A Prayer For The Dying & La Buca

2 new releases From Quartet Records

Quartet Records has released 2 new titles. Bill Conti's score to A Prayer For The Dying and Pino Donaggio's score to La Buca.

Quartet Records and MGM present the world premiere release of an original score by renowned composer Bill Conti (Rocky, The Right Stuff, For Your Eyes Only, The Karate Kid). The 1987 dramatic thriller A Prayer for the Dying starred Mickey Rourke, Liam Neeson, Sami Davis, Bob Hoskins and Alan Bates, and was directed by Mike Hodges.

The film is about Martin Fallon (Rourke), an IRA bomber who tries to blow up a troop truck but instead kills a busload of school children. Losing heart, he quits the movement and goes to London, where he tries to leave the U.K. and start a new life. The IRA wants him back (he knows too much) and the local crime boss, Meehan, will only help him if he performs one last hit, on a rival crime boss. When Fallon performs the hit, he is seen by a Catholic priest. He refuses to kill another innocent and must find a way to escape the police without killing the priest who can identify him.

Bill Conti wrote one of his most beautiful and melodic scores for the film, incorporating Irish reminiscences, a wonderful love theme, and a good amount of suspense and action music.

Assembling the complete score for CD release has been a great challenge. A set of stereo mixes was incomplete; a set of 24-track masters was also incomplete. Putting them together, there were still three cues missing, but thanks to the stereo music stem provided by MGM (thankfully the film was mixed in stereo), we were able to complete the puzzle. Now you can enjoy every second of music written by Bill Conti for the movie.

The package includes a 20-page full-color booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, including new interviews and comments from Bill Conti, producer Peter Snell, and composer John Scott (whose initial score for the film was rejected by the producers).

Track list

01. Main Titles (6:46)
02. The Raid (3:11)
03. Graveside Hit (3:36)
04. Martin Waits / Martin’s Confession / Billy & Jenny (3:28)
05. Malachi’s Meeting (1:33)
06. Martin Meets Anna / Meehan the Malevolent (2:47)
07. Trashing the Church / Da Costa’s Agony / Message for Martin (3:08)
08. It’s All Right Malachi / Malachi’s Murder (8:06)
09. Martin & Anna (5:11)
10. Billy Goes Away (5:30)
11. Meehan at Church (1:06)
12. Meehan Gets Anna / The Boat (0:36)
13. Martin & Meehan / Martin on the Cross (3:30)
14. End Credits (3:42)
Total Disc Time: 51:47

The second release is La Buca, the new score composed by Pino Donaggio (Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Passion, Patrick) for the film of Daniele Ciprì, starring Sergio Castellito, Rocco Papaleo and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.

The film is about two men who meet by chance in a bar. Armando (Papaleo) is a poor man recently released from prison after twenty-seven years of wrongful incarceration—or, at least, he says he is innocent. Oscar (Castellitto) is not so much a lawyer as a ruffian who sees a business opportunity and offers to arrange a retrial.

The favorite composer of Brian de Palma provides a surprising and charming score—a personal homage from Donaggio to a composer he much admires, George Gershwin. It is a romantic, melodic score with light-hearted passages, beautifully orchestrated, and far from the suspense sound for which the composer is better known.

The music has been recorded with the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianluca Podio, with the prestigious Steffano Bollani as piano soloist.

Track list

01.It All Begins (3:35)
02.La Buca (2:34)
03.Attempted Fraud (2:02)
04.The Bus (0:53)
05.Arianna (1:29)
06.The Invalid (0:57)
07.Suburbs (0:50)
08.Night Thoughts (2:25)
09.Charming Look (2:19)
10.Nancho (1:40)
11.In the Can (1:03)
12.Retirement Home (1:36)
13.Tribunal (2:08)
14.Breakfast is Served (0:55)
15.Hot Club (3:13)
16.Same Old Bar (1:52)
17.Trip to Switzerland (1:33)
18.Hearing in Court (2:48)
19.Closing Statement (2:38)