Nino Rota

Quartet Records presents a greatly expanded CD of an early Nino Rota/Federico Fellini collaboration.

Coming hot off the heels of La Strada, Fellini’s Il Bidone (1955), starring Broderick Crawford, was considerably less of a hit than its predecessor. The film tells the story of a trio of con men who are each faced with the consequences of their unlawful action. After a series of humiliating and humbling encounters, former members of the gang try to change their ways—but not all of them will survive to enjoy their newfound way of life.

The score by Nino Rota is as versatile as his later Fellini collaborations with a series of great themes that are already classics in the pantheon of the Rota-Fellini collaboration. Ranging from the carnival marches to a film noir-inspired theme that matches the darker tone as well as the background of star Broderick Crawford, the score also includes beautiful source cues composed for the New Year’s Eve party. As a special treat, the scene with Augusto and his daughter actually reuses the main theme from a previous Fellini movie, The White Sheik.

This expanded edition presents more than one hour of the original score (mostly chronologically sequenced) on Disc One, and the short original 1955 album program and alternates on Disc Two. Restored and mastered by Chris Malone from first-generation master tapes courtesy of Gruppo Sugar. The package includes liner notes by Gergely Hubai discussing both the background of the film and the score.