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Composed by
NINO ROTA
Rating
*****
Album running time
55:08
Tracks
1: Prologue / Fanfare for the Prince (1:50)
2: Romeo (3:46)
3: Juliet (2:08)
4: The Feast at the House of Capulet (2:00)
5: Did My Heart Love 'Til Now? (3:03)
6: The Moresca (2:40)
7: What is a Youth? Luke Bateman (2:45)
8: Their First Meeting (2:47)
9: What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks? (2:48)
10: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow (2:47)
11: But This I Pray... Consent to Marry Us Today (3:09)
12: Romeo and Juliet are Wed Anna Polakova (1:45)
13: The Death of Mercutio and Tybalt (1:06)
14: Night's Candles are Burnt Out (4:39)
15: Adieu (1:52)
16: The Likeness of Death (4:29)
17: The Ride from Mantua (2:46)
18: Death... Hath Sucked the Honey of thy Breath (2:01)
19: In Capulet's Tomb (2:43)
20: O Happy Dagger (2:02)
21: Epilogue (2:12)
Performed by
Orchestrations
Engineered by
Released by
Artwork copyright (c) 2002 Silva Screen Records Ltd; review copyright (c) 2002 James Southall
THE CITY OF PRAGUE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS
led by
PAVE KUHN
conducted by
NIC RAINE
Organ
GARETH WILLIAMS
MIKE TOWNEND
JOHN LUARD TIMPERLEY
Produced by
JAMES FITZPATRICK
SILVA SCREEN
Serial number
FILMCD 358
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ROMEO AND JULIET
Magical score gets magical recording
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL
Franco Zeffirelli's legendary 1968 production of Romeo and Juliet was the third of his five Shakespeare projects for the screen, and remains probably the most popular screen version of any of Shakespeare's plays. It also inspired Nino Rota to write his most wonderful score: while many of his Fellini scores were extraordinary, and of course The Godfather scores are wonderful, it is Romeo and Juliet that really stands out as his masterpiece, at least in terms of his works for the cinema.
Brimming with exceptional melody, the main love theme has passed into popular culture. I've heard it played by a guitarist in London and on a pan flute in a subway station in New York. A superb melody, it is certainly one of the definitive pieces of music to have been heard in a motion picture. Its popularity has probably overshadowed the excellence of the other material contained in the score, which is a pity: there are several outstanding themes, perfectly capturing the timeless romance and tragedy of Shakespeare's best-loved story.
Rota manages to perfectly capture the period of the piece through both his use of instrumentation and his mastery of creating period dance music. There is also choral music in "But This I Pray... Marry Us Today" and a popular song based around his love theme, performed here by Luke Bateman in "What Is a Youth?" A handful of pieces for solo organ complement this wonderfully, especially in "Romeo and Juliet are Wed", in which vocalist Anna Polakova lends her talents.
Silva Screen gave the score its first proper release a few years ago, releasing the original tracks conducted by Rota, and somebody at the company clearly has a deep love for this music because now they have commissioned Mike Townend to reconstruct the entire score by ear (the manuscripts are, alas, lost) for this album, a complete rerecording. It is a sumptuous and exciting recording of the music, a fine example of what can happen when a group of enthusiasts with a shared passion get together - this version of Romeo and Juliet is an essential piece of any film music collection, an opulent presentation of a classic score.