Buy it... if you appreciate the lightweight and carefree attitude of Italy's fairly standard romantic comedy sound and want to introduce a Nicola Piovani entry into your American-centered collection.

Avoid it... if you expect the score to meet the hype generated by its Oscar win, for while it's easy to appreciate and enjoy in parts, it's more likely to underwhelm you with its restrained depth, stereotypical rhythms, and marginalized drama.

Piovani

Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella): (Nicola Piovani) In the process of becoming the most nominated foreign language film in the history of the Oscars (at the time), Life is Beautiful introduced popular Italian comedian Roberto Benigni to international mainstream cinema. The concept of the film would be bizarre to the point of being offensive if not for Benigni's keen ability to actually make it work. After a first half of the film in which the director/writer/actor cleverly woos a woman using his lovable wit and charm, their family is sent to concentration camps in the final days of World War II. To shield his young son, Benigni creates a fantasy world in which the boy can consider the concentration camp to be a vacation and a game being played by adults. The concept seems horrific, and in an effectively tragic way, the film uses this awkward premise to a tear jerking conclusion, but ironically its weaker half is the standard romantic comedy at the start. The score for Life is Beautiful presented the challenge of both matching the upbeat enthusiasm of Benigni's infectious humor while also being suitable for the film's second half. Composer Nicola Piovani was up to the task, producing a score rich with Mediterranean sensibilities that managed to extend its appeal beyond the usual Southern European market for the plethora of similar music for Italian cinema. Piovani had already been active in that industry for two decades, writing music that was sometimes mistakenly assumed to be that of Ennio Morricone (under a pseudonym). Until Life is Beautiful, however, he was little known in America, and there was speculation after the score won the Oscar for 1998 that he could launch a successful international career. That win, however, sat about as well with film music collectors and some industry insiders as Luis Bacalov's Oscar for Il Postino in 1995. Both small-scale, arthouse Italian scores beat far superior competition in their respective years, most notably stealing gold statues from James Horner and John Williams. Not surprisingly, significant resentment towards Piovani and Benigni lingers, especially for enthusiasts of Saving Private Ryan.

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While international flavor is a wonderful aspect of the world of film music, Life is Beautiful is indeed only an average score that rode the success of Benigni to its accolades. Piovani does admirably achieve that convincing balance of humor and tragedy so deeply required by the film's character. Two themes highlight the score's obviously disparate identities. The first is a longing theme of extraordinarily slow tempo in the opening cue, "Good Morning Princess." This theme receives the fullest treatment from the somewhat sparse orchestral ensemble, though the diminished size and honest pacing gives the theme a genuine heart. A mandolin and accordion offer Italian accents to already lovely woodwind and trumpet solos that carry the theme repeatedly. The second theme follows in "Life is Beautiful" and is, quite remarkably, a perfect reflection of Benigni's whimsically flighty comedy acting. An attractive light rhythm of almost tango origins merges light band elements with a catchy theme once again for woodwinds and trumpet (along with a fluttering mandolin for flavor). Subsequent cues mostly rotate between these themes, and both "Fabulous Night" and the concluding "We Won" cues are outstanding summaries of both ideas. A few notable cues along the way include the pompous waltz of "Grand Hotel Valse," the pre-War jazzy "Grand Hotel Fox," the gypsy rhythms of "Ethiopian Dance," and the tense variants of the bubbly secondary theme in "Train in the Darkness" and "Running in the Night," the score's only true suspense cues. A source opera track in "Barcarolle" is a distracting deviation from Piovani's work. Overall, the score is much like the film in that the dramatic side is more commendable stylistically, but the charming comedy side is more enjoyable for repeat listens. Both parts of the score, however, are lightweights compared to the standard Hollywood affair, which is often the case in the mass of understated romantic comedy scores from Italy. If fans were to open up and give a chance to one of the Italian Oscar-winning scores of the 1990's, Bacalov's Il Postino is a better place to start. While both efforts are repetitive and could easily bore mainstream soundtrack listeners, Il Postino offers more beautiful highlights and is better packaged for mass consumption with its mix of poetry readings with the music. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download