ALLA CONQUISTA DELL ARKANSAS

 

Released early in 1965, ALLA CONQUISTA DELL ARKANSAS was one of the very first Italian produced westerns. Because it was an early example of the genre it was not what many of us would call a full blooded Spaghetti western. I say this because the genre had not at that time established itself completely. ALLA CONQUISTA DELL ARKANSAS was basically a western movie produced in Italy but its appearance was more like an American made sagebrush saga or even a slightly more interesting clone of the German made western which at that time was beginning to establish itself throughout Europe. The film’s storyline or plot could be any number of storylines that had been used before with alterations here and there. Francesco De Masi’s score was not what we now call a spaghetti western soundtrack but this does not mean that the music was – and is not – good. In fact it is a score that matches perfectly the action and storyline of the movie and one that is entertaining as a stand alone work. De Masi always said that he admired Dimitri Tiomkin and this is certainly reflected within this particular score. It is grand like many of the Tiomkin western soundtracks from the 1950s, romantic and exciting in places, with touches of melancholy and also dramatic interludes, but the score also contained that special De Masi ingredient or sound which was to be developed more fully as the genre of the spaghetti western itself evolved and established itself in later years. De Masi utilized harmonica, percussion, brass, choir, guitar and more conventional instrumentation and in many ways it is closer to a Hollywood western score than one from Cinnecitta. Don’t forget, this was before electric guitar or shrieks and screams had begun to become the standard sound of Italian westerns. The sound which De Masi fashioned for the movie was what I like to refer to as B movie music, not because the music is not good but simply because it was rather clichéd in its overall sound and in the way it was placed within the movie. The composer put his own stamp on the project but did it in such a way that the finished product evokes many memories of movie soundtracks such as HIGH NOON, RIO GRANDE and THE TIN STAR etc etc…. So if you are fan of Spaghetti western scores, maybe you will be a little disappointed in ALLA CONQUISTA DELL ARKANSAS, but also I think you might be fascinated by the strength and versatility of De Masi’s music from this example of the early days of the western alla Italiana as it is an insight into what was to follow. Great art work from BEAT on this one, and some absorbing liner notes by Filippo De Masi. Sound quality is very good indeed.

Una Bara Per Lo Sceriffo

Out of all the compact discs that BEAT have thus far released in this series of the western scores of Maestro De Masi, I must say I think this is one of the best and probably the one I am most fond of. Why? Well, because it has that undeniable De Masi sound to it. As soon as the disc starts, one knows it is De Masi, and it is also a score which entertains throughout, with simple themes that delight and music which haunts the listener. The central theme in particular is so unforgettable whether this be in its instrumental or vocal versions. De Masi was a master at fusing the styles that we associate with the Hollywood western score with those that are akin to the Spaghetti western soundtrack. He utilized the conventional orchestration which we had become used to within American produced movies and integrated these with the more quirky and slightly more modern sounds that have now become recognized as the standard sound of the Italian western soundtrack. For example track five, begins with a dramatic orchestral stab that leads into a romantic sounding string passage but this leads to an up-tempo galloping version of the main theme. “A Lone and Angry Man”, with strings, carries the composition along briskly, punctuated and accompanied by electric guitar, interspersed with percussion, timpani and brass –all lending themselves to the proceedings effectively. So here we have the romanticism of the Hollywood score combined with the slightly more unconventional components of the Italian western score. It’s a combination which, in the hands of a composer such as De Masi, works wonderfully. This fusing of styles carries on throughout the work and the composer brings into play solo trumpet cues, choir, lazy sounding harmonica renditions of the central theme and solo guitar performances. This is a feast for fans of western soundtracks all over the world, whether they favour the Hollywood style or the Italian method. As I have said, this is one of my favourite De Masi soundtracks and I welcome this release with open arms. Again great sound, eye catching art work and fantastic notes by the composer’s son Filippo. Recommended

Peter Boom.

Vocalist Peter Boom appeared on the soundtracks to many Italian productions, his distinct voice gracing the credits of many an Italian western movie. But there is certainly more to this multi-talented man as I found out when I spoke to him during May and July in 2002.
John Mansell: Had you always wanted to be a singer/songwriter?
Peter Boom: Oh, No, when I was in my early teens around 13 or 14, I thought about studying theology, but by the time I reached my fifteenth birthday I had changed direction in my studies and moved onto psychology, I thought that this was more modern, and then at eighteen I left school to start my studies of BEL CANTO (Shubert Leiber Opera).

