Original Motion Picture Soundtracks BAROCCO/LES SOEURS BRONTË Music By Philippe Sarde Limited Edition 500 Units
Quartet Records, in collaboration with Gruppo Sugar, presents the Barocco / Les soeurs Brontë Philippe Sarde CD release of a Philippe Sarde and André Téchiné double-header: BAROCCO and LES SOEURS BRONTË.
BAROCCO (1976) stars Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Dépardieu in a Hitchcock-like thriller, strongly inspired by the doppelgänger plot of VERTIGO. As a blackmailing plot goes south, a young woman finds a strange fascination with a man who looks just like her boyfriend whom he had just killed. Sarde’s score is Herrmann-inspired with repetitive, fragmented thematic material rounding out the mystery of mistaken identities. The soundtrack also includes the original song “On se volt se voir” performed by Marie-France Garcia. Philippe Sarde won the César Award for this score, which is one of his best and most valued works.
LES SOEURS BRONTË (1979) stars Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier and Isabelle Huppert as the Brontë sisters, whose singular contributions to British literature such as WUTHERING HEIGHTS and JANE EYRE marked a new era for awakening female authors. Sarde’s elegant work for this film was to adapt several classical pieces, especially by Schumann, as an underscore.
This CD release issues complete versions of both scores. BAROCCO was already quite well-represented on the original LP, but the three bonus tracks fill in the remaining gaps in the score. For LES SOEURS BRONTË, an original music-and-dialogue LP was released in 1979; now we present the score in six movements as conceived by Sarde, without dialogue. This album has been produced by Edouard Dubois and the composer, and mastered by Chris Malone from first-generation master tapes provided by Gruppo Sugar. The richly illustrated package features liner notes by Gergely Hubai discussing the films and scores.
BAROCCO 1. Générique (1:52) 2. La valise (0:48) 3. Romance (0:45) 4. Les temps modernes (1:07) 5. Vent sur les affiches (1:23) 6. S’en sortir (1:40) 7. La radicale (4:07) 8. On se voit se voir (Vocal: Marie-France) (2:19) 9. Portrait Robot (2:13) 10. La poursuite (1:30) 11. Nocturne (0:48) 12. Les mers du sud (1:28) 13. Romance / Mais vous vivez de quoi? (3:11) 14. Les mers du sud (1:28)
LES SOEURS BRONTË 15. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 1 (6:03) 16. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 2 (3:01) 17. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 3 (3:18) 18. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 4 (3:51) 19. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 5 (2:57) 20. Les soeurs Brontë – Mouvement 6 (1:53)
These four scores Liza / La dernière Femme / Barocco / Les soeurs Brontë really fill a gap. Although I have all music from the old LPs.
Three down, and eight to go in terms of LP re-issues from the 70s!
1970 Sortie de secours 1973 Le fils 1976 Le juge et l'assassin 1977 La vie devant soi 1977 Des enfants gâtés 1978 Une histoire simple 1978 Le sucre 1979 L'adolescente
Three down, and eight to go in terms of LP re-issues from the 70s!
1970 Sortie de secours 1973 Le fils 1976 Le juge et l'assassin 1977 La vie devant soi 1977 Des enfants gâtés 1978 Une histoire simple 1978 Le sucre 1979 L'adolescente
'Le juge et l'assassin' was released as part of a 8 CD-box Jean Roger Caussimon L'intégrale 1970•1980 (released in 2003 on Le Chant du Monde), although I have to admit it is a bit hard to find.
6 tracks from 'La vie devant soi' were issued on a compilation CD (Les Plus Belles Musiques de Films Volume 1 in 1995 on Frémeaux), leaving only 3 tracks unrelesed from the original LP.
The music from 'L'adolescente' was also released as 'Les Egarés', minus one track (La sorcière, only 1:17 mins.). The wonderful song by Jeanne Moreau and Yves Duteil is available on the CD 'Jeanne Moreau Succes et confidences' (productions Jacques Canetti 3110337 from 2005).
From your list I hope Quartet or Music Box will release these titles in due time. All are worth a CD release, excellent scores. 'Sortie de secours' probably the most obscure of the list, even on LP it was very hard to find.
The music from 'L'adolescente' was also released as 'Les Egarés', minus one track (La sorcière, only 1:17 mins.).
