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Friday, September 22, 2006

CD REVIEW - Kapo


Kapo
Music by Carlo Rustichelli
Digitmovies CDDM 063 (Italy)
49 Tracks 73:43 mins

Carlo Rustichelli's score for this 1960 Gillo Pontecorvo film is written in collaboration with the latter and largely consists of a bunch of themes and variations repeated over and over.
The film tells the tragic story of a young Jewish girl locked up in a Nazi prison camp and her character is represented by a poignant, nostalgic theme for guitar and orchestra, first heard in "Edith Attraversa Parigi-Preludio pt.3." As the score develops, this is sometimes heard in tandem with the opening theme for harpsichord, which itself features in some dramatic moments, interrupted, as it is, by harsh, violent brass.
The other recurring themes are a bombastic military march, first heard in "Marcia-Preludio pt.2" and another march theme of the despairing, hopeless kind, first heard in "Prigionieri alla Stazione." All the above-mentioned themes are, as I said, repeated in variations and combinations over and over throughout subsequent tracks, making this album seem perhaps a bit overlong, but one cannot fault the label for wanting to release the complete score, half a CD on the Cinevox label previously being the longest representation. And it's in very good stereo sound.
Apart from the main themes discussed, there is a good deal of downbeat and suspenseful music, as one would expect from a film with this subject, a few bursts of action and a couple of source tracks, one an a capella female choral, the other a radio dance track.
The 34 score tracks are followed by 10 bonus tracks, mostly alternate takes on various score tracks, but with a new track featuring solo female voice. A "special archives track" follows, taken from the recording sessions, which reveals fascinating exchanges (in Italian of course) between composer Rustichelli, conductor Franco Ferrara and copyist/studio contractor Donato Salone. Finally, there are four mono tracks, which made up the original RCA EP, from the time of the film's release, which features longer tracks made up of combinations of the main themes.
All of this and the usual excellent accompanying booklet, with Claudio Fuiano's notes, colour artwork and stills from the film, which was made in black & white. You certainly get your money's worth!

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