John Mansell: So what was your first encounter with singing on a film soundtrack?
Peter Boom: Well, I first did a test or audition for RAI, which is the Italian TV and Radio service, this went very well, in fact the members of the selecting committee that were auditioning me all stood and applauded my trial performance, which if I remember correctly was two songs ALL THE WAY ROSE and OLD MAN RIVER. Unfortunately I did not get any work out of this success, RAI worked on a recommendation system, and as I did not really know that many well placed people at the time like politicians or Cardinals, I found it very difficult to get anyone to sponsor me. It was actually some six months after my audition for RAI that I was asked to do another test, this time for CAM records which led to singing on corri uomo corri. But an alternative version sung by the star of the movie Tomas Milian was used instead on the movie or at least on certain prints.

John Mansell: Was this originally destined for the score and when you recorded the song who was  the conducter?
No, Milian insisted on recording a version of the song, I felt really bad about this, as I thought that he did not sing it well. At the sessions the orchestra was conducted by Morricone. This was because Nicolai who had written the music was conducting the music for another movie which had music by Morricone.these sessions had overrun so Morricone stepped in.

John Mansell: You also performed a song for the first SABATA movie, which had music by Marcello Giombini, but this was cut from the film, and has only just re-emerged on the new CD version of the score, why was this cut?
Peter Boom: I don’t actually recall the song for SABATA, I think it was something in German, the producer of the new compact disc Lionel Woodman assures me that it is me, but I still am not 100% sure, maybe I should ask Alessandro Alessandroni who also worked on the soundtrack, or Giombini himself.

John Mansell: Have you kept in contact with Giombini because you did work with him on a few projects for the cinema?
Peter Boom: We lost contact a long time ago, but I am glad to say have recently got in touch again, we both keep promising to meet up but as yet this has not been possible, he now lives in Assisi in Italy, and concentrates on the writing of sacred music, he also writes books, which is something that I also do, so we are a strange pair of artists.

John Mansell: At the beginning of the SABATA main theme there is a mischievous laugh, was this you can you recall?
Peter Boom: You know, I honestly do not remember, by that time I had sung on so many soundtracks it was hard to keep a track on them.

John Mansell: Did you prefer working with any in particular composer or composers?
Trovajoli was very nice, I did three songs with him on a film called IL GIOVANE NORMALE, which turned out to be the only film made by Dino Risi that did not do well at the box office.
Peter Boom: I must say that I found it very enjoyable working with all of the composers.

John Mansell: So were you as a singer, under exclusive contract to CAM?
Peter Boom: Yes I was, but they would only ever pay me an advance for each song, which was about 50,000 lire. I never got a percentage of the sales or the total monies that the record made, and royalties were never passed onto me. In fact CAM did not even inform me that CORRI UOMO CORRI had been re-issued onto CD. Guisseppe Giacchi who was one of the main people at CAM during the early years told me that my records sold particularly well in Japan.

John Mansell: I have always been curious about Giusseppe Giacchi, his name appeared on nearly all of CAM’s early releases I think as producer, did you have much contact with him whilst under contract to the company?
Peter Boom: Count Giusseppe Giacchi, was the driving force behind CAM. It was he who built up the company’s immense repertoire of soundtracks, which is a real treasure trove of music. He parted company with the label in the 1970s I think, I am not sure why, but the parting was a little sour, I met him again recently and he now produces programmes for television. I am thankful to him because it was he who initially approached me to go and work for CAM.

John Mansell: Would you like to see the CAM western songs LP re-issued onto CD?
Peter Boom: Oh yes, of course I would. It would be good to have a re-edited and re-mastered version available on compact disc. But I don’t think that this will happen.

John Mansell: Could you tell me what was your most successful record in sales?
Peter Boom: I was never informed as to how many copies of a single or LP had been sold. But my own personal view is that CORRI UOMO CORRI must be the most popular, but as for actual figures I do not know.

John Mansell: Have you ever given any concerts?
Peter Boom: Yes, I gave many concerts, and also worked as a master of ceremonies on many occasions.

John Mansell: As an actor did you ever have a part in a Spaghetti western?
Peter Boom: No, surprisingly enough I never worked on any westerns.

