FIN DE SIÈCLE MEDIA: TALKING SOUNDTRACKS

A Conversation with Magnus Sundstrom of Fin de Siecle Media.

(This interview took place in 2007. )

John Mansell: Was it out of interest in film music yourself that you decide to begin to issue soundtracks?
Magnus Sundstrom: As long as I can remember I have been interested in film music, but my label was initially created to release my own electronic experimental music. However, I soon realized that putting out my own music wasn’t really a challenge. I begun releasing friend’s music, but I didn’t feel completely satisfied with that either. Having lost my interest in the contemporary experimental music, I started investigating the possibilities to release since long forgotten music which had had a huge impact on me during my youth – and after I successfully managed to license a few such albums I felt that my mission with this particular genre was completed. Since I’m a big fan and collector of European, mainly Italian, cult films I decided to contact a few publishers and try to share my passion with others.

John Mansell: What has been your most popular release to date?
Magnus Sundstrom: So far it’s Franco Micalizzi’s SUPERUOMINI SUPERDONNE SUPERBOTTE, a fantastic score and I was extremely satisfied with finding those previously unreleased tapes in such great shape.

John Mansell: Have there been any scores that you have tried to issue, but have been unable to because of the quality of the tapes?
Magnus Sundstrom: No, the main reasons for not being able to release a score are if I can’t find out who owns the rights, or if the tapes are lost, or if we don’t succeed in convincing a publisher to license it to us.

John Mansell: You recently released THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH; does this mean that we will be seeing more CAM soundtracks on your label?
Magnus Sundstrom: I certainly hope so, but as far as I know it’s very difficult to license anything from them. We will keep trying, though!

John Mansell: Are there any titles that you would like to issue which you have been unable to for any reason?
Magnus Sundstrom: There are a number of scores which haven’t been possible to license because of the reasons mentioned earlier. We have also been offered some scores which we decided not to release because we didn’t like them.

John Mansell: Do you like to try and involve the composer of the score in anyway with the release?
Magnus Sundstrom: We actually haven’t involved any of the composers yet, but if the opportunity comes we’ll of course consider it. We have been in touch with Franco Micalizzi after sending him our releases of his music, and he really appreciates them!

John Mansell: Do you think that liner notes are important for a soundtrack release in particular?
Magnus Sundstrom: I don’t think it’s necessary, but it adds an extra dimension to the experience. I think most soundtrack aficionados would want as much information as possible about the film and its music, and well written liner notes together with original poster artwork and stills from the film are things that we definitely will continue with.

John Mansell: What is next up for release on your label?
Magnus Sundstrom: Next week we’ll receive CORRUZIONE AL PALAZZO DI GIUSTIZIA by Pino Donaggio, and in October we’ll release the very experimental LA MORTE HA FATTO L’UOVO score by Bruno Maderna. We also have some more Giorgio Gaslini and Ennio Morricone stuff up our sleeves, but we won’t reveal any titles before everything has been confirmed.

John Mansell: What is your favourite film score, not just on your label but your favourite score of all time and for what reasons?
Magnus Sundstrom: I can’t choose just one score, there are so many. Some favourites are BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA by Wojciech Kilar, DIABOLIK by Ennio Morricone, CANDYMAN by Philip Glass and THE WICKER MAN by Paul Giovanni.
John Mansell: If a soundtrack has sold particularly well, would you at anytime consider a re-press?
Magnus Sundstrom: Yes, of course. We aim to have all releases available as long as the license agreements allow us.

John Mansell: When you release a score, for example THE ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN, do you then own the rights to the score, or is the music still the property of the original owner?
Magnus Sundstrom: We just license the music for release on CD, but the music belongs to the publisher.

John Mansell: I understand that you are now going to issue some Cinevox soundtracks – would you be able to tell us anything of these forthcoming releases?
Magnus Sundstrom: Before the summer we released RIVELAZIONI DI UN MANIACO SESSUALE AL CAPO DELLA SQUADRA MOBILE, our first collaboration with Cinevox and Claudio Fuiano. They have been very easy to work with and we’ll continue to explore the Cinevox archives. As previously mentioned, we’ll release LA MORTE HA FATTO L’UOVO by Bruno Maderna, which was released on LP by Cinevox in 1968. It has been restored by Claudio and the CD will contain ten previously unreleased tracks. We are working on some more as well but I think it’s too early to mention any further titles.

John Mansell: Many thanks to Magnus for his valuable time.

Roberto Zamori of Hexachord.

FEB. 9TH 2022.

