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Review of El Verano Que Vivimos (Federico Jusid)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you delight in nimbly flowing European romance scores dominated by rolling piano performances, Federico Jusid providing a well-executed exploration of the genre in this lovely work.

Avoid it... if you demand a cohesive musical narrative over a longer album presentation, this score never quite congealing into the classic it could have been.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

El Verano Que Vivimos (The Summer We Lived): (Federico Jusid) A visually spectacular but otherwise lacking historical romance, El Verano Que Vivimos debuted in Spain in late 2020 to middling responses. The film's extraordinary exploration of the country's landscapes is countered by a plot that strives for intrigue and forbidden love but is ultimately trapped between two competing timelines and confusing flashbacks. A frustrated journalism student in 1998 interns at a remote Spanish newspaper that receives the same mysterious obituary each year. She is sent to the other end of the country on an investigation of these obituaries, learning that they had been coming from a recently deceased man with a suggestion of grand romance from decades past. The young woman teams with the man's reluctant son to determine the backstory of these obituaries and uncovers the sprawling love story from 1958 on the setting of a gorgeous vineyard. Death and deceit await in the troubled timeline, the story destined to be bittersweet. The soundtrack for El Verano Que Vivimos is headlined by a song of the same title by Alejandro Sanz, though that rather mundane entry has little in common with the original score by Argentinian composer Federico Jusid, whose work spans both American and Spanish projects on big and small screens. Jusid, while seeming a relative newcomer to many film music collectors after his increasingly impressive output in the late 2010's, has enjoyed a solid career dating back to the 1990's, and for enthusiasts of his more romantic orchestral capabilities, El Verano Que Vivimos will be a delight. In its basic demeanor, this work is Jusid's Spanish equivalent to Philippe Rombi's approach to similar French cinema, airy but deeply affecting romance genre swooning that overwhelms with the force of a feather. The composer plays upon the movie's appeal to the senses by overplaying his role in a few passages, the music sometimes overwhelming scenes with its shamelessly lovely attitude. But such expressions may compensate for the movie's questionable plot, and they certainly provide for an outstanding listening experience outside of the film.

Jusid offers surprisingly little ethnic specificity in El Verano Que Vivimos, allowing a Spanish guitar to join the orchestral ensemble but otherwise striving for a more generic European sensibility. (The latter half of "Lucía Vega, Mi Prometida" contains perhaps this score's most stereotypically Spanish flavor in its guitar and violin performances of common Latin progressions.) The recording is dominated by solo piano and strings, with occasional fuller contributions by other players at times. While the score excels when it expands to include flute flourishes in "El Verano Que Vivimos," French horns in "Aquel Verano," and clarinet in "Mi Refugio," its true spirit lives in the piano. Perhaps nothing better defines a superior European romance score than a mixture of solemnly pretty piano solos that evolve into rolling rhythmic grandeur for thematic swells. Jusid accomplishes this technique admirably in El Verano Que Vivimos. The highlights of his score almost always involve the piano's elegance placed prominently in the mix, typically with well-layered strings for depth. Solo strings of more formal stature, as best heard in "En la Feria," are equally impressive. The bass region is represented often by plucked or chopped lower strings and fearless use of the piano's lowest octaves, allowing the score a nimbler feeling of movement rather than overwrought, John Barry-like weight. The shifting timelines, moments of adversity, and conversational interludes cause the score to alternate between nearly inaudible but tonal meanderings and the explosions of lovely scenery accompaniment, Jusid applying a few cues of suspense and fright in the latter half as required by the story. Don't expect any stingers or other obvious sync points with action on screen. The narrative of the score definitely favors its first half, the best exploration of the primary themes conveyed in the early passages and the somewhat somber closing adversely affecting even the tone of the end credits cue. The score's main themes are extensively developed and extraordinarily intertwined, a common rhythmic device often connecting them in underlying progressions only, though the secondary ideas become increasingly frustrating in their lack of development. Jusid supplies two thematic cores to El Verano Que Vivimos, possibly to represent the converging 1998 and 1958 storylines, though one functions as a clear interlude to the other.