"La sorcière" from L´ADOLESCENTE is also on the LES ÉGARÉS CD as two shorter tracks from the LP ("La Rencontre" with 1:19 minutes and "La Sorcière" with 1:17 minutes) have been combined for the LES ÉGARÉS track 4 "Traversée de la rivière" (which therefore has a duration of 2:32 minutes). However, there are a few small differences between ADOLESCENTE and ÉGARÉS: The violin part by Stéphane Grappelli is missing on that track 4 of the LES ÉGARÉS CD between minute 1:50 and 2:10 and also on track 10 between minute 0:50 and 1:10 whereas you can hear it on the LP tracks - this means that these were either alternate takes of "Grand Départ" and "La Sorciére" not used for the LP or the violin part at that point was missing on the tapes available for the CD. And track 9 "Odile" on the LES ÉGARÉS CD is a bit similar to the "Voyage imaginaire" track on the L´ADOLESCENTE LP, but with some variations. It could be that this track was recorded in 1978 and then not used for the LP. So it is really the only new track on the CD.
LES SOEURS BRONTË (1979) stars Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier and Isabelle Huppert as the Brontë sisters, whose singular contributions to British literature such as WUTHERING HEIGHTS and JANE EYRE marked a new era for awakening female authors. Sarde’s elegant work for this film was to adapt several classical pieces, especially by Schumann, as an underscore. /
The music for LES SOEURS BRONTÉ is mainly based on parts of Robert Schumann´s oratorio "Scenes from Goethe´s Faust". Gretchen´s aria "Die Scherben vor meinem Fenster" which appears here in this clip from minute 2:20 onwards crops up very often as main theme in the BRONTÉ score:
So there is almost only adaptation of these classical pieces to be heard in the score and very little Sarde.
Seeing more vintage Sarde music released is always an occasion to celebrate. While I have so many CDs by Sarde I never picked 'Barocco' so I will be most glad to get this.
Seeing more vintage Sarde music released is always an occasion to celebrate. While I have so many CDs by Sarde I never picked 'Barocco' so I will be most glad to get this.
Great news for all four scores, especially since I don’t have the BAROCCO CD either. I coincidentally purchased the LP of LES SOEURS BRONTE a few weeks ago, fortunately at a very low price. I'm impatient to listen to this score without any dialogue.
The music for LES SOEURS BRONTÉ is mainly based on parts of Robert Schumann´s oratorio "Scenes from Goethe´s Faust". Gretchen´s aria "Die Scheiben vor meinem Fenster" which appears here in this clip from minute 2:20 onwards crops up very often as main theme in the BRONTÉ score.
An addendum: The other theme besides the Schumann piece which gets prominently featured in LES SOEURS BRONTÉ is by Franz Schubert: It comes from the second of the piano pieces D.946 in E flat major. It can be heard for example in the excerpt "Mouvement 3" (track 17) on the Quartet website. Formerly, it always made me wonder why neither Schubert nor Schumann were mentioned on the old dialogue LP (or on Milan´s Sarde/Techiné compilation CD) or even in the film´s credits although it quite obviously was the wish of director André Techiné to use only adaptations of all this classical music in the score. And now not even the Quartet CD tracks mention the actual composers.
For anyone interested here is that Schubert piece which was used:
'Le juge et l'assassin' was released as part of a 8 CD-box Jean Roger Caussimon L'intégrale 1970•1980 (released in 2003 on Le Chant du Monde), although I have to admit it is a bit hard to find.
From your list I hope Quartet or Music Box will release these titles in due time. All are worth a CD release, excellent scores. 'Sortie de secours' probably the most obscure of the list, even on LP it was very hard to find.
Thanks I didn't know about a CD release from 'Le juge et l'assassin', though I will probably stick with my LP. The box set looks hard to find.
'Sortie de secours' is the only one I don't have on LP. I think I have the 7" single, ordered my mistake (I thought it was the LP).
Thanks Stefan for clearing up things regarding the use of classical music in LES SOEURS BRONTË. Thanks to you I now know that the beautiful piano track is by Schubert and not by Schumann, which also makes sense when you listen to it carefully.
I'll get both CD's but once again I feel that there's plenty of room for more stuff: whenever two scores are paired together on one CD I would easily want three or four of them ! Especially when you consider that each score is relatively short and that part of this stuff has already been released. This said, it's great to see that more and more goodies by Sarde are eventually finding their way on CD.
I'll get both CD's but once again I feel that there's plenty of room for more stuff: whenever two scores are paired together on one CD I would easily want three or four of them ! Especially when you consider that each score is relatively short and that part of this stuff has already been released.
