Les feux de la chandeleur / La vieille fille

In collaboration with Warner Chappell Music France, Music Box Records is pleased to present on the same CD two original motion picture soundtracks composed and conducted by Michel Legrand. The common point with the two French films is actress Annie Girardot (at the height of her popularity in the 1970s.

For Les Feux de la Chandeleur, Legrand does not attempt here to mince words or to attenuate the melodramatic aspect of Korber's film. Indeed, on the contrary, perhaps influenced by a Hollywood aesthetic in which he is immersed in this period, he offers up to our ears a score in which plaintive and luxuriant strings dominate, that communicate a theme of infinite sadness. The score also includes some very "seventies" pop numbers, serving as backdrop to parties scenes as well as a nod towards musical comedy, a tribute to French cinema master Jacques Demy.

In La Vieille Fille, a sweet and melancholic musical score (but also dissonant and pop) includes numerous harmonically descending marches which illustrate main character's fall into speechlessness and reserve. Michel Legrand brought together a series of instruments both discreet and modest, but each of which nevertheless has its own prominent and perceptible colour (glockenspiel, celesta, harp, harpsichord).

Between the romantic heights of Les Feux de la Chandeleur and the melancholy delicateness of La Vieille Fille, this album presents a rich, complex and almost schizophrenic portrait of the composer Michel Legrand at the beginning of the 1970s. This special release has been fully remastered from the original master tapes.