John Mansell: I do not know if I am correct or not, but I understand that you once worked as a Private Investigator.
Peter Boom: You must be a good investigator yourself if you unearthed that information. Yes I did work as a PI, this was in Rome and Milan, I did this to finance my studies, and later especially in the early 1970s I had many, many professions to try and fill in all of the financial gaps, which is something that I am still doing today.

John Mansell: You also dubbed the Italian voice of Ron Moody’s Fagin character for the film musical OLIVER, did you do this often on other films?
Peter Boom: Oh, yes that was a job that I enjoyed immensely, I liked to do this the most I think. They had tried out so many Italian actors/singers for this part and I was the one that they selected. I did on other movies but cannot remember the titles; again this was because I was very busy.

John Mansell: Many composers who wrote for the Italian western, have in recent interviews admitted that maybe their music has not stood up to the test of time, a few of them saying that they are a little embarrassed by their efforts on certain movies, how do you feel about your contributions to the genre?
Peter Boom: Well certainly not embarrassed, this was a very positive and nice period of my life and career. I feel very positive about my contributions to this genre of films. My career did however take a down turn in the summer of 1972, this was when I produced and sang COME OUT AND LOVE HIM which was the first ever gay record in Italy, it was this that really cost me my career as a singer. For me this was a big tragedy, caused by marginalization, which effectively spoilt more than half of my life.

John Mansell: Did you ever use an alias on a film?
Peter Boom: I did at certain times use an alias, but there again so did many Italian film music composers, but on many occasions I never received any type of credit for my performance, on OLIVER for example and on a RAI TV film NOAH, the technicians were credited but not any of the singers, disgraceful I think.

David Kitay.

David Kitay’s most recent assignment to hit the cinemas is for the spoof DATE MOVIE for writers/directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. The movie, which has been successful in the United States, stars Adam Campbell, Allyson Hannigan, Eddie Griffin, Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge. The film is a send up of the hit romantic comedies of recent years. 20th Century Fox released the film in February and Lakeshore Records released the accompanying soundtrack on March 7, which includes a version of the theme song to ‘The Price Is Right’ performed by the composer. The DATE MOVIE score was designed to operate on two levels. Although it sounds authentic to the familiar images of romance, it also conveys the humour of the spoof.

DATE MOVIE is the latest in a series of hit comedies Kitay has done since early in his scoring career. After solidifying his reputation in the teen genre with hit movies like CLUELESS, CAN’T HARDLY WAIT, SCARY MOVIE, HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE and DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR?, Kitay kept his sense of humour and expanded into independent film. Two upcoming releases, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and DARWIN AWARDS, are the next examples of off-beat, interesting films Kitay has done for a variety of innovative directors. Showing remarkable innovation, his score for Finn Taylor’s upcoming DARWIN AWARDS is the world’s first retrograde reverse score, wherein the music was performed backwards and digitally reversed to play forwards, so the notes sound reversed even though they are accurate.

Kitay has also completed scores for RELATIVE STRANGERS, starring Ron Livingston, and John Cosgrove’s comedy ensemble CAFFEINE, both set for release this year. Among other honours, David has received four prestigious BMI awards, several for his scores for the hit TV series MAD ABOUT YOU. In addition to scoring, David has recently produced records for such artists as The Boxing Ghandis, Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) and David Baerwald.

John Mansell: You came from a musical family; I understand your father was an opera singer. When did you start to become interested in music and what musical education did you receive?
David Kitay: Actually my father was an accountant… my mother was the opera singer. I started private lessons at around age eight and pretty much had music as my saving grace ever since. I had a few years at Dick Grove School of Music out of high school but I pretty much started working as a guitar player/arranger/producer in bands and records pretty early (late teens early twenties).

John Mansell: I think I am right in saying that your favourite instrument is the guitar and you did work as a session musician for a number of bands. When and where was this and who were the bands you worked with?
David Kitay: The bands made records but were never very successful, but that got me to start working for different producers and songwriters as a guitar player which started me off as a session player for Motown and others.

John Mansell: How did you become involved with Motown records?
David Kitay: My name started getting around as a good guitar player so I started getting hired; it was Barry Mann the songwriter producer who got me involved with Motown.

John Mansell: You played with The Temptations. Did you go on tour with them at all or were you involved with just their studio recordings?
David Kitay: I was only involved in studio recordings for groups like The Temptations and The Four Tops. I never toured with them on live gigs and I also worked with Aretha Franklin and James Ingram.

