Jean Ledrut - "The Trial" OST, Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, 2017/1962 (Doxy Music)

I know very little to nothing about the musician/composer Jean Ledrut.  Looking at his Discography, I can only find this album 'The Trial," as well as the original release of the same title but as a 7" EP and the full-length album as well.   This is the original soundtrack to Orson Welles' film of 1962, "The Trial" based on the novel by Franz Kafka.  It's a great film, and I think it's an Orson Welles masterpiece. Beyond that, I have a thing for Tomaso Albinoni's "Adagio in G Minor."  The music is used throughout the film, which gives it a slightly sad and depressed presence to "The Trial." The fact that the film/novel is very black humor in its practice, but seen as some as a 'heavy' statement of our culture, is an additional layer of pleasure for both the film and the soundtrack. 

Beside Ledrut, the other strong presence on the album is the great jazz pianist/film track composer Martial Solal.   He also wrote the score for Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless."  Here he does piano work for the jazzy score that is very much part of this project.   The main theme is Albinoni's music - arranged with strings, but also with solo organ (my favorite) and then various 'jazz' versions of the theme.  Ledrut I believe did the arrangements of the "Adagio in G Minor" but also wrote the Incidental music that's on the album as well.  

There's not a whole lot of information on the album, which is a real minus, especially since the composer/artist is an unknown figure in the English speaking world, but on the other hand, Doxy once again has made a work that wasn't available to the music market, and one has to appreciate their taste and expertise in getting this soundtrack out to the world.  I have written about Doxy (the label) in other posts/commentary, but I don't know anything about them. I suspect that they're from Italy, but even that is a mystery.  They do a lot of reissues of soundtrack albums and jazz/pop recordings. All good if not excellent taste in music and presentation.  Still, I suspect that they are a bootleg company that puts out music in between official labels, or works that become public domain.  Nevertheless, I never had a bad recording from this record label, and again, their taste is superb.  

Michel Legrand - "Eva" OST, Album, Limited Edition, Vinyl, 2016 (Doxy Cinematic)

Joseph Losey's first choice for a composer for his film "Eva" was Miles Davis.  That didn't happen, but his second choice, and a friend of Miles,  Michel Legrand, did a magnificent score to the film.  Legrand makes large gestures within his arrangements.  There are usually other melodies within the big melody, and it's very much like an overactive mind at work.   This 1962 film, starring Jeanne Moreau,  is a seductive tale of seduction and desire, which makes it a perfect canvas for Legrand to work his magic on. 

I first discovered the soundtrack through the medium of the CD, and it was issued and made in Japan.  I bought my copy at a Shibuya swanky pop-up shop within the Paco shopping complex in Tokyo.  Legrand and Tokyo is a good fit, as well as, of course, Paris.  There's two Billie Holiday cuts here as well.  "Loveless Love" and "Willow Weep For Me."  It fits the mood of the film, but also a nice little treat in the Legrand world.  

This release is a limited edition of 500.  Not impossible to find, but not the easiest as well.  Doxy Cinematic is a very interesting label, that focuses on soundtrack music that has fallen in the cracks of copyright issues.  Often being a limited release is a technique to get through any legal issues. Nevertheless, Doxy does great reissues or even albums that technically exist such as "Eva."  I believe the soundtrack came out in 1962 as a 7" EP release.   And as I mentioned before, Legrand is always a treat.  

Giovanni Fusco - "L'Eclisse" Vinyl, LP, OST, Album, Limited Edition (500), 2016 (Doxy Cinematic)

"L'Eclisse" is an Italian film made in 1962, starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.  The soundtrack to the movie is by Giovanni Fusco, who also did the music for Alain Resnais'"Hiroshima, Mon Amour," as well for other Antonioni films.  About a week ago I saw "L'Eclisse, " and I loved the soundtrack.  I located a copy very recently, and I'm very impressed with Fusco's music.   The music is so much of the visuals, but here, I try to not think of the film, and just focus on the music. 

On this album, we get six versions of Mina's "Eclisse Twist."  One in Italian (of course), French, Spanish, English, an instrumental, and a slow-downed version.  That alone is worth the price of the album.   The additional greatness is Fusco's moody music that is minimal and dramatic.  While listening to Fusco's music, it reminded me of Angelo Badalamenti's work with David Lynch.  Perhaps due to the juxtaposition of a rock n' roll tune ("Eclisse Twist") with Fusco's borderline avant-garde composing.  In the same manner of a Roy Orbison song fitting into Badalamenti's score for "Blue Velvet," the same goes for the dynamic combination of Mina (an Italian 60s pop singer) and Fusco. 

