Probably the last great italian composer who followed the operatic and classic musical traditions of his country, Milan-born Nino Rota began to work on the movies in 1933, and since then till his death in 1979 mantained an splendid equllibrium between his film and "serious" music. More knowed for his scores for the Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti films, Rota showed the same interest and dedication for the opera, the sacred music, or the instrumental one, as demonstrate the fact that his first oratorium, L'Infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, and his first opera, Il Principe Porcaro, are from a date as earlier as 1922 and 1926, respectively (we must remember that Rota has been born in 1911!). LA VITA DI MARIA, his last sacred score, was composed between 1968 and 1970 -coinciding, thus, in time with Romeo and Juliet (1968), Satyricon (1969) and Waterloo (1970)-, and premiered in the Perugia's San Pietro Basilica, the 24th of September 1970. Oratorium divided in a prolog and fifteen parts, in italian with some latin inserts, and one of the works which his author more liked, the eminently theatrical character of the plot (we must remark that it has the subtitle of "Sacred Representation") allows the use of a style clearly lyrical and tonal, on which the chorus has a big important role, and on which the exquisite use of the vocal lines are another example of the melodic taste of italian music; Rota gives the entwined of the plot to the "Narrator" character, whose declamatory style, however, becomes spectacularly operatical, at the opposite if "Maria"'s solos, much more conventionally religious. A unique opportunity to know the more forgotten side of one of the more worshiped authours. It is recommended not to let it pass. M.A.F.

Gabriella Benackova(Maria) -Maria Mazrova (Anna / Elizabeth) - Veriano Luchetti (Narrator) - Antonio Savastano (The Angel) - Karel Prusa (Joaquim / Zachary / Jesus)
Prague Symphony Orchestra / Prague Philharmonic Chorus / Conductor: Nino Rota
CAM CVS900-012 / 87'

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