Rota: La Strada, Concerto Soirée, Il Gattopardo, Benedetto Lupo, piano

Frederico Fellini’s attachment to Nino Rota ensured the composer’s position in posterity. All of his films were scored by Rota, who was also courted by other famous film directors including Visconti, Zeffirelli and, of course, Francis Ford Coppola for whom he wrote the eternally popular theme from The Godfather. Despite his place in history, (Stravinsky was among his contemporaries), Rota eschewed new developments in music, preferring to employ more traditional harmonic and melodic patterns in his compositional style. Dances and folk themes are woven with humour and imaginative orchestration into his work, showing great craftsmanship yet reflecting his love of game-playing within his art. Listen to the music from La Strada, (Fellini, 1954) here made into a Symphonic Suite from the 1966 ballet based on the same material. Il Circo (track 3) made me chuckle, with its cheeky trumpet tune reminiscent of Prokofiev. Here, romantic themes are never sickeningly sentimental as in so many modern film scores. On this beautifully presented disc we are also treated to his Concert Soirée played by Benedetto Lupo, who knew Rota from his time as a student at the Bari Conservatory, as well as music from The Leopard. In the booklet, replete with atmospheric stills from the films, there is a comprehensive analysis of the Concert Soirée as well as an insightful interview with Lupo about the Maestro, man and music. The orchestra are named individually, quite rightly, this is not music which is easy to perform, but they all play superbly, and, under Josep Pons’s affectionate baton, are excellent ambassadors for the funny, fey music of this anachronistic yet inspirational composer.