La Bellissima Estate

Originally released in 1974 on RCA records, this is a soundtrack that will delight and please any collector who subscribes to the romantic sounding film score. It will also be of interest to collectors who have a preference for the more romantically laced works of composers Franco Micalizzi and Roberto Pregadio I say this because the style and sound achieved is somewhat similar to Micalizzi’s scores for THE LAST SNOWS OF SPRING, TREE WITH PINK LEAVES and also ALLA CARA MIA MAMMA. Pomeranz utilises to great effect the beautiful wordless vocals of Edda Dell Orso, and combines her unique aural talents with soaring strings and piano, which are at times combined and performed in unison creating some of those spine-shivering moments. Light and easy going compositions are the mainstay of this work, along with choir and slightly jazz influenced passages that create a magical and hauntingly mesmerising work. The movie itself is a tearjerker, one of many that was produced in Italy during the mid to late 1970s, I don’t think this particular example was that successful outside of Italy’s borders, but it starred the attractive screen siren Senta Berger which for me has to be a plus. The score is quite breathtaking and the composer seems to squeeze every drop of emotion out of the orchestra as they treat the listener to some wonderfully romantic and emotive tone poems. Every track on this compact disc is a joy to hear the haunting melodies are lush and richly elegant. The disc contains 14 cues which originally appeared on the RCA long player, and a further 11 cues which are listed as bonus tracks, all 25 tracks on the CD are in full and crystal clear stereo sound. I just love the sound that Pomeranz has created, he utilises piano to maximum effect and enhances and embellishes this with a light and delicate dusting of harpsichord, plus strings and equally delicate and touching woodwind. There are a number of slightly upbeat cues within the work, samba type compositions with Edda taking the lead, supported by jazz infused rhythms that are underlined by the use of sliding string adding colour, texture and substance to the cues. Packaged attractively, but once again no notes, which I think would have been of great benefit to the release, as the film is virtually unknown and the composer too is not that well recognised by collectors. But hey, we can’t have it all, and when the music is as good as this well we can I suppose forgive Hillside. There are a few additional compositions on the score which are the work of composer Luciano Michelini, but the track listing credits do not indicate which one’s these are. But Michelini performed piano on a number of soundtracks so maybe that is why he is credited here. Overall a winner from the joint stables of GDM and Hillside.