Laurent, you have to consider that all of the recent Sarde CDs by Quartet were licensed from Sugar and were ordered by directors: Pierre Granier-Deferre (LE CHAT + LE TRAIN), Claude Sautet (MAX ET LES FERRAILLEURS + VINCENT, FRANCOIS.., CÉSAR ET ROSALIE), now André Techiné and Marco Ferreri. Sugar just doesn´t have any more Techiné or Ferreri titles composed by Sarde in their CAM catalogue. So this is certainly one of the main reasons why no third or fourth title has been added to the two CDs.
What could still be done are two more Granier-Deferre films which however contain little music (each of them probably not more than 15 minutes): ADIEU POULET with Lino Ventura and Patrick Dewaere and LA CAGE with Lino Ventura and Ingrid Thulin. Mabye these two scores will be coupled on a future CD as above all ADIEU POULET has already been reserved for many years in the CAM catalogue.
What´s now left in Sugar´s CAM catalogue besides these are mainly more obscure Sarde titles and above all films which have for the most part been made by more unknown directors: LES CORPS CÉLESTES (a Canadian film by Gilles Carles and a score which reuses much of the former HELLÉ music which had been released by Disques Cinémusique on CD a few years ago), LE DROIT D´AIMER (by Eric Le Hung), LE MARIAGE À LA MODE (by Michel Madore), UN DIVORCE HEUREUX (by Henning Carlsen), DOROTHEAS RACHE (a very trashy and scandalous German movie by Peter Fleischmann from 1973 also with only few music tracks by Sarde), CHARLIE ET SES DEUX NENETTES (by Joel Séria). And of course there is Robert Bresson´s famous LANCELOT DU LAC (which contains the later LE CHOC theme in a different arrangement) which has never been released on CD at all, but certainly doesn´t have more than about 3 or 4 minutes of music altogether - and then we have Georges Lautner´s comedy PAS DE PROBLÈME of which two tracks are already available on the Sarde/Lautner CD from Universal. It will be interesting to see if any of these titles will still get released in the future. And if Sarde gives his approval.
You're right, Stefan. Things are not easy for labels like Quartet when it comes to make coherent albums from scores belonging to the same publisher. From your suggestions, I know only the main theme from LA CAGE and the single from ADIEU POULET. But judging by these three tracks, I would definitely welcome a CD gathering these scores. I also checked a poor copy of CHARLIE ET SES DEUX NENETTES some time ago on YouTube and as far as I can remember, there was very little music in this movie, chiefly during the opening and closing credits. But I must say I used the fast forward function a lot ! As for LANCELOT DU LAC, I borrowed the movie and confirm there's only the main theme. Anyway, let's hope for more stuff of that kind in the near future.
I have the 7" singles from LE DROIT D'AIMER, ADIEU POULET, LE MARIAGE À LA MODE and UN DIVORCE HEUREUX and it would be more than welcome to have the full scores.
For all those who have not yet seen it: On Youtube there is a 30-minute portrait of Sarde which was made for French TV in 1979. At that time Sarde was just 30 years old and full of youthful elan. He plays the themes from UNE HISTOIRE SIMPLE and LA GRANDE BOUFFE on his piano. And from minute 7 onwards - and that´s the reason why I post the video here - you can see a part of the recording sessions of LES SOEURS BRONTÉ in London - which took place in January 1979 - with Carlo Savina as conductor and his brother Federico as recording engineer. It is funny to see how three languages are spoken at the same time: Italian with the Savinas, English with the pianist and French with director Techiné. It´s just a wonderful document:
Thanks. It is probably the first time I see Carlo Savina conducting. He must have been incredibly busy between 1955 and 1980, conducting or writing a new score almost every few weeks.
Thanks a lot for sharing this very interesting documentary, Stefan. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Among the questions Sarde is being asked, one he had to face as early as 1979 regards the fact he's not arranging himself his scores. And listening to his answer, the fact is that this question doesn't seem to bother him at all ! He's answering all questions in a very satisfactory manner anyway. I coincidentally received the CD of LE CHAT / LE TRAIN yesterday a few minutes before reading your post about this rare document. So the timing was just perfect, wasn't it ?
What could still be done are two more Granier-Deferre films which however contain little music (each of them probably not more than 15 minutes): ADIEU POULET with Lino Ventura and Patrick Dewaere and LA CAGE with Lino Ventura and Ingrid Thulin. Mabye these two scores will be coupled on a future CD as above all ADIEU POULET has already been reserved for many years in the CAM catalogue.
