Title: Cuore
di cane (Dog’s heart)
Year: 1976
Composer: Piero Piccioni
This series
will probably be my shortest one because there really isn’t a large Italian
fantasy film scene. However this film from 1976 was filed under that
description and the premise seems quite fantastical: a doctor performs an
imaginative surgery on a stray dog which transforms then into a misbehaving
human. The film is based on a satire by Russian author Bulgakov who tried to
depict how communism was to transform mankind. The score for the film was
written by Maestro Piccioni who created a varied, Russian-flavoured, orchestral
piece of music which wonderfully bends to all the twists and turns the story
requires.
The opening
track introduces the two identities the score has: the mischievous comedic
music inspired by compositions of Russian composers such as Prokofiev, and the
sentimental romantic material which is extremely dramatic in contrast. This
juxtaposition is evident during the album’s whole duration and it gives a
certain tension to the listening experience. The comedic opening soon turns to
the first full performance of the main romantic theme for the whole orchestra.
This long-lined theme has to be one of the greatest ones Piccioni ever created.
It might be a little overplayed eventually but all the variations it gets are
just astounding. Seq. 2 pairs the
melody with mysterious atmospheres before turning to romantic major version
followed by the comical theme. The sentimental mood returns at the end. Seq. 5 is a dreamlike reprise of the theme’s
B section which by itself would be already an amazing melody but joined to the
main verse it’s just phenomenal. There are several long performances of the
theme in the album’s latter half, for instance in Seq. 16 where tasteful piano flourishes accompany the B section, Seq. 18 performed by a solo mandolin and
a moog synthesizer and Seq. 22 which emphasizes the synthesizers even more
but simplifies the harmonies. Luckily the final track on the album returns to
the norm and gives an emotional sendoff and closes the arch beautifully yet unceremoniously
as it should.
However by
far the best version of the romantic theme is Seq. 10 previously released under the title Lied all'improvviso. It’s a classically romantic lied complete with
a soprano vocalist singing in Russian. The passionate performance is
accompanied by moving yet understated string and piano performances. This cue
has to be one of my all-time favourite Piccioni compositions because the woeful
and agonizing quality of the music is just so heartbreakingly beautiful that it
makes your eyes water. The vocal version is reprised in Seq. 13 which drops the orchestra and has only the pure voice
singing over the nocturnal solo piano which is almost as moving as its
predecessor.
The comedic
cues feature an array of woodwind and brass instruments often accompanied by martial
drums and jazzy harmonies. They have a certain parade-like quality to them
mixed with hints of fox-trot. Seq. 3, 9 and 15 are prime examples of this style. Another theme, namely a
Russian polka is introduced in Seq. 4.
This melody is cheesy as hell but insanely catchy and makes you want to start
dancing tropak. The melody is performed with an authentic sounding band
featuring a mandolin, an accordion and a saloon piano. That same piano returns
in Seq. 6 this time playing a tune in
waltz groove and reminding me slightly of a merry-go-round before changing into
middle-eastern bazaar harmonies with pounding umpa-umpahs provided by the
tubas. Catchy ragtime jazz melodies are featured heavily in Seq. 7 before the Russian polka is
reprised with same harmonies but the main melody sounds like it had been reversed
somehow. Great fun nonetheless. The comedic theme has also a saloon performance
in Seq. 12 but the harmonies get more
and more insane as the track goes on making it sound like the record was broken
by the madness.
There are
also some weird suspenseful cues that represent the scientific experiments and
transformations. First one is Seq. 8
that consists of swirling and wandering high strings which have all kinds of
barking noises made with electronics, bassoons or brass instruments played over
them. More introverted electronic effects are at play in Seq. 11 which has also sound effects resembling the cold wind and
radar-like signals. There’s also hair-raising metallic screeching and tinkling
in Seq. 14. But by far the most
challenging piece is the 6-minute Seq. 17
with its atonal brass clusters and ‘laboratory’ music for primitive echoing synthesizer
elements which is unlike anything else on the album but unfortunately it becomes
rather annoying after a while. I respect the creativity here but it’s pretty hard
to consider even as music. The final montage of all moods heard previously: the
comedy, the romance and the suspense, is presented in the 7-minute Seq. 20 which might feel somewhat disjointed
but shows great mastery of implementing the different moods into a single piece
of music.
There’s so
much to love about this score and I highly recommend checking it out. The great
amount of additional material on the Beat Records album might be a hindrance, as
there might be just a bit too much making it hard to enjoy the score on a
single listen. Hence I can’t give it a full 5 star rating. The detailed and
complex orchestrations and harmonic language is among the composer’s very best
and provide a great deal of positive chills.
Rating: ****1/2
Tracklist:
1. Cuore di
cane (seq. 1) (03:28) *****
2. Cuore di
cane (seq. 2) (04:00) *****
3. Cuore di
cane (seq. 3) (02:53) ****
4. Cuore di
cane (seq. 4) (03:35) *****
5. Cuore di
cane (seq. 5) (01:59) *****
6. Cuore di
cane (seq. 6) (03:08) ****
7. Cuore di
cane (seq. 7) (04:43) *****
8. Cuore di
cane (seq. 8) (02:06) *****
9. Cuore di
cane (seq. 9) (02:45) ****
10. Cuore
di cane (seq. 10) (04:44) *****
11. Cuore
di cane (seq. 11) (03:14) ****
12. Cuore
di cane (seq. 12) (02:23) *****
13. Cuore
di cane (seq. 13) (03:16) *****
14. Cuore di
cane (seq. 14) (01:38) ****
15. Cuore
di cane (seq. 15) (02:26) ***
16. Cuore
di cane (seq. 16) (03:03) *****
17. Cuore
di cane (seq. 17) (06:32) ***
18. Cuore
di cane (seq. 18) (02:08) ****
19. Cuore
di cane (seq. 19) (02:02) ****
20. Cuore
di cane (seq. 20) (07:09) ****
21. Cuore
di cane (seq. 21) (01:23) ****
22. Cuore
di cane (seq. 22) (02:16) ****
23. Cuore
di cane (seq. 23) (03:03) *****
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