SADLY THIS MORNING I RECIEVED NEWS THAT ROBERT ZAMORI HAD PASSED AWAY IN ITALY. HE WAS A DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE SOUNDTRACK WORLD IN ITALY AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RELEASE AND RE-MASTERING OF SO MANY SCORES THAT WOULD HAVE PROBABLY REMAINED UNRELEASED. HE WAS A MAN WHO HAD GREAT KNOWLEDGE AND ALSO A MAN WHO WOULD SHARE THAT KNOWLEDGE, AT TIMES NEVER GETTING ANY CREDIT FOR HIS WORK. THIS INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BEFORE MMI CAME THE BLOG/SITE IT IS TODAY, AND WAS NOT AN INTERVIEW BUT A GREAT DISCUSSION AND A CHAT BETWEEN FRIENDS WHO SHARED SO MANY INTERESTS. REST IN PEACE DEAR MAESTRO.

Roberto Zamori’s name will be a familiar one to many collectors of Italian film music. His name has appeared on numerous soundtrack releases, and he has been responsible for getting scores from films released onto Cd and also LP for the first time, scores that would have probably been lost forever if it were not for his intervention. Professor Zamori was born in Prato, Italy on the 17^th march 1946. his father was Italian and his mother was swiss.

“My maternal Grandfather was a great music lover, I presume this is where I get my love of music from”.

So what musical training if any did Roberto have ?

“ When I was a young man I began to learn to play the guitar, and in the 1960,s I had my own group, who were named GLI SPIRITI, we made two records ,but my real musical experiences came later when my dreams came true and I began to work alongside such composers as Lavagnino ,Cicognini, Umiliani and Savina. From whom I was taught a great deal. I also have to add Carlo Rustichelli and Maestro Sciascia to that list, I was privelaged enough to be able to sit in the recording rooms and watch and listen to them, it was a wonderful learning experience ,and one that I am so grateful for. I a now in my 60,s but because of my experiences with these marvelous composers, I am able to still hear the sounds that they created, so when I am working on a soundtrack release, I can still hear that music as it was played firstly, I try to work hard to get the rich sound of the 60,s and 70,s, as on the Italian westerns with the bass guitar sounds etc”.

 What new projects did he have planned.?

“ To be honest because of certain recording companies, who have not paid me for my work, I have had to put all projects on hold for a short time. Although I do have many projects ready but its just the funding at the moment. Myself and Lionel Woodman are at the moment planning a compact disc of the film music of Giacamo Dell’Orso, he is such a fantastic musical personality in Italy, but not widely known for all his work on arrangements etc. If you ever meet him you will find him to be a wonderful person and an accomplished musician and composer”. 

How long does it take you to prepare a soundtrack for release ?

“There is no set time for the preparation of a soundtrack CD, it depends mainly on the condition of the tapes, and how much work I have to do to restore them, let us just say using my own parameters it can take up to 6 to 8 hours to restore just 60 seconds of music”.

What project has proved the most difficult for you ?

“Each project is difficult, if it was an easy task then everyone would be able to do it, I think that the SOUND DIMENSIONS set was for me the most trying project. The restoring of the old analog tapes took me three months ,but I think it was worth all the time, as I have now the satisfaction of listening to the final product. The sound I managed to achieve was exactly the same as was heard at the original recording session. No electronic cleaning was used, and the work , ah well it was hard and long, but all done by hand. I have to say I am pleased that many people who have purchased the set, have e.mailed me saying they are pleased with the sound quality”.

You, have worked with many composers, Morricone must be the most high profile Maestro you have worked with, what is it like collaborating with a musical legend ?

“Everyone knows that Maestro Morricone has his own personality, maybe a complex one, but definately not a simple one. Let us say that it has been and still is a interesting adventure planning anything with him. I am proud to have worked with the most popular composer of film music in the world, and also the composer of the song SE TELEFONADO surely the most beautiful song written in Italy”

 You have produced many soundtracks from Italian movie, have you ever trued to produce a soundtrack from a non Italian move?

“ I have always been interested in producing something from a British movie, I am mainly interested in the B movies of the 1950,s and the 1960,s but I have tried contacting many people, and have never had any luck obtaining a soundtrack,I love the music from the Hammer films, the GDI series is such a great one, but even this has stopped production, Maybe you can help me with this sometime “?

I know what you mean when you say no-one in the UK is interested, they are just interested in the money, they have no love for the music, and even less knowledge of it, it is sad. I would be honoured to help you with anything.

