Customer Reviews

La Dolce Vita

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Something hangs in your head or it doesn't. Nino Rota's lovely little poignant melody that is the theme for LA DOLCE VITA stuck in my head when I was five and never evaporated; it actually became an obsession. Balanced betwixt melancholic wisdom and whimsy, the film and the score are two of those cosmic jewels that mark some people's lives, and they will bethe first to tell you about it.

Two themes weave in and out of this masterful score, 'La Dolce Vita' and 'Parlarmi de me (Speak to Me)'. Most of the treatments fall into the blues-jazz and swing modes, and the variations are never boring or repetitive. Sprinkled throughout are brief treaments and allusions to such hits of the era as 'Arrividerci Roma', 'Patricia' and 'Stormy Weather'.

The instrumentation is stellar here, a magical blend of jazz combo, orchestra, latin percussuion, and some kind of late 50s-early 60s electronic organ of which Rota was fond of employing (and gets my vote for the coolest pre-synth sound in the universe). It kind of like a theremin, but warmer, less sci-fi, more wistful.

The final cut is a blend of the rhythm of Perez Prado's "Why Wait", a worldwide smash in 1959, and the main title of 'La Dolce Vita'.

As Fellini was fond of saying "Nino was an angel", it is nowhere better evidence in Nino's discography than here. Plus you get that great picture of Anita Ekberg on the cover.

Some things in life are absolutely *certain*. Some of these certainties are even good things, like Nino Rota's imagination and virtuosity!

La Dolce Vita is an indespensible piece of music for those who wish to be transported backward, upward, into the heart of Fellini's Italia...

Let your own imagination wander to another place...buy this.

This movie and soundtrack have been favorites of mine for going on 15 years now....it's hard to describe it if you haven't seen and heard it. Best to rent the movie and decide for yourself. Suffice to say, this is one of the best CDs to float away too,
be it sleep or your imagination. Timeless.

The music on this CD is quite simply charming and evokes the spirit of 1960's Cinema Citta.

Lovely to enjoy and reminds one of the great days of cinema.

I also love La Dolce Vita, I don't own the soundtrack (don't kill me haha) and I would like to know if it includes the songs that are played in the party when the character of Frankie arrives to disturb Marcello's romantic advances. One of them is a Cha Cha Cha (from what I've picked up I think it's called Caracas) and the other one is a rock 'n roll. I wonder if anyone knows the name of this songs and if they're included on the soundtrack.
Thanks