John Mansell: When did you decide to begin working as a composer of music for film/TV?
David Kitay: I found being a session player a bit like typing and I wanted something more challenging like writing.

 

John Mansell: The majority of your film scores have been for comedies and spoof movies; do you feel that maybe you have been typecast as a composer who works mainly on this kind of movie?
David Kitay: Well… they probably don’t look at my credits and think of me for SUPERMAN or OUT OF AFRICA 2 or whatever. It makes sense to me that when they are making a certain kind of movie; they look for people that have done that genre before because they want to emulate that success.
The good news for me is that I have been successful in a couple of different genres and, I get the honour of making music for a living, and I love to laugh! I expect that if I get more success in other genres I will do other things In the meantime; I will continue to make music… and laugh a lot!

 

 

John Mansell: You have worked on a number of TV projects. Apart from maybe the budget on these assignments what would you say are the major differences between working on a television score as opposed to a score for a motion picture ?
David Kitay: If you are referring to episodic TV, it is totally different where you usually have your themes already written and you are just making them work within the structure of that particular episode. It’s like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes and running, whereas in a movie you are (hopefully) coming up with something new for every job. If you are referring to the Disney TV movies that I have done, they are more like doing features with fast turnarounds and no director to bounce off of. So, they are usually very freeing and musically fun because you are just really trying to please yourself at the end of the day. Of course it has to work within the confines of the story and the ‘Disney’ way of writing. But I really like doing those.

John Mansell: Many of your scores are accompanied by songs on the soundtrack. Do you as a composer have any involvement in what songs are utilised within the movie?
David Kitay: When you have a relationship with the director and they ask, I am pretty free with my opinions. I have also written some of the songs i.e.: ‘Supermodel’ for CLUELESS.

John Mansell: How long do you normally get to score a motion picture; could you use SCARY MOVIE as an example?
David Kitay: On SCARY MOVIE I think it was around two months.

John Mansell: Do you orchestrate all of your own music?
David Kitay: Yes, I do most of it. I have been doing that for about 6 years. Before that I always used an orchestrator until I did the TV version of CLUELESS and they didn’t have an orchestrator in the budget. I was forced to do it myself. In that three year period I started to learn about it and I now like what it brings to my process. It tends to create a more original sound (whether good or bad. It is more honest). The potential weird harmonies don’t get smoothed out etc.

John Mansell: When you are asked to work on a project, how early do you like to become involved?
It is usually 6 weeks to two months but sometimes it is two weeks!
David Kitay: Often a short turnaround is exciting and you are going on fast pure instinct without having the time to rethink, retread, and whittle down the idea. Sometimes when you start on a project before you know what the picture even looks or feels like (due to cast or art design etc.) you might go down a million wrong paths but other times an idea you garner from a script will survive as a potent idea. So, I guess my answer is, they are all interesting experiences sometimes two or three months can feel just right. Other times two or three weeks can feel just right each project has its own interesting life and I wouldn’t change anything on any of them.

John Mansell: You starred in the movie ALWAYS what did this involve?
David Kitay: If you consider being a guitar player in a bar band that was on camera for a split second a starring role! It was just a sideline gig that I took, because a friend of mine worked at Universal at the time, and asked me if I wanted to do it. Although it was fun to watch Spielberg work for 5 days.

John Mansell: If one of your scores is to be given a commercial release, do you have any input into what music will be going onto that CD release, or is this left up to the record/film company?
David Kitay: It’s usually up to the film company or the director

John Mansell: Are there any composers working in film at the moment that you find particularly interesting or original?
David Kitay: I like John Powell, Alexander Desplat, and James Newton Howard.

John Mansell: Are there any composers either classical, film music or songwriters etc that you think have influenced you in the way you write music?
David Kitay: Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mozart, Gershwin, Zepplin, Miles, Pink Floyd, Prince, Yes, Lennon, Norman Whitfield, Peter Gabriel, and I’m sure I missed a million more.

John Mansell: When working on a movie have you a set way in which you score it; i.e. do you like to maybe come up with a central theme first or do you prefer to tackle the smaller musical stabs and cues before embarking on the composing of the main score?
David Kitay: After watching the movie a bunch of times with no music in it, I like to go away from it and wait till I have some theme ideas that I like. Then, I put those up against a scene I was thinking that it would be good for, and if I like it than I play that for the director and if he/she likes it. Then the party has begun! I usually do the biggest cues first and go from there.

