NANA.

Released back in 1983, NANA contains a musical score by Ennio Morricone, I must admit to knowing very little about the film itself, but apparently it is a somewhat shady soft porn flick which has a period setting, so maybe lots of bodice ripping etc and Lords of the Manor demanding what is rightfully theirs from village Maidens, (don’t quote me on that though). The score is a pleasant enough one, with a number of the Maestro’s well know musical trademarks surfacing throughout the soundtrack. It contains some agreeable saxophone solo’s which are suitably steamy and sensual in their make up and performance which are essentially jazz orientated and contain an attractive and haunting atmosphere. The composer employs the saxophone on a number of cues within the score and combines this with underlying strings that seem to carry the sax along on a gentle current of romanticism. These strings are supported by the sporadic use of piano which punctuates proceedings and along with muted brass and somewhat laid back enhancement from electric guitar create a gentle yet effective sound. Morricone also write some rather more robust CAN-CAN type compositions for the score, and these have a definite comedic air about them, THROUGH THE PEEPHOLES for example contains, a number of styles in one cue, it jumps from the aforementioned CAN-CAN interlude into neo-classical passages which are laced with Female voice, that is as always highly effective when employed by Morricone. These ingredients are further embellished by the inclusion of a jaunty piano and a somewhat frantic sounding xylophone, which are them-selves stopped in their tracks with a jolt by a romantic sounding violin solo which is underlined by brass. GIRL HUNTING is one of the scores highlights, this is typical Morricone, subdued melancholy infused horns open the cue, and are joined by light sounding strings which seem to swirl around the horns and tease them. The track progresses with delicate piano, understated brass, more strings, various woods and a return of the jaunty piano. The remainder of the score is written in a similar fashion and contains THE SOUND that we have all now become used to and readily associate with the Maestro. The final cue on the disc is a vocal version of the scores central theme, and I have to admit whilst listening to it I could not help but be reminded of the sound achieved by Henry Mancini on many of his film scores, it comes complete with a Mike Samme’s sounding choir, who place their on particular mark on this for the most part entertaining score. This remastered CD is released on GDM,but did receive a release originaly on LP record,on the General Music label under the title of NANA LE DESIR, which is rather hard to find nowadays, this re-mastered edition of the score was issued in 2001, and is well worth adding to the collection.