Ruba al prossimo tuo

Due the fact that the original master tapes were believed lost forever, this CD with the music from “Ruba al prossimo tuo” (aka “A fine pair”), directed in 1968 by Francesco “Citto” Maselli and starring Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale with special Guest star Tomas Milian, represents something that has been an unrealizable discographical dream for the fans of Ennio Morricone and Movie Music in general. In 1995 GDM Music issued a compilation CD called “WITH LOVE” (GDM 2007), a collection of love themes composed by Ennio Morricone. One theme from “Ruba al prossimo tuo” was enclosed directly transferred from the music track of the movie itself, but the source was in terrible conditions that did not make possible to create a master for a complete CD. An expanded suite (always taken from the same disputable source) was later enclosed on a Japanese CD (Volcano CPC8-1099), but unfortunately the sound quality was mediocre. It was only a few months ago that we discovered the original master tapes containing the whole original recording session in a very good mono sound. This CD encloses every musical note recorded in 1968. Just a curiosity: foreign versions of the movie are circulating with alternative music not penned by Ennio Morricone, extracted possibly from pre-existing libraries. Therefore our CD contains ONLY the original music composed by Morricone, conducted perfectly by Bruno Nicolai. For the adventures (jewellery robberies and escapes placed in America, Austria and in Rome) of two thieves in love, Esmeralda (Claudia Cardinale) and Albert (Rock Hudson), Ennio Morricone wrote a monothematic score including several orchestral variations of the main theme, a brilliant and very romantic motif with Lounge flavour, vocalised by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. Introduced first in “Titoli di Testa” (Tr.1) the main theme is reprised with several variations throughout the score: a Classic style version with harpsichord, organ and mandolin (Tr.2), a slow and dreamy one with the voice of Edda and also including the choir I Cantori (Tr.3), a samba version (Tr.4), a beat-flavoured mysterious version (Tr.6), another version once again with the splendid magical voice of Edda (Tr.11) and a slower variation with the whistle of Alessandro Alessandroni (Tr.16). The style of Ennio Morricone strongly recognizable in tracks 8 e 17, where a second, very romantic and lounge main theme is presented, featuring a keyboard used by the author frequently also in other scores like “Giu la testa” or “Tre donne”. A classic-style minuet theme (Tr. 10) with the operatic vocalism of Edda enriches the score. The third theme is a brilliant orchestral samba introduced by the type machine and developed by the whole orchestra (Tr.12) then reprised with the performance of the wonderful Cantori Moderni (Tr.12). Our Cd also contains three superb “shake” dancefloor music themes that bring us the unforgettable Beat atmospheres of those days’ discoteques (Tr.5, Tr.9, Tr.15). An unimaginable rescue of the Italian Silver Age.