John Mansell: What size orchestra did you use on DATE MOVIE?
David Kitay: 60 pieces.

John Mansell: You have recently scored DATE MOVIE, RELATIVE STRANGERS, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and DARWIN AWARDS. The latter sounds interesting to me as it is said to be the world’s first retrograde reverse score;p what does this actually mean?
David Kitay: I wrote the score forwards then rewrote it backwards, had the orchestra play it backwards than digitally flipped it forwards so the notes are correct but they sound backwards.

John Mansell: You have been very busy recently,so what is up next for you?
David Kitay: I am working on a couple of films right now and there are a couple of directors that I have worked for in the past that are planning to hire me for their next projects.

John Mansell: As well as scoring movies you have been producing records for other artistes – can you tell us something about this side of your career?
David Kitay: Not much to tell. I have produced some records. I thought I wanted to be a record producer when I was younger but my experiences confirmed that I have more fun and I am more successful in film composing. I still produce some stuff but mostly it is related to a film project rather than just a CD for an artist.

John Mansell: Thanks to Tom Kidd, Ray Costa and of course David Kitay.

Marco Werba.

 

John Mansell: Where and when were you born?
Marco Werba: I was born in Madrid, Spain July 27 1963.

John Mansell: What musical education did you undertake, and did you specialise in any particular field?
Marco Werba: I did study piano and harmony in Italy, composition and film music at the Mannes College of Music in New York and conducting in France. As a teacher I created a summer workshop, here in Italy, to teach how to write a film score.

John Mansell: Do you conduct all of your music for film?
Marco Werba: Not always. It depends if the orchestra that is going to perform the music already has a conductor or not. For example for the music of A DIO PIACENDO (God’s Will), the Pantheon orchestra had a regular conductor (Cristina Cimagalli). Usually for the recording sessions of a film score I use musians of a musical company, not a official orchestra. For the music of ZOO, I had a few musicians of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra (one of the best orchestras in Italy). I am not really satisfied with the musicians that usually perform film scores in the recording studios. The quality of the performance is not always the same. My dream is to work, one day, with the London Symphony Orchestra.

John Mansell: Was it always your intention to write music for film?
Marco Werba: Yes, because since I was a child I loved Cinema. When I was 14/15 years old I directed a few Super 8 short films using film scores of well known composers (John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith). One day I saw a science fiction movie called LOGAN’S RUN, which I loved, and went to see it two more times. Suddenly I realized that there was a wonderful musical score written by Jerry Goldsmith, both symphonic and electronic. I then found the LP of the soundtrack and I started to study music thinking that one day I’ll become myself a film music composer!

John Mansell: What was your first scoring assignment and how did this come about?
Marco Werba: My first film score assignment was ZOO, directed by Cristina Comencini with Asia Argento (at that time she was 13 years old!). I got the job because I sent to Cristina Comencini by mail a short adagio for strings called “the survivors”. She liked it and called me. She wanted to use classical music and a few original themes. I ended up writing 40 minutes of music and we used just a few minutes of a composition by Ravel (Ma Mere l’Oye) and one by Debussy (Jeux).

John Mansell: What has been the biggest orchestra you have worked with on a film score?
Marco Werba: The biggest orchestra I used so far was the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra SIF 309, that I recorded in Sofia, with a Italian sound engineer called Marco Streccioni. I conducted the orchestra and I had just two recording sessions to record 45 minutes of music! So I didn’t have time to work on the quality of the performance but the artistic level of the orchestra was good. I just had a few problems of intonation with the cellos section. This film sore performed by the Bulgarian Orchestra has been written for the Italian historical picture AMORE E LIBERTA, MASANIELLO (Love and Freedom), about the tragic events that took place in Naples during the summer of 1680 (17th Century). The music is now available through the internet web site Hitunes or the CAM original film scores web site.

John Mansell: A number of your scores have been issued on Hexacord records, do you enjoy a special relationship with this soundtrack label?
Marco Werba: Yes, I have known Roberto Zamori of HEXACORD since 1988, when I had my first film music concert performing the theme of ZOO. Zamori loved the film score of IL CONTE DI MELISSA (another historical picture about the Italy of the 17th Century, starring John D’Aquino). He published the CD of IL CONTE DI MELISSA, ZOO (the complete film score) and IL DIARIO DI UN PRETE. The Hexacord Film music label will release in November my new film score of the up coming film DARKNESS SURROUNDS ROBERTA.

