Piero Piccioni OST Le Streghe

The film, which was released on 22 February 1967, is divided into five episodes starring the fascinating Diva Silvana Mangano. “La strega bruciata viva” (“The Witch Scorched Alive”) directed by Luchino Visconti (1st episode): One winter evening Gloria (Mangano), a famous actress, arrives in an Austrian town to spend the evening together with some friends, who turn out to be not the good friends they were supposed to be : By taking advantage of her sudden illness they remove her make-up and look pleased at the small imperfections of the diva. After she has discovered to be pregnant and has a fight over the phone with her husband, the woman leaves again more disturbed than the day before, but hidden and splendid as a true diva for photographers. “Senso civico” (“Citizenship”) directed by Mauro Bolognini (2nd episode): A rich lady (Mangano) takes in her car a wounded driver (Alberto Sordi), but is only concerned not to be late with an appointment. “La terra vista dalla luna” (“The Earth Viewed from the Moon”) directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (3rd episode): Ciancicato Miao (Totò), accompanied by his son Basciù (Ninetto Davoli), is looking for a nice woman to marry her. The man meets a beautiful deaf-mute girl with green hair who gets into their cabin and transforms it into a lovely home. A miracle! One day Assurdina (Silvana Mangano) dies in an accident, but she comes back under the guise of a ghost to meet the two poor ones and continues to help them in this way. The moral: to be alive or to be dead is just the same thing. “La siciliana” (“The female Sicilian”) directed by Franco Rossi (4th episode): The proud Nunzia (Mangano) causes a feud. “Una sera come le altre” (“A night like any other”) directed by Vittorio De Sica (5th episode): Giovanna (Mangano), a wife neglected by her husband (Clint Eastwood), dreams to make love in a stadium whilst being applauded by a crowd of men only. Five characters of women all embodied by the ethereal beauty of Silvana Mangano, the absolute diva of this film who is in a constant balance between the sacred and the profane, between hell and heaven. The Bolognini and Rossi episodes have virtually no music - except very brief fragments of atonal strings (possibly library music) in the Rossi episode and just a reprise of the “main theme” written by Piero Piccioni for the Visconti episode at the end of the Bolognini episode (an excerpt from the movie’s opening titles).The Pasolini episode was scored by Ennio Morricone (“Mandolinata” appeared on side A of the original Italian 45 rpm single on the United Artists label UA 3113) and subsequently on some compilation, whereas the Visconti and De Sica episodes were entirely scored by Piero Piccioni (the “Cha-cha beat” theme from the De Sica episode was issued on side B of the original Italian 45 rpm single on the United Artists label UA 3113) and a suite from the Visconti episode was later re-recorded by the author for a Japanese anthology devoted to the music for the cinema of Luchino Visconti. This CD (with a total duration close to 63 minutes) focuses only on the music of Piero Piccioni for this film. The tapes were kept in the private archives of M ° Piccioni and they have been found with the big help of Jason Piccioni, the son of the composer.