LONDON SESSIONS - 3 CD

In 1989...

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Georges Delerue was offered the chance to make recordings of most of his works for American films, many of which had never been released on record before. Even better, Robert Townson,  the director of Varèse Sarabande in California, together with Frank FitzPatrick and Richard Kraft, co-producer and executive producer respectively, invited Georges to record his works at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London, England.

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It was the most ambitious project ever conceived by Varèse Sarabande; so ambitious in fact that Delerue decided to fund half the project himself. His involvement gave him the freedom to choose the pieces they would record; more than that, for this vast puzzle, there were to be three volumes, the composer even grouped together separate pieces appearing in one film to create "suites" which would be more suitable for listening as records rather than in association with films.

The first volume of these recordings opened with a previously-unavailable suite from the Oliver Stone film Platoon; it provides an elegant introduction to the universe of Georges Delerue, with poignant, taut lyricism carried by rich and ample strings.

Delerue's choice of music also invited listeners to rediscover some very rare or previously-unissued pieces, Biloxi Blues, Exposed or Rich and Famous but all of them have one thing in common: Delerue loved them as music just as much as he loved the films which inspired them.

With Beaches and Her Alibi (the composer's first collaboration with filmmaker Bruce Beresford), Georges Delerue revealed all the freshness inherent in his style, sometimes sparkling, sometimes romantic with compositions that were hailed as some of the genre's most beautiful creations, making this first album an ideal introduction to Delerue's work in American films.

The second volume begins with the radiant music from Steel Magnolias, where the film's atmosphere transpires in the dialogue between soloist and orchestra; its reproduction here is more spirited thanks to the dynamics of the suite which Georges constituted for the purpose. In the midst of this "American" context comes a surprise: the composer's tribute to his friend François Truffaut. It was also a mark of the esteem which Varèse Sarabande held for one of the world's most appreciated filmmakers.

With The Escape Artist Delerue gave people's heartstrings a romantic pull with a superbly nostalgic piece for this 1982 Caleb Deschanel film. The thrilling album comes to a violent conclusion with the composer's evocation of Salvador in the form of a suite which is no less lyrical, but finally just as impressive, with a chorus coaxing out an incredibly beautiful and mystic theme.

In the third volume of the Sarabande series Delerue gave everyone the opportunity to listen for the very first time to the beautiful symphonic suite he'd written for Something Wicked This Way Comes… a score which was actually turned down by the Disney studios.

The suite illustrates the composer's achievement in a remarkable symbiosis of two essential qualities in film-music: mastery of the cinematographer's technique, plus that of the classical musical idiom.

From the epic and the mysterious, the music then returned to a more introspective atmosphere with a short suite for The House on Carroll Street which is troubling and dark.

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Diametrically opposed, the twirling suite for A Little Sex contains passages which refer directly to the musician's "French" period, with some typical, elegant chords from the accordion, one of Delerue's favourite instruments. 

The extremely well-developed suites for Man, Woman and Child and Memories of Me, on the other hand, reveal considerable nostalgia admittedly sometimes difficult to bear but always extremely poignant and moving. 

Completed by such inescapable Eighties scores as Agnes of God, True Confessions or Crimes of the Heart (already released through Varèse Sarabande), the excellent sound-quality of the London Sessions provide an eclectic panorama of Georges Delerue's savoir-faire; they also demonstrate that the style and musical personality of the composer never left him, whatever the circumstances surrounding the music he created.

Actu.