Decameroticus

It's incredible that today we can still discover unreleased material by such a brilliant, versatile and now well-documented composer as Alessandro Alessandroni. Yet, his contributions to Italian cinema, in particular his scores for films that often bordered on B-movie territory, remain largely unexplored.

The pieces collected here are a case in point. Written and recorded by Alessandroni almost entirely on his own in the '70s, they were specifically conceived as a musical commentary for scenes and situations typically found in Italian "Decamerotic" comedy films, a sub-genre of period sexy comedies mainly set in the Middle Ages and apparently inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's racy tales in "The Decameron" (14th century).

For Alessandroni, who had a passion for folk traditions, this was a great opportunity to make use of the distinctive musical instruments of his native region, Tuscia (central Italy). Hence, we find a predominance of classical guitar, mandolin, accordion, and flute, complemented by a pinch of modern synthesizers or, at times, rudimentary drum machines, lending a contemporary flair to an otherwise more classical style.

The result is a series of evocative musical vignettes, with atmospheres ranging from bucolic idylls ("Amore, Campagna e Beat", "Natura Barocca", "Corni da Caccia") to tension-filled moments ("Intreccio Sottile", "Attesa Drammatica", "Impronte digitali"), all of which would not sound out of place in a sex comedy set in the 14th-century or a rural themed television drama.