Rene la Canne / One, Two, Two: 122 rue de Provence

MUSIC BOX RECORDS is pleased to present on the same CD two original motion picture soundtracks composed, orchestrated and conducted by Ennio Morricone: Rene la Canne (1977) directed by Francis Girod and One, Two, Two: 122, rue de Provence (1978) directed by Christian Gion.

What strikes the listener immediately in the main title of Rene la Canne is its metronome-like rhythm, which recalls in a certain sense that of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970). Morricone plays with the incongruity of sounds, taking often the opposite tack to the clichés of "retro" movie music. Synthesizers are not left out of his score, just as certain rhythms come close to Brazilian music. The score is at the same time synthetic and acoustic, grotesque and tragic, straight-backed and bow-legged.

It is in a more classical vein that Morricone would write the other score presented on this album. In One, Two, Two: 122, rue de Provence, Morricone made the choice of a sophisticated music, but also one that is nostalgic, following the example of the piano/harp dialogue or violin solos that we hear all through the score.

Newly mastered by Claudio Fuiano from the original master tapes, courtesy of Sugar Music and EMI, this new reissue contains the same LP/CD record programs for both films. As the two previous CD releases have been out of print for several years by now, we are very pleased to reissue these two classic film scores from his French period. Throughout the two films, Morricone has brought two different timbres—both however very personalized—to the "retro" cinema of the 1970s.