Nino Rota’s most beguiling Fellini score? CAM Sugar reissues ‘Il Casanova di Federico Fellini’ on double-LP

“One of Rota’s most eerie and enigmatic scores, as if the Maestro had finally poured into a soundtrack all of his love for esotericism.”

Those who follow the work of Italian film composer Nino Rota and want to set the mood in a room have a secret weapon in their arsenal, one that touches on ambient music, experimental percussion, Western classical, and Satie-esque miniatures: Casanova di Federico Fellini

The playful 1976 score for Fellini’s lusty film about a sex-addicted scoundrel has just been reissued on vinyl for the first time in decades, in the form of a 2-LP set that includes music cues that didn’t make the final cut for the original record. It’s part of a remarkable series of reissues by CAM Sugar, an Italian record label whose holdings include not only Rota’s work, but classics by Ennio Morricone, Giovanni Fusco, Piero Piccioni, Riz Ortolani (Mondo Cane), and Piero Umiliani.

Release notes issued by CAM describe Casanova … as “one of Rota’s most eerie and enigmatic scores, as if the Maestro had finally poured into a soundtrack all of his love for esotericism.” Relying on cello, vibraphone, the occasional synth and percussive accents, it’s both a fantastic Rota score and perfect as a stand-alone listen. Filled with space, the pieces seem to luxuriate, like Anita Eckberg reclining in a comfy chair, in their natural beauty. Recurring motifs, most notably eardrum-tickling bells, appear briefly before sliding back into the ether.

What’s best about CAM Sugar’s Il Casanova reissue is the second LP; with the exception of those obsessed enough to copy the entire film score from the DVD, this stuff has languished unheard in vaults for nearly 50 years.

Notes CAM Sugar: “[N]early 70% of the CAM Sugar archive consists of unreleased material that was only featured in the original movie soundtrack but was never published. These hidden gems are proper Italian treasures in the process of being recovered from the original master tapes …” Also in the pipeline are a plethora of straight-to-digital albums from the rich Italian film composition world.

Read more about CAM Sugar’s releases here.

Purchase: https://camsugarmusic.com/products/copy-of-il-casanova-di-federico-fellini-2lp