Prova d'Orchestra

Aside from his work on the Godfather movies, I was aware that Nino Rota had penned many scores for film maker Federico Fellini of which Amarcord was perhaps the most well known. However, a strong desire to acquire as much Rota as possible stemmed from hearing several stunning tracks on a rather superb compilation on Sony Classical, Prova D'Orchestra being one of them. The music is full of wit, lyricism and orchestral flair. It was with some disappointment that I received the original score album for Prova D'Orchestra and discovered that it essentially contained no more music than I already had available.

The opening track opens promisingly with a sprightly piano solo, but that is soon joined by dialogue, from the film... lots of it and in Italian. Throughout we hear snippets of Rota's music mixed with dialogue from what I assume to be spoken by members of the orchestra. What they are are talking about is not known to me, my knowledge of Italian being very little. The remaining tracks are essentially two versions of the same music. Tracks two to seven essentially comprise track eight, but edited into small sections and intermittent stops as the conductor interrupts to give musical directions to the players, again in Italian. It is only in the Suite da Prova D'Orchestra do we get to hear Rota's superb music, distilled into a brief, but wonderful suite. Opening with a playful scherzo, this is followed by a bouncing waltz with some almost dissonent high violin descants. Orchestra in Attesa is a gorgeous, yet mournful oboe solo that is soon dispelled by a comedic Galopp. The final Risatine Maliziose is one of those lilting scherzos full of repeated slurs that Rota is so fond of and makes a fine end to an enjoyable orchestral suite.

My initial reaction to the album was huge disappointment, but the film which is more of a documentary almost certainly contained no more music that is actually contained in the selection in the final track. Of course, Fellini fans who speak Italian might find the first seven tracks insightful, but everyone else will likely find only enjoyment listening to the final track. It is perhaps unfortunate that CAM didn't release the suite at the end of another Rota album as a bonus, rather than pad the album out in this manner. I am sure there are people who will enjoy the dialoge greatly, although surely watching the film has the same effect?! Whatever the case, it is a constraint of the film and the way it was scored that makes this album almost impossible to recommend above hearing it on the aforementioned Sony compilation - the performance and recording both being better than the originals - and I would unfortunately recommend instead.