Now we know it for sure that it was not Quartet who had reserved ADIEU POULET at Sugar for years, but Music Box. And apparently Music Box hasn´t licensed LA CAGE there as it is not on their new Sarde/Granier-Deferre CD, although it would have still fit in quite easily (the CD has a running time of just 48 minutes). ADIEU POULET is indeed very short with only 12 minutes of music so that there seem to exist no additional tracks besides those which appear in the film:
World Premiere CD Release. New remastered and expanded edition. 12-page CD booklet with French and English liner notes by Christian Lauliac.
In collaboration with BMG and Gruppo Sugar, Music Box Records proudly presents on the same album three original motion picture soundtracks which highlight the collaboration between composer Philippe Sarde and Pierre Granier-Deferre: Adieu poulet (The French Detective, 1975), L'Ami de Vincent (A Friend of Vincent, 1983) and L'Étoile du Nord (The North Star, 1982).
Pierre Granier-Deferre was undoubtedly one of Sarde’s favourite and most faithful collaborators, one of his first “fathers in cinema”, in the same way as Claude Sautet, Georges Lautner or Bertrand Tavernier. This new album highlights three scores from the fruitful collaboration between the composer and the French director. The short score to crime thriller Adieu poulet (orchestrated by Hubert Rostaing) showcases his ability to capture the film’s core with his dissonant and jazz soundscape which includes piano, trumpet, drums and assorted percussion. For the psychological drama L’Étoile du Nord, Sarde composed a melancholic score that gives a central role to Marcel Azzola’s accordion with a melody that sounds like a popular café-concert tune. For L'Ami de Vincent, Sarde added the lyrical touch to his score associated with the powerful performance of the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Peter Knight) and the incomparable American trumpeter Clark Terry.
The program has been assembled, produced and supervised by Philippe Sarde and Édouard Dubois. This present edition has been fully remastered from complete scoring session elements and includes previously unreleased tracks. The CD comes with a 12-page booklet with liner notes by Christian Lauliac, discussing the films and the scores. The release is limited to 500 units.
ADIEU POULET 01. Ge´ne´rique (1:06) 02. Proxe´ne´tisme et corruption (2:23) 03. Jazz trio (Ferrer le poisson) (3:07) 04. Les Poulets a` l'ho^pital (2:40) 05. Ge´ne´rique de fin (2:23) Time • 11:48
L'AMI DE VINCENT 06. Vincent (4:18) 07. Amalia (4:50) 08. Revue Broadway (4:41) 09. Revue bre´silienne (Samba multicolore) (4:38) 10. Tango parisien (The´ dansant) (2:57) Time • 21:35
L'ÉTOILE DU NORD 11. L'étoile du Nord (2:08) 12. Louise (2:07) 13. E´douard (2:13) 14. Pour Simone (1:46) 15. Pour Pierre (1:13) 16. Yasmina (1:46) 17. Pour Philippe (2:24) 18. Les tramways de Charleroi (1:04) Time • 14:56
Definitely looking forward to playing this album at the end of the month, especially for ADIEU POULET. Regarding L'AMI DE VINCENT, I at first thought Sarde would have kept only the 'cabaret stuff' but the first two tracks prove I was wrong. Stefan, did he borrow this tune (heard in the first cue, Vincent) from SORTIE DE SECOURS ? I just don't know anymore right now.
Yes, Laurent, it is indeed the jazzy main theme from SORTIE DE SECOURS which crops up again in L´AMI DE VINCENT - not only in the first cue "Vincent", but also in the second one "Amalia" where it is a given a full symphonic treatment through the wonderful orchestration of Peter Knight. Jean-Michel Defaye, who had orchestrated not only SORTIE DE SECOURS, but also most of the other early Sarde scores from 1970 and 1971 (before Hubert Rostaing became Sarde´s regular orchestrator till the end of the 70s), talks very openly about his collaboration with Sarde on these scores in this interview from January 2021:
"Eddy Marnay m'a présenté Philippe Sarde, nous avons collaboré sur les films de Claude Sautet comme Les choses de la vie, plus que de l'arrangement c'était de la co-composition, un exercice non reconnu… Alors je suis parti !" https://www.corsematin.com/articles/de-la-musique-avant-toute-chose-114663
And for SORTIE DE SECOURS as well as LA LIBERTÉ EN CROUPE the French SACEM even lists both Defaye and Sarde as co-composers!