You have organized numerous concerts in Italy of film music, what are these and what composers have featured in them ?

“ I have organized around 270 concerts over a period of 25 years, they have always been well attended, the most recent was in TREVISO this was a Homage to Sergio Leone, we had an 80 piece orchestra, and the theatre was packed with 1,500 people who were all big fans of the spaghetti western, and also of Morricone. I also remember last summers concert in LIGURIA which was a film music festival, this included an outstanding live performance by EDDA dell Orso, she was singing Italian themes from movies, it was exquisite. This was televised by RAI television and there were over 1,000 in attendance. This was also a good night for me because I sang with edda at the end of the concert, the theme from METTI UNA SERA A CENA, the audience became crazy with laughter, it was a great night dedicated to Italian film music”.

The soundtrack market is quite frail at the moment has this effected your work at all,?.

“ It is not just the soundtrack market that is bad at the moment, the music industry in general is taking the worst battering in many years, changes in the music world have nt yet taken full effect, so the music industry landscape is very sparse and sad at this time. Labels which have always been interested in just money are now themselves finding things difficult because of new technology such as the internet. People are able to get music easily on the internet, and no one gets paid for it, I think this is something that will be hard to stop. I personally think that the recording labels must try and create something new and fresh, many labels are trying to generate revenue, so in a way it is good for me because record companies that up to two years ago shut their archives are now open to negotiation”.

What is your opinion of the state of Italian film music today ?                                     

“My own personal opinion of the new generation of Italian film music, well it is not that interesting, and recently there have been many new scores that I have listened to that are not good at all, in ten years or even less people will not remember the composers of this music or even the music, but this is also true of the new films and television productions, they are dreary and uninteresting, so its hardly surprising that composers are not being inspired by this type of filmmaking.

 

 American movies scores are much in the same position, the composers fail to be inspired by the films that they are working on, so unfortunately no matter how big the budget is the music is still suffering.   In Italy,  the times of Morricone/Leone, Rota/Fellini, Rustichelli/Germi etc… have now passed, and there are no new names to take their place.

 

Allow me just to add this : during the last 15-20 years, especially the ten years 1981-1991 concerning the permanent congress in Prato “Musica/Immagine” and later with the Hexacord project, I have worked with money directly from my pockets – to give to young generations a better knowledge about Italian Composers for the Italian Movies.

I hope to go on and on in this, as I think it’s really a terrible thing to forget forever what people like Piccioni, Trovajoli, Cicognini, Rustichelli, Umiliani, Marchetti, Alessandroni and many many many others made. They are responsable for an Italian way to the music scores, and I’ll never tire of giving them the best tribute I can do.

 I am Most grateful for everything they have been so able to teach me, I still work and I still have plans to make music according their way of thinking.

 PASSION IS PASSION !

OK, thanks John, for your attention to me and my work.

Italian Film Music and Italian Composers owe you so much !

De Wolfe Music

Witchfinder General

De Wolfe Music became the originator of what has become known as library music. De Wolfe Music was established by Meyer de Wolfe in 1909 and began its recorded library in 1927 with the advent of ‘Talkies’. The library consists of over 80,000 tracks, all pre-cleared for licensing and synchronisation. They have been used in thousands of productions including Monty Python, Emmanuelle, Dawn of the Dead, American Gangster, and Doctor Who. Well known theme tunes include Van der Valk and Roobarb. De Wolfe built and owns Angel Recording Studios, a recording and mixing complex situated at The Angel, Islington, London. Artists who have recorded there in recent years include Adele, Snow Patrol, Cee Lo Green, Labrinth, George Fenton (BAFTA and EMMY winner for his scores to the BBC’s The Blue Planet and Planet Earth),

GDI Records: Uncovering Hidden Horrors

Dracula A.D. 1972

In November 1998 a new label, GDI, hit the soundtrack market place causing quite a stir within the ranks of soundtrack collectors. For many years the music from the Hammer gothic horrors such as DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE BRIDES OF DRACULA, THE REPTILE and all those MUMMY movies had been much requested by collectors of film music to get a commercial release. Up until the arrival of GDI they had to make do with the re-recordings that had been commissioned by British label Silva Screen. GDI’s first release was a compilation of themes from no less than 25 Hammer classics, ranging from well known tracks as in James Bernard’s DRACULA through to oddities such as Don Ellis’s MOON ZERO TWO. The compilation was the idea of Gary Wilson, who is I suppose, the head of GDI music in the UK. I caught up with Gary via a mutual friend Michael Jones and after our first conversation we both realised we had a lot in common