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Alhambra Records proudly presents on this CD the world premiere release of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's complete original score in stereo for the movie DELITTO A POSILLIPO from 1967 which was an odd mixture of various genres – both melodrama and crime movie at the same time. It was the sole picture directed by the former Neapolitan executive producer Renato Parravicini and it starred the Italian celebrity Assunta "Pupetta" Maresca – her nickname Pupetta means "little doll" – in her only film appearance and the former Italian model Giancarlo Del Duca who entered the film business during the 1960s mainly due to his photogenic good looks.
In real life the so-called "Lady Camorra" Pupetta Maresca (1935-2021) had been a convicted murderer – she had made international newspaper headlines in 1955 when she had killed the murderer of her husband in Naples – and was pardoned in 1965, just two years before her film performance. Pupetta actually plays herself in this semi-autobiograpical love drama so that fact and fiction get intricately mixed up. Therefore wrong accusations which lead to her imprisonment – the Pupetta in the movie is supected of having murdered the employer – the night club owner Liz – of her husband Roberto whereas she believes him to be the culprit –, play an important role and just as it had happened in her real life she gives birth to her first child in prison. It is almost as if Pupetta wanted to vinidicate her former deeds through this movie so that in the end her inncoence is proved and the love couple even gets reunited outside of the prison doors.
Although DELITTO A POSILLIPO was just an unpretentious low-budget production which tried to exploit the notoriety of its female star, Lavagnino was able to compose a fully symphonic score for it which due to its lush romanticism far transcends the heavy-handedness of the direction. For the most part the music is mono-thematic as Lavagnino wrote a very passionate yearning and nostalgic tune mainly for a large string section with a strong Neapolitan flavour and therefore accompanied by mandolins, harps and guitar which can be heard in a lot of variants throughout the many love scenes of the film. In addition, there is a gentle and wistful melody for Pupetta´s grandmother and some more brooding and tragic overtones for those sequences centered around Pupetta´s jealousy and disappointment.
As the score itself is not a very long one, we have added as a bonus on the CD the pastoral and bucolic score Lavagnino had written for the otherwise silent short documentary CONCERTO D´AUTUNNO (AUTUMN CONCERTO) in 1955 which had been directed by Antonio Petrucci. This documentary with impressions of natural landscapes in Italy during the autumn season gave the composer the rare opportunity to write a memorable small symphonic work without any disturbing dialogues or sound effects.
This interesting CD project – the 17th CD in our Lavagnino series – has only been possible thanks to the generous support of the three daughters of the composer – Bianca, Iudica and Alessandra Lavagnino -, who still had open reel tape copies of the original stereo master tapes of DELITTO A POSILLIPO in their personal archive which we were allowed to use. Our CD edition which contains a 16-page booklet with extensive liner notes and colour stills from the movie will be limited to 400 copies.
- Alhambra Records
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