The Film Music of Nino Rota (on Piano)

This recording of the film music of Nino Rota contains transcriptions for the piano made by the composer, as played to friends. Not only does it include the great international successes such as The Godfather, Romeo and Juliet, Otto e mezzo, Giulietta degli spiriti, The Taming of the Shrew and Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), but it also includes unpublished soundtracks, in particular those written for films mistakenly considered ‘minor’ such as Fanciulle di lusso (Luxury Girls), Fantasmi a Roma (Ghosts in Rome) and Quel bandit sono io (Her Favourite husband).

Also included are the musical masterpieces he wrote for British films, The Legend of the Glass Mountain and Obsession. Rota had a special fondness for these, and it was largely through them that he achieved international star status in the forties, well before his outstandingly successful collaboration with Fellini. Such was the success of the score for The Glass Mountain that it was broadcast in its entirety at scheduled times, with the famous love scene as recorded here played on the piano by Nino Rota himself. To Rota it was the theme that was dearest to him of all.

Rota: Film Music

Nino Rota is most famous for his film scores, particularly those for Federico Fellini, although he considered himself a classical composer – and he was a fine one – before everything else. It makes sense to give at least some of his music for film the full symphonic treatment, as Gelmetti and his orchestra have done here. There is plenty of spectacle in "Guerra e pace" (War and Peace) and "Waterloo," films directed by King Vidor and Sergei Bondarchuk, respectively, and the musicians bring it to life without allowing it to degenerate into bombast.

"Il gattopardo" (The Leopard), directed by Visconti, frequently turns up on compilations of this sort, and again, Gelmetti realizes its elegance. This is a score that Rota adapted from an earlier work – a projected symphony – and again, it responds to Gelmetti's full-throated conducting.

Rota wrote a ballet based on Fellini's film "La Strada," for which he had composed the score. It is a suite from the ballet, not the film, that is presented here, although Rota adapted material from the latter as he composed the former. In other words, the situation here is reversed 180 degrees from "Il gattopardo." This is the most human and intimate music on this CD. Rota's heart was warmed by the story of an itinerant circus troupe, and of the pathetic waif Gelsomina. The suite's seven sections follow the film closely, moving from the arrival of the troupe at a wedding, to the desolate end when Zampano, Gelsomina's husband, realizes the ruin created by his jealousy. Here, Gelmetti and the orchestra loosen up and relish the more popular idioms that Rota used to establish the ballet's (and film's) more modern setting.

Film music buffs will want more complete realizations of these scores, but the present CD is excellent and an economical purchase for more moderate types. The engineering is big and handsome, and the booklet notes – as usual for "Encore" releases – are sketchy. --ClassicalNet Review

MP3 320 · 128 MB

Nino Rota: Concertos

'Altogether a pleasure. These are bright, capable, well-painted performances in good sound, with soloists who sound totally at home with the music…' --International Record Review

‘With accomplished solo playing and sensitive support from I Virtuosi Italiani… these concertos create a powerful impression.’ --BBC Music Magazine

‘Both Rota's cello concertos' are beautifully advocated here…’ --The Strad

‘Light music, nearly all of it, but of the most superior and entertaining kind.’ --Gramophone

MP3 320 · 136 MB