DCM 103

PROMISE AT DAWN

Music composed and conducted by Georges Delerue

Original soundtrack from a French-American drama directed by Jules Dassin starring Melina Mercouri

Release : 11-2002 

A premiere on compact disc for a 1970 vintage soundtrack that has everything to please lovers of poignant and carefully orchestrated melodies, penned by a giant in his field. 4-page folder. 

 

01. Leningrad - Prologue 2:55 

02. Promise at Dawn 2:38 

03. Romain Riding a Bicycle 0:55
04. The Fashion House 2:27 

05. The Arrival in France 3:11 

06. Aniela's Theme 1:58
07. Various professions 1:09
08. The Friend's Farewell 2:10 

09. Walk in Nice 2:26 

10. Pursuit (To the Chemistry) 2:03 

11. Piekielny's Theme 1:21
12. The Sale of the Samovar 1:03 

13. Romain's First Love 1:28 

14. Negresco's Waltz 2:57
15. Romain at the Beach 1:26
16. Return of Romain 1:55 

17. I'm Greek* sung by Melina Mercouri (J. Dassin - R. Dassin - P. Delanoë)  3:05

 
TT 35:15 

 

Randall Larson - Soundtrack!, December 2002
The music is just wonderful, demonstrating Delerue's remarkable penchant for fragile, lyrical melodies and passionate sentiment.

Mikael Carlsson - Music from the Movies, UK, No 37
Promise at Dawn is a score built on several pastiches, but Delerue was very good at writing music in different historical styles and this score never sounds like a second rate copy of the classical masters - instead, Delerue adds his typical melodic sensibility to the music, making it fresh and new while remaining the authenticity needed for the film. It's the sign of master at work. 

John Sunier, Audiophile Audition, June 05, 2008
In a French neo-classic style plus several different folk elements representing different ethnic groups in the film, Delerue has created a distinctive blend. He also in one portion leans towards Offenbach’s Gaité Parisienne music as well as some imitations of both Mozart and Vivaldi. A fun score to hear without any knowledge of the film. 

Robert Schulslaper - Fanfare, USA, May/June 2008, Issue 31:5
In Promise at Dawn , Delerue adds Russian folk music (à la Pétrouchka, scored for orchestra, or poignantly arranged for recorder and concertina in Aniela’s Theme: there’s even a Slavic duet for soprano and tenor, suitably awash in Russian melancholy) to the influences listed earlier—Vivaldi, Mozart, Offenbach, 18th-century Versailles fanfares—to colorfully amplify the story of a divorced Russian actress (played by Melina Mercouri) as she travels from Poland to the Côte d’Azur in France. Not a traditional romance, the film is more about the constancy of maternal devotion, especially during an unsettled time (World War II). The notes consider Promise at Dawn “a major achievement of its kind, in the breadth and variety of music incorporated into the score,” and indeed, one of its pleasures is playing “spot the composer” as the listener encounters the charming imitations of Vivaldi and Mozart concertos (for mandolin and piano, respectively), Offenbach overtures (with comic bassoon and even a harpsichord), and Baroque fanfares that Delerue sprinkles throughout. His delicate sentimentality and lush yet never heavy orchestration suffuse the tracks that don’t depend on external models for their effect. An added treat is Melina Mercouri’s rendition of I’m Greek (composed by two members of the Dassin family; Jules Dassin, Mercouri’s husband, directed the film), sung with her signature panache and love of life.