramatic underscoring. While I love early '60s peplum, these were not Piccioni at his best IMO. Also, I left out other genres such as Euro Westerns, erotica, nunsploitation, mondo movies, Alberto Sordi etc.
When your Piccioni feasting subsides, I hope you will accrue appreciation for other Italians, too, like Nicolosi, Migliardi, Macchi, Lavagnino, Fusco, Trovajoli, Gaslini, + dozens more.
1. tomba aperta … una bara vuota, Una 2. faro in capo al mondo, Il (The Light At The Edge Of The World) 3. straniero, Lo 4. demonio, Il 5. monaco, Il 6. Salvatore Giuliano 7. dolci inganni, I 8. mani sulla citta', Le 9. bacio, Il 10. Senilita' 11. bell'Antonio, Il 12. ...Dirai: ho ucciso per legittima difesa 13. Senza via d'uscita 14. Toto' diabolicus 15. Islam 16. Uomini contro 17. Fatevi vivi la polizia non interverra 18. imprevisto, L' 19. notte brava, La 20. Mafioso
Interesting that we have only one score in common in our Top 20. Although of course I like almost all Piccioni scores. That said I find some of these more orchestral scores quite monothematic. For instance Lo Straniero and Il Demonio are good but it is essentially the same melody or dramatic patterns for an hour. That said, I think his older jazz scores from the late 50s and 60s are very strong, but I'm perhaps not the biggest jazz fan.
Glad you’re on the Piccioni train, Slackattack…it’s a great ride! Enjoy whatever you can get your hands on! As noted…some of those OOP CDs are expensive, and they come and go in an unexpected stream…some hang around forever and others disappear quickly.
All the titles Zardozspeaks mentioned are terrific, and makes such a great point about Piccioni’s body of work…it’s vast, versatile and very creative!
Piccioni has an incredibly wide range of style…it might be easy to overlook his Sordi comedies and his lighter work in favor of his deeper compositions, but even his jazz/lounge music can sometimes be used as a disorienting effect in the film to counterpoint the visuals. Just look at the main title sequence in Io La Conoscevo Bene…a shake style radio source used as the main theme…the camera slowly pans over an empty and polluted beach to finally rest on the beautiful female lead. It all draws you in and makes you wonder what, why and how it all relates…and the film goes on to expand that tone with Piccioni’s contribution.
So just to underline what has already been said by the others here…once you put all of Piccioni’s sores in a single category of AWESOME…you realize that his approach is always sophisticated, creative, and extremely listenable within or without the film it was created for!
