Brancaleone alle Crociate

For the sequel to “For Love and Gold,” Carlo Rustichelli (December 24, 1916, Carpi - 13 November 2004, Rome) resumes his famous “March of Brancaleone” and “Pirulè” (the pilgrim theme), this time entrusting Gianfranco Plenizio to conduct the orchestra. Maestro Rustichelli created a new score which is romantic and veiled with sadness for Felicilla, the witch (Stefania Sandrelli) who enters Brancaleone’s heart. This time Brancaleone gets caught up in the Crusades and the score alternates dramatic with haunting passages that would fit perfectly in a horror film. For our CD (total running time 72:33 minutes), we were able to access the stereo master tapes of the original recording session. We’ve included the audio editing on the first twenty tracks which we personally prepared with Maestro Rustichelli for the CD’s first release in 1995, followed by film versions, alternate takes and the singles released in 1970 on the single RCA Records PM 3573 (S). This is a well-deserved musical recovery for the trio Monicelli, Rustichelli, Gassman, who created a masterpiece for Italian Cinema. Vittorio Gassman won “Best Actor” at the San Sebastian Festival in 1971 for this film.