(Mulo Francal – tenor sax, soprano sax, c-melody sax, clarinet, alto and bass clarinet; Robert Wolf – guitar; Heinz-Ludger Jeromin – accordion; D.D. Lowka – acoustic bass; Wolfgang Lohmeier – engineer, percussion (tr. 7); Pegasus String Quartet (5, 7); other guests)
Even before movies had sound, they had soundtracks. Silent film wasn’t silent for anyone sitting in a darkened movie house, since musicians provided dramatic and/or humorous musical settings performed live as the flickering scenes played on the silver screen. And ever since, some of the most memorable music of the 20th and 21st centuries has been composed for motion pictures.
Which is why German ensemble Quadro Nuevo put together CinéPassion, an album that will appeal primarily to tango enthusiasts and soundtrack fans, but also to other listeners. For those who are not acquainted with the multifaceted group, Quadro Nuevo is one of the world’s foremost tango-inspired bands, who have capably and enticingly resurrected declining Latin American and European musical conventions, combining traditional and progressive tango with jazz, European classical motifs, folk, pop and swing.
CinéPassion was recorded in 2000 and originally released in 2002, making this Justin Time reissue a fine opportunity for many to discover or rediscover the bountiful musical harvest that fills the fourteen tracks. And quite a gathering it is. CinéPassion nearly covers the entire breadth and span of film history. There are universally recognizable tunes (the love theme from Spartacus and the main theme from Lawrence of Arabia) to obscure items (does anyone remember Billy Wilder’s 1972 Avanti! or Stephen Frears’ 1984 gangster flick The Hit?), and roams from 1925 to 1999, from Charlie Chaplin to M. Night Shyamalan.
Despite music culled from French, American, English, Italian, German and other sources, Quadro Nuevo maintains a colorful continuity throughout the hour-long program, because the foursome astutely chose music that shares specific melodic or emotional qualities and rearranged others to fit the album’s basic disposition.
The record opens with Nino Rota’s unforgettable Gelsomina theme for La Strada, beautifully spotlighted by Mulo Francel’s lead soprano sax and Robert Wolf’s puckish guitar fretwork, a tune that captures the film’s frenetic circus background as well as the story’s tragedy. That’s followed by El Dia Que Me Quieras (The Day You Love Me), which started its movie life as the theme song for an unfamiliar 1935 movie, but was more recently revived in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver. Quadro Nuevo’s Astor Piazzolla-influenced rendition is decidedly different than Penelope Cruz’s vocal version that movie-goer’s may have heard.
While several songs are more or less straightforward, sometimes the group puts its unique touch on well-known compositions. This is most notable on the main theme and arabesque from Maurice Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia. With some help from the Pegasus String Quartet and Wolfgang Lohmeier’s percussion, Quadro Nuevo reorganizes the famous and iconic work into a Middle Eastern/jazz/Indian mixture. Quadro Nuevo also do some intriguing alterations to the Verdi theme used for the poetically melancholic Jean de Florette, utilizing a naturalistically upbeat outcome that belies the narrative’s fatal conclusion.
There are many other wonderful moments ready to be experienced by listeners, including pieces by Paco de Lucia, James Newton Howard and Ennio Morricone. Though some material is not well known, there’s an inherent familiarity due to the quartet’s inventive use of humor and tenderness that straddles light lounge music, undiluted tango, continental styles and some world music elements. While the music has a personal and emotive focus, the recording is no less mannered. Quadro Nuevo and engineer Wolfgang Lohmeier prominently and intimately highlight the acoustic instruments, furnishing D.D. Lowka’s bass deep and revenant, layering reverb on the horns and accordion to give them emphasis, and closely micing Robert Wolf’s acoustic guitar, providing a ringing, warm tone.
TrackList:
1 La Strada (Gelsomina)
2 El Dia Que Me Quieras (Volver)
3 Out of Rosenheim/Baghdad Café (Calling You)
4 Un Homme et une Femme (Plus Fort Que Nous)
5 La Habanera (Der Wind Hat Mir ein Lien Erzhat)
6 The Gold Rush (Georgia)
7 Lawrence of Arabia (Arabesque-Main Theme)
8 Zwei in Einer Grosse Stadt (Main Theme)
9 Enrico IV (Oblivion)
10 The Hit (Themes)
11 Diva (Sentimental Walk)
12 Jean de Florette (Main Theme)
13 Spartacus (Love Theme)
14 Le Professional (Chi Mai)
15 The Sixth Sense (Running to the Church)
16 Avanti Avanti (Un’Ora Sola Ti Vorrei/For One More Hour with You)
— Doug Simpson
