Stelvio Cipriani

  Quartet Records and Gruppo Sugar presents the premiere presentation of two previously unreleased Stelvio Cipriani groovy scores, both focused on dramas taking place in the Years of Lead (a period of social and political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s).  Adimaro Sala’s LA NOTTE La Notte Dell'Ultimo Giorno (1974) chronicles the making of a fictional thesis film entitled La Fiammata as director Beppe Banti (Tony Kendall) tries to realize his vision without compromising with the producer or being discouraged by the suicide of his screenwriting partner. Cipriani offers a breezy counterpoint to the emotional trauma of the misunderstood filmmakers with an exciting main theme and a sensual cue for a forbidden affair. 

Lucio De Caro’s Processo Per Direttissima (1972) takes both terrorism and police brutality as the basis of its story, as an assault on a train leads to the arrest of left-wing activist Stefano Baldini (Michele Placido). When his four-day interrogation ends with his death, journalist Cristina Visconti (Ira von Fürstenberg) decides to investigate the story. The program presents Cipriani’s original music as it was written and recorded, before getting spliced up and inserted in the movie in 20-40 second chunks.  Mastered by Claudio Fuiano from first-generation stereo master tapes, the 8-page liner notes by Gergely Hubai discuss the composer, the films and the scores.