The film "L'Eclisse" is slow-paced and takes its time to unveil its seductive relationship between Delon and Vitti, as well as presenting the world that is empty.  The music also conveys that unbalanced where things are not settled.  "Eclisse Twist" throws a wrench in the process, and it's very effective to go from one mood (celebrating) to the other (contemplating).   And back again.  The film and the soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work.  

Also, I want to give praise for the label Doxy or Doxy Cinematic.  I suspect that they operate in the gray area of bootlegging, but do a superb job concerning the sound of the vinyl, as well as the design work, and even more important, their ability to curate their series in a thoughtful and excellently manner.  

Pierre Henry - "Le Voyage" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1962/2013 (Doxy)

For the past two years, I have been picking up albums by Pierre Henry.  I have a fascination with the nature of electronic music or Musique Concréte.  The 'noise' have called out for me, and it's a hard habit to break.  "Le Voyage" is a big Henry project.  I believe it's music with dance choreographed by Maurice Béjart.  I know very little of this piece except that it's based on The Tibetian Book of the Dead, and it represents from birth to death.  Seems like a topical subject matter for a ballet and its score. 

As far as my ear can tell this is music that is entirely electronic.  No organic sounds processed through electronic means, but machines manipulated by Henry making music.   Some parts are almost ambient but with an intensity where you can't really ignore the music.  Toward the end, it becomes a majestic piece of noise that's an incredible ear wash.  I listened to this vinyl in a room with a very high ceiling, and the music just encaptures the landscape that is the room.  I don't know who Doxy is, although I suspect that this record company takes advantage of copyright laws in Europe. Still, they do a great job in curating album titles with great sound. 

Glenn Gould - Bach/ "The Art of the Fugue, Volume 1 (First Half)" Vinyl, LP, Remastered 2015 (Vinyl Passion Classical)

Originally recorded in 1962, this album by Glenn Gould performing and recording Bach's "The Art of the Fugue" on the organ is a sound that pretty much have been in my life for the past 50 or so years.  My parents used to play this album at a very high volume.  As far as I know this is the only recording with Gould playing the organ.    These compositional pieces of music were Bach's exploration in monothematic instrumental works.  Never written for any particular instrument, it is many ways Bach's thinking out a problem from a notebook.  Gould I suspect was a musician who tackled music as an ongoing concern than a finished work of art.  The process or the journey is very much of great importance to Gould, and it is intelligence as well as his skills on the keyboard that makes him such a fantastic artist. 

The description above sounds cold, but the truth is, I often hum this melody in the bathtub.  The ultimate riff builds on other riffs.   It's like building a sand castle, and there is a wave coming in any second to tear down your structure.  Trying to find the original mono Columbia Masterworks version is tough for me.   I want one because that was the version that we had as a child, and I'm trying to recapture my childhood through the medium of vinyl.  To recapture the past is a foolish activity because the memory is always the winner.  Even over physical objects such as a vinyl from one's past.  A European label, Vinyl Passion Classical, put this out in 2015 on vinyl.   Not sure if it's a high-end bootleg label or an official release.   The sound is great.  And there is something magnificent about this music on vinyl.   Gould has done so many superb recordings, but due to emotional reasons, this is my favorite Glenn Gould album. 

Françoise Hardy - "C'est a l'amour auquel je pense"/"Ca a Rate"/Le Temps de L'Amour"/J'ai jeté mon coeur" (Disques Vogue) EP, 7" 45RPM, 1962

Is there a more perfect recording than "Le Temps de l'Amour?"   I suspect the hand of Jacques Dutronc is part of the songwriting, but it's the Hardy magic that makes it work.  Her iconic coolness slips off the vinyl and she is a unique artist in the French pop music world.  Since I don't understand the French language, her approach to her singing is a mystery to me.  The four song EP is a perfect format, and I'm sorry that it doesn't really exist anymore as an art form for recording artists.  The French seemed to have a thing for that format in the early 1960s.  Hardy had released a lot of her great material as an EP, and it's like a brief time with a great lover.

"Le Temps de l'Amour" and the three other songs on this EP are exceptional.  It's like a well-balanced meal and I'm fully satisfied as a listener.  The orchestration behind her is just guitar, percussion and perhaps an electric bass - it's very simple sound, but it's all there to support her voice. French pop music of this time, like France Gall, is an aural sculpture to me.  I feel I can walk through the sounds and look at it from a distance.