Another of the members of the designated Group of the Six, that attempted to give a new turn to the French music in the between-wars period, Georges Auric began to work very soon in the cinema, collaborating with the poet Jean Cocteau in his first film Le Sang d'un Počte (The Blood of a Poet, 1930). Since then he was delivering an enormous and splendid remittance of scores that, however and surprisingly, not made him deserving a place in the fans hearts, in spite that among his works we could find so popular movies as Moulin Rouge (1952), Roman Holiday (1953), Le Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear, 1953), Bonjour Tristesse (1958) or The Innocents (1961). His music, serious and elegant, is always a guarantee of quality and good taste, and it is not exempted of attractive melodies, superb orchestrations and interesting harmonic turns. An excellent sample button is this recovered score for the most famous film of Jean Cocteau, La Belle et La Bete (The Beauty and the Beast, 1946), in which certain impressionist influences (especially of the music of his compatriot Maurice Ravel) are added to all the qualities mentioned before; a magnificent score, deigns of be listened once and again, in which it can be found multitude of details that with the passing of the years result especially attractive.

LA BELLE ET LA BETE (1946) - 61:52
Moscow Symphony Orchestra - Axios Chorus - Conductor: Adriano
MARCO POLO 8.223765 / 62'

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