Ercole al centro della terra

Digitmovies continues its musical celebration of Mario Bava, the Master of Fantastic Cinema, by releasing for the first time the complete original motion picture score by Armando Trovajoli (born in Rome, 1917) for the movie "Ercole al centro della terra" (aka "Hercules in the haunted world"), directed by Bava in 1961. This, his second official directorial effort, is a fabulous hybrid of Peplum and Horror in which the villain of the piece is the legendary Christopher Lee as the evil Lycos, the Lord of Darkness. This fifth volume in the Mario Bava Soundtrack Anthology series is made possible, as always, thanks to the close collaboration of C.A.M. in whose archives the monoaural mastertapes of the original session, complete and in very good condition, has survived after four and a half decades. M° Trovajoli, one of the most famous exponents of Jazz Music in Italy and the author of hundreds of original scores for the screen, has written and conducted a symphonic score based on music typical of the Peplum genre, really started with the two Hercules movies directed by Francisci and starring the spectacular Steve Reeves (scores available on double disc set Digitmovies CDDM057), but also characterized by innovative sound experiments. The score alternates orchestral passages like "Titoli" (Tr.2) which, after a subdued and mysterious beginning, develops into a churning, dramatic theme dominated by brass; "Apparizione di Ercole", an epic motif introduced by French horns and orchestra (Tr.3); "Agguato & battaglia" (Tr.4), an ostinato for brass and percussions; and the suggestive "Pazzia di Deianira" (tr.7) with a magic use of strings, harp, celeste, and brass. A romantic moment is underscored by "Ercole e Deianira (Tema d'amore)" (Tr.21), written for solo viola and orchestra, and the conclusive "L'amore trionfa (Finale") (Tr.28) concludes the score with a powerful orchestral explosion, following a burlesque introduction. M° Trovajoli perfectly succeeded in describing in musical terms Bava's "Haunted World" with a series of remarkable, experimental sound effects, including a lot of suggestive sound effects that almost anticipate the colours of the psychedelic era of later in the decade (Tr.1, Tr.8,Tr.10, Tr.14,Tr.16, Tr.17, Tr.22, Tr.25, Tr.26, Tr.27). As bonus track at the end of our CD, we have included the rare Intermission music between the "Primo Tempo" and "Secondo Tempo" parts of the movie (Tr.29), discovered with the original master tapes. Despite careful digital restoring and remastering, some anomalies inherent in the original source recordings remain.