John Mansell: What composers would you say have influenced you the most?
Marco Werba: John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. I had the pleasure of meeting Jerry Goldsmith in Rome and to be his assistant during the recording sessions of LEVIATHAN. He has to have been one of the best film music composers. John Williams is probably one of the other composers I would rate very high on my list, he is so professional! He has also written several compositions for the concert-hall, which have been performed all over the world. There are many other composers working in film today that simple do not have the talent or the originality that Goldsmith and Williams posses. The music of THE OMEN and BASIC INSTINCT by Goldsmith and the music of THE FURY and MEMORIES OF A GEISHA are masterpieces. Christopher Young is probably one of the best of the new generation of film music composers working today.

John Mansell: Do you orchestrate all of your own music, or do you at times use an orchestrator?
Marco Werba: I never used a orchestrator for a film score but if, in the future, I will work for a Hollywood production, I will love to collaborate with one or more orchestrators. When you have to use a symphonic orchestra of 80 musicians and you have three weeks to write all the music, you need to use orchestrators! I think that the only composers that never used orchestrators were Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone.

John Mansell: How long do you normally get to score a movie; for example ZOO?
Marco Werba: Normally film productions ask to the composer to write the music when the editing is almost complete and they give only three weeks to write, orchestrate and record the music. For the film ZOO I was involved from the pre-production before starting filming. So I had a lot of time to write the three main themes (ZOO, MARTINA’S THEME and RATTI’S THEME). When the editing was complete I started to calculate the timing of the sequences and to orchestrate the music.

John Mansell: When working on a project do you have a routine in which you progress, i.e. from start to end or maybe small cues first concentrating on larger cues later?
Marco Werba: This is very good question. I usually try to write short musical ideas and themes that could have the right mood for the film. Then I start to develop the musical ideas until I got a musical theme that has it’s own personality and could become the main theme of the film or of the main character.

John Mansell: What is your opinion of the state of film music today worldwide?
Marco Werba: The problem is always the same; money! The budget for the original film score is each time “smaller”. This is why I am trying to get in touch with film productions in Los Angeles. I think that in 2008 I will succeed to write the music of a American feature film but not yet a Hollywood production. I have two interesting independent American productions that want to collaborate with me.

John Mansell: How do you arrive at your musical solutions; by this I mean do you use piano, synth etc to work your ides through?
Marco Werba: Yes, I start writing themes using the piano and then I orchestrate it using my MAC with a music software. The computer is useful for two reasons: you can make demos with digital samplings to let hear to directors how would be the orchestration of the music, and you can print the score and the single parts for the orchestra.

John Mansell: Have you ever had a score rejected, or indeed decided not to accept an assignment?
Marco Werba: No, I had no scores rejected (fortunately!) but it happened that I didn’t collaborate with a director because I could not understand what kind of music he wanted or we didn’t have the same musical sensibility or he didn’t have talent but was just pretending something that couldn’t work with the film.

John Mansell: Have you given any concerts of your film music?
Marco Werba: Yes but not so often. I usually perform film music piano concerts. Sometimes I made concerts with a string quartet, piano and voice or a chamber orchestra. In the concerts I usually do not perform only my compositions, but also film scores of Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Michael Nyman, Andrew L. Webber, Francis Lai.

John Mansell: What films or projects have you been working on recently?
Marco Werba: I wrote the music of another historical picture called ANITA, performed by a chamber orchestra and recorded at the Forum Music Village (the studio where Ennio Morricone records his film scores). I just finished to record the music of the thriller DARKNESS SURROUNDS ROBERTA, a co-production between Italy, Germany and United States. I wrote a theme for the up coming horror film THE OCEAN by Dante Tomaselli and I will write some of the music of COLOUR FROM THE DARK, from a novel by Lovecraft.( I also wrote a theme for the German horror film FEARMAKERS). In the new CD that the HEXACORD label will release there will be three film scores (Darkness surrounds Roberta, Fearmakers and The Ocean). The CD THE HORROR FILM WORLD OF MARCO WERBA should be ready by November 20.

John Mansell: We look forward to it’s release – many thanks to Maestro Marco Werba for his time and patience.