DCM 120

DANTON, LES AMITIÉS PARTICULIÈRES,

ET MOURIR DE PLAISIR (BLOOD AND ROSES)
Music composed by Jean Prodromidès

Release: March 20, 2010

Finally available on digital support is the awesome music from Andrzej Wajda's Danton (1983), starring Gérard Depardieu at his best. This period drama tells the conflict between two main figures of the French Revolution, Danton and Robespirerre. Jean Prodromidès delivered here his most striking and innovative score for the screen, using a large symphonic orchestra with a male choir.

This release also includes the core of two fine dramatic soundtracks that were available only on EP in the sixties. Jean Delannoy's  Les Amitiés particulières tells a platonic homosexual relation between two young boys in a religious college while Et mourir de plaisir (Blood and Roses) is an elegant vampire tale tinged with lesbianism, directed by Roger Vadim, starring his second wife Annette Stroyberg, Mel Ferrer and Elsa Martinelli. The first movie has an ethereal, mystic score with children voices; the second one features a memorable harp tune and a classical flavored main theme for strings and organ. 16-page booklet.
 

 

DANTON (1983)
Orchestre philharmonique de Varsovie conducted by Jan Pruszak 
Chœur de la Société de Musique de Varsovie conducted by Maciej Jaskiewicz

01  Danton - Générique de fin 4:39
02 Danton revient 3:15
03 Le Réveil 3:44
04 La Queue pour le pain 2:04
05 Danton et le peuple de Paris 1:19
06 Avant l'arrestation 2:09
07 Guillotine I 0:50
08 La Charette des condamnés 2:30
09 Guillotine II 0:48 
10 La Conciergerie 3:38
11 De la conciergerie à l'échafaud 2:07
12 La Menace 1:34
13 L'Atelier de David 1:59
14 Lucile Demoulins / Les Gamins devant l'imprimerie 1:12
15 Les Prisons 1:56
TT 33:50
 

LES AMITIÉS PARTICULIÈRES (1964)
performed by Les Petits Chanteurs de Vincennes

16 Enterrement d'Alexandre 3:06
17 L'Échange du sang 1:23
18 Georges et Alexandre 1:27
19 Rencontre dans la serre 1:35
20 Tantum ergo - Présentation de l'agneau 2:27
TT 9:58

  

ET MOURIR DE PLAISIR (1960)
21 Thème de Millarca 3:53
22 Carmilla et Leopoldo 2:25 - Irish harp solist: Elena Polonska
23 Tarentelle 2:46 
24 Danse ancienne en trois mouvements 2:03
25 La Glace brisée 1:24
TT 12:30

GT 56:18

   

Joep de Bruijn - Main Titles, The Netherlands, 05-2010 
The collection of these three quality scores on a single disc is a great listening. Those who crave for more Jean Prodromidès music should purchase this, and La Comédie Selon Prodromidès cd straight away. Highly recommended. 

Randall D. Larson Soundtrax Column, USA, March 29th, 2010
Prodromidès’ striking score comprises difficult and discordant music for large orchestra and choir. The music is a thoroughly atonal composition for flowing layers of orchestra and voice, piano string scrapes and other percussive effects, rising in harmonic colors and severe, aggressive tonalities well befitting the dueling personalities centered in the film. The music is awkward at first, but an attentive listener will glean the beauty of its harmonic nuances and find the treasures in its lack of tonality. It’s harsh and grating resonances provide an intense psychological portrayal of the times, its passionate characters, and its political extremes. 

Included on the CD are two Prodromidès’ scores previously issues only on EP. One contains music for the 1964 drama, LES AMITIÉS PARTICULIÈRES (THIS SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP), about a platonic homosexual relationship between two boys in a religious college. The film is gently scored for boys’ choir and orchestra, reflecting both the setting and the relationship. The other is the 1960 Roger Vadim lesbian vampire movie, ET MOURIR DE PLAISIR (1960, BLOOD AND ROSES), second, since Dreyer’s 1932 VAMPYR, adaptation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla). Gothic tonalities and searing romantic sweep of Hammer’s 1970 version, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, Prodromidès provided an enticing romantic score for strings and organ, and a persuasive melody for harp that spoke alluringly for the feminine complexities of the vampiric liaison.