Buy it... if you fondly recall the Oscar-winning score to Life
is Beautiful and seek a decent sampler of Nicola Piovani works from
the previous decade.
Avoid it... if Piovani's distinctly Italian style of intimate,
rhythmic romanticism is predictably irritating to your more
melodramatically-inclined sensibilities.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Piovani
Music from the Cinema: Volume 1: (Nicola Piovani)
After his sudden burst into the international spotlight with a 1998
Academy Award for his score to Life is Beautiful, Italian Nicola
Piovani's work began receiving more exposure on the American market.
While having scored over 100 European films during the previous decade,
his level of recognition outside of European cinema was minimal, and the
Oscar win gave his name the same international appeal as Luis Bacalov
and a handful of other regional composers. The scores for Italian films
are typically the subject of album release for C.A.M. Soundtracks of
Italy, perhaps the foremost European soundtrack label in existence. In
the wake of Piovani's Oscar win, though, the Pacific Time Entertainment
Company in New York opened a series of "Music from the Cinema" albums
with an entry compiling pieces of earlier scores by Piovani onto one
sampler-style product. The second volume in the series, released
concurrently with this one, was devoted to the works of Pino Donaggio,
and both albums are easily distinguishable by their somewhat unusual
graphic art on the covers. On this "Volume 1" is included a wide variety
of Piovani's scores from 1986 to 1994, with music that ranges in style
from orchestrally dramatic to purely electronic rock. As to be expected,
the listening experience is greatly varied. The album begins well, with
four orchestral cues (from two films) that fans of Life is
Beautiful could easily appreciate. The ensemble in these sections is
of medium size, but Piovani's light and often dancing Italian touch adds
plenty of personality where power lacks. The selections from the third
and fourth films are more difficult to grasp, though. The five cues from
Fiorile are extremely diverse to exist in the confines of a
single film; the first cue has a distinct loungy, jazz style, and this
romanticism gives away to a more ambitious series of rock beats before
ultimately returning to a full choral performance with orchestral depth.
The tracks that follow combine a trademark Italian/Mediterranean style
(i.e. you better like accordions) with a variety of synthesizers and a
small ensemble of performers.
Piovani has a career that spans many different
countries and media, and outside of his scores for film and television,
Piovani has also provided the music for numerous theatrical works. The
fifteenth track changes of the pace of the album from the composer's
consistently light and playful film music to full and dramatic
orchestral music that has the essence of theatre, accompanied by a large
male chorus. As the highlight of the album, some listeners will no doubt
be interested in hearing further works by Piovani along these lines.
This selection also seems to provide a significantly more vibrant sound
quality compared to surrounding cues. Heard again in the following
selections are more of his theatrical-sounding works, and the fullest
personality of Piovani's music is evident during these tracks. The album
finishes with a score that is closer to street level (no pun intended,
for those of you who have seen the film), as it draws from a small jazz
ensemble that features pleasant piano and guitar performances. Overall,
the album is an excellent treatment of Piovani's work during this period
of his career. Sound quality is often intimate, which is not unexpected
given the personality of most of the scores provided. Be aware, though,
that only a very little portion contains music that resembles the grand
and melodramatic themes comparable to those heard in Life is
Beautiful. Off hand, many American listeners would probably place
Life is Beautiful at a higher level than most everything on this
"Music from the Cinema" compilation (which may very well logically
explain why he won the Oscar for it rather than any of these, though the
popularity of the film had the most to do with the Oscar consideration).
One curiosity regarding the album that is not explained (other than its
strangely wasteful packaging that offers a blank insert) is the absence
of any works by the composer in the five most recent years before the
CD's assembly. On the whole, though, Piovani has a distinctly
interesting scoring style that should not be summarily dismissed by
American film music fans, even though it might be difficult to
appreciate fully on the first or second listen. ***
