Ennio Morricone

Il trio infernale is Ennio Morricone's score for Francis Girod's 1974 film Le Trio infernal. The film follows a respected Marseille lawyer and two German sisters whose insurance frauds turn into a string of murders. The music matches the story with wedding rags, a recurring theme called Acido e charme and a mock requiem. The film opened in France on 22 May 1974. This LP from the Italian label Rustblade was mastered from the original tapes.

The film was adapted from a novel by Solange Fasquelle, with a screenplay by Girod and Jacques Rouffio, and its story opens in Marseille in 1919. It starred Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider. Morricone composed, orchestrated and conducted the score himself. The vocal parts are sung by Edda Dell'Orso with the choir I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. The soundtrack first came out in France in 1974 on Yuki Music, as a nine-track LP with French titles such as Acide et charme and Requiem à l'acide sulfurique.

This LP runs to sixteen tracks, built on a handful of themes that return in different guises. Acido e charme appears five times. The Rag nuziale marks the first, second and last weddings named in its titles. Il trio infernale itself comes back in five versions, from the six-minute main statement to cues of under two minutes. At the heart of side A sits Sinfonietta-Requiem all'acido solforico, over five minutes long. Its title points to the moment in the plot when the trio dissolve two of their victims in sulphuric acid. Side B is made of shorter variations and closes on the last return of the main theme.

The score has had several CD issues since the original LP, from Screen Trax in 1999 to Dagored in 2007 and GDM in 2010. Rustblade had already used the main theme on its 2016 compilation Paura. The label describes Morricone's work here as "dark, elegant pieces that echo the tone of the film". The release belongs to Rustblade's Morricone series, alongside Paura, Giallo criminale and Il gatto a nove code. A further remastered edition followed from the Spanish label Quartet Records in 2025.

This edition is a single LP on transparent magenta marble vinyl, limited to 499 copies for Record Store Day 2022, Rustblade catalogue number RBL082, mastered from the original master tapes.