Customer Reviews

Fellini, Rota: Music From the Classic Films of Federico Fellini

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The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (The Czech Symphony Orchestra) performs the gems by composer Nino Rota for the films of Federico Fellini...scores are orchestrated and conducted by Derek Wadsworth and recorded at FHS studios, Prague on February 1993...Silva Screens latest reissue release "SYMPHONIC: FELLINI-ROTA", has all the romantic and poetic scores from the classic films of Fellini...as Rota's music remains in your mind with haunting and forbidding themes that will stay with you the rest of your days.

Rota has the ability to capture the moments from each cue in his scores with Symphonic Suites and Themes:
1952 - LO SCEICCO BIANCO (The White Sheikh)
1953 - I VITELLONI (Franco Fabrizi/Franco Interlenghi/Alberto Sordi)
1954 - LA STRADA (featuring Anthony Quinn/Giulietta Masina/Richard Basehart)
1955 - IL BIDONE (The Swindle) (Broderick Crawford/Richard Basehart/Giulietta Masina/Franco Fabrizi)
1957 - LE NOTTE DI CABIRIA (The Nights of Cabiria) (Giulietta Masina/Francois Perier/Amadeo Nazzari/Franca Marzi/Dorian Gray)
1960 - LA DOLCE VITA (Marcello Mastroianni/Anita Ekberg/Anouk Aimee/Alain Cluny/Yvonne Furneaux/Nadia Gray/Lex Barker)
1962 - BOCCACCIO '70 (Anita Ekberg/Romy Schneider/Sophia Loren)
1963 OTTO E MEZZO (8 1/2) (Marcello Mastroianni/Claudia Cardinale/Anouk Aimee/Barbar Steele/Sandra Milo)
1965 - GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI (Juliet of the Spirits) (Giulietta Masina/Mario Pisu/Valentina Cortese/Sylva Koscina)
1969 - FELLINI - SATYRICON (Martin Potter/Hiram Keller/Max Born/Salvo Randone)
1970 - I CLOWNS (The Clowns) (cinematic essay of the dying artistry of the circus clown - documentary)
1972 - ROMA (Peter Gonzales/Flora Florence/Pia De Doses/Marne Mairland/Gore Vidal/John Francis Lane/Anna Magnani)
1973 - AMARCORD (Puppela Maggio/Magali Noel/Armando Bracia)
1976 - IL CASANOVA (Casanova) (Donald Sutherland/Tina Aumont/Cicely Brown/Carmen Scarpitta)
1979 - PROVA D'ORCHESTRA (Orchestra Rehearsal) (Baldwin Baas/Clara Colisomo/Elizabeth Labi/Claudio Ciocca)

Nino Rota's tapestry is fine and the weave is just right...one only has to close your eyes and visualize the characters that came to life on the big screen...Rota's music was a large part of the picture...as you sit back and soak up each passage and counterparts that prevail...you know right then and there why music is so important for any film.

Silva Screen Records Ltd., Nic Raine(producer), Reynold da Silva(executive producers) James Fitzpatrick(project director), Yusuf Gandhi and Cherie Mathisen(album co-ordinators)...please stand up and take a bow for the rare gems you've given us...heads up for all "film-score-buffs" worth their salt, this is a keeper...and a big thank you to NINO ROTA (1911-1979)for sharing the legacy of his music with the world.

Total Time: 69:00 on 15 Tracks ~ SIL 3013 ~ (6/07/2005)

Fellini's films are practically unimaginable without the music of Nino Rota, and in fact there are very few Fellini films without it. However I find this compilation a bit disappointing, though I'm not totally sure why. The tracks are short, just 3 or 4 minutes, and taken out of context, I don't know, it just feels like something's missing, perhaps a sense of continuity. Certainly this is not to disparage their brilliance within their filmic context. But I caution the potential buyer. If you're buying just one Rota score, perhaps a better choice would be to buy that of your favorite Fellini film.

I'm not certain why this CD is so disappointing. The selections from the films are strung together in an uninteresting way, and seem to be played at the same tempo. I plan to order Fellini soundtracks, because I love the music. Maybe a Czech symphony orchestra just can't capture Rota's sensual Italian spirit.

Orchestrated and conducted by Derek Wadsworth and performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the scores on the CD "Fellini Rota: Music from the Classic Films of Federico Fellini" are marvelous and unforgettable and I am never tired of listening to them. The CD is one of the favorites in my collection.

Rota's melodies have everything in them: Italy's shining sun, her blue sky, the sound of her sea. They've got ancient wisdom of Rome and eternal innocence of a child. They are in Cabiria's smile, Gradisca's walk, Anita's fountain, Juliet's quiet loneliness, it the songs of Gelsomina's trumpet, in La Saraghina's lurid dance on the beach. Rota filled his tunes with beauty, poetry, romance, longing, regrets and dreams that may never come true but they are beautiful dreams anyway. Sweet and melodical, gentle and rhythmical, kind and lovely, they keep playing after the films are over, all characters disappear from the screen and what is left behind is "a little orchestra of Hope with Love as its conductor". The last that we hear in is the magic music of Rota, bringing affirmation, hope and love.