The primary theme can be recognized by its coincidental resemblance of the main theme from Arnold's The World is Not Enough in its first four notes. This idea becomes progressive bigger at 0:35, 0:57, and 1:20 into "¿Quiere Que la Lleve?" before retreating to a slight reference on piano at 2:11 into "En la Noche." Its full exuberance with piano and ensemble returns at 0:59 and 1:32 into "El Verano Que Vivimos." A solo piano rendition twinkles at 1:31 into "Un Tiempo Infinito" and fragments of the idea extend at 0:37 into "En la Feria" beneath a notable violin solo and at 1:09 in urgent phrases only. Whimsical airiness awaits the theme at 0:28 into "Aquel Verano," slight hopefulness returning at 0:54 into "Marismas." At 0:29 into "Mi Refugio," Jusid alters theme liberally early on, and a new variant emerges at 0:45 into "Lucía Vega, Mi Prometida." Fragments of the theme open "Vámonos" and continue under action movement at 3:30. Listeners awaiting a reprise of the gorgeous romantic renditions will appreciate the performance at 1:00 into "Encuentros," and while "Créditos el Verano Que Vivimos" opens with the theme more softly on piano, its fuller incarnation offers its conclusion at 1:04. One of the hidden gems in El Verano Que Vivimos comes at 1:21 into "El Hijo de Gonzalo," as Jusid expresses the main theme on piano under its own interlude sequence as counterpoint before parsing a highly compelling string variant at 1:40. The relationship between the main theme and its own interlude could have its meaning exposed here, as the interlude functions as a separate identity as well. This idea is first heard in upbeat, flowing form at 0:50 and 1:09 into "¿Quiere Que la Lleve?" before dissolving to remnants by 1:38 into that cue. A tentative rendition at 1:02 into "En la Noche" turns to massive piano romance at 1:39. This alternation continues with faint references at the start of "El Verano Que Vivimos" before another full performance at 1:16. The idea overflows in full string mode at 0:39 into "Carreras en la Playa" with an almost John Williams-like sincerity. Solo piano and hesitant strings offer the interlude theme at 0:34 into "Un Tiempo Infinito" and are joined by the score's rolling rhythmic motif at 2:30. It opens "Marismas" on sensitive piano before reassuming interlude duties at 1:26 for the main theme. Its hints at 0:52 into "El Hijo de Gonzalo" go undeveloped and its demeanor turns oppressed at 2:18 and 3:01 into the confrontation cue, "La Ira de Hernán." The interlude is referenced in "Créditos el Verano Que Vivimos" at 0:39 and 1:35.

The aforementioned rhythmic motif of the score is another highlight from Jusid, its underlying chords often accessed as a tool of narrative momentum. This rhythm is the first thing you hear in "¿Quiere Que la Lleve?" and more softly introduces the main theme at 0:43 into "El Verano Que Vivimos." It can function independently of the themes as well, accompanying pretty counterpoint lines only at 1:50 into "Un Tiempo Infinito." A variation of the rhythm opens "Aquel Verano," and it's twisted into a panic at the start of "Persecución." Its progressions are hinted at the beginning of "El Hijo de Gonzalo" and clarify themselves on piano at 1:57. By 0:41 into "Encuentros," reserved anticipation on strings is all that remains of this motif. The interplay between these themes is often quite inspired by Jusid, and these main ideas and their secondary counterparts are frequently defined by four-note phrases, perhaps some recognition of the two couples in the story. Among the score's best secondary material is that for the Adela character, "Viña Adela" containing two separate ideas that frustrating disappear in the remainder of the work. The main Adela theme occurs at 0:13, 0:38, and 3:04 into "Viña Adela," usually on sparse solo piano, with a slightly fuller moment at 1:41 and a horn solo at 2:04 that could have used a little more practice by the player. A separate and compelling interlude for the Adela theme can be heard at 1:04 and 2:21 into "Viña Adela" as well. Other singular motifs worth mentioning in El Verano Que Vivimos include a playful chasing representation in the opening and closing of "Carreras en la Playa" that reminds of the extroverted portions of Debbie Wiseman's Wilde. An adversity motif is presented at 0:00 and 0:55 into "Persecución" while several variants of the score's suspense motifs commence at 0:58 into "Vámonos." Together, these themes ensure that Jusid's score is an extremely melodic one, but it's not necessarily as satisfying in its full narrative as it could have been. Still, he provides more than enough individual moments of undeniable beauty with his main themes and a few of the secondary ideas to compensate. This is the kind of music that allows high listening volumes, only "Carreras en la Playa" requiring dial back for a smooth and elegant listening experience. A vibrant recording mix assists greatly and begs for a lossless presentation. (The digital-only release does offer high resolution options.) Romance music like this may not represent an intellectual reinvention of any kind, but Jusid's execution of the genre is outstanding for much of this score's rather brief running time on album, only a lack of truly clear musical narrative and somewhat tepid closing fifteen minutes clouding an otherwise sunny experience.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 42:29

• 1. ¿Quiere Que la Lleve? (2:40) • 2. En la Noche (3:06) • 3. El Verano Que Vivimos (1:44) • 4. Viña Adela (3:37) • 5. Carreras en la Playa (1:46) • 6. Un Tiempo Infinito (3:18) • 7. En la Feria (1:56) • 8. Aquel Verano (1:19) • 9. Marismas (2:24)

• 10. Mi Refugio (1:23) • 11. Persecución (1:38) • 12. El Hijo de Gonzalo (2:30) • 13. Lucía Vega, Mi Prometida (2:01) • 14. Vámonos (4:14) • 15. La Ira de Hernán (3:34) • 16. Encuentros (1:41) • 17. Descubriendo a Mi Padre (1:21) • 18. Créditos el Verano Que Vivimos (2:17)

NOTES & QUOTES:

There exists no official packaging for this album.

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