Fernando Di Leo's Trilogy (3CD) (Various Artists)

Quartet Records, in collaboration with Universal Music Publishing Italia and GDM, presents a 3-CD box set with the premiere releases of three scores from Fernando di Leo's insane trilogy about love, sex and madness – all released in 1969!

AMARSI MALE is about a secretary getting involved with her boss' leftist son who goes against his industrialist father's political beliefs. However, when she finds out that being involved with a young rebel can be exhausting, it's already too late for her. Silvano Spadaccino and Iller Pattacini wrote an infectious score, structured around variations on the beautiful theme song performed by Maria Monti. It includes some cool choral performances by the 4 + 4 di Nora Orlandi, as well as two different love themes for a most unusual love triangle.

In BRUCIA, RAGAZZO, BRUCIA, a bored housewife finds an unexpected adventure with a young lifeguard, but her unhappy marriage may be even more toxic than she could anticipate. The music, composed by Gino Peguri, features the theme song "Brucia ragazzo, brucia" by French singer Evy (aka Evelyne Verrecchia). This love theme gets different makeovers in the music while the rest of the score alternates between organ-based suspense underscoring and various shake pieces.

The most exploitative movie of the three, I RAGAZZI DEL MASSACRO, came out in the wake of IF… but predates A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. A group of young students rape and kill their teacher in a shocking opening that sizzles out as the rest of the film turns to the standard police procedural. Silvano Spadaccino is the sole composer of the score (Pattacini appears here as conductor), providing one experimental theme and passages of musique concrète involving reversed playback methods (brought in whenever the film flashes back to the shocking opening). The "Adagio" piece from the score offers a more tuneful solution to the mystery.

While AMARSI MALE was released on a very hard-to find promotional LP in 1969, and the song of BRUCIA, RAGAZZO, BRUCIA was also released as a single, this is the premiere release of the full surviving recordings. Produced by Claudio Fuiano, mastered by Chris Malone, the package includes a lavishly designed 24-page booklet with authoritative liner notes by Gergely Hubai, who discuss the movies, the composers and the scores.


- Quartet Records