“The Forgotten Front” is an expression used by the New York Times in 1944 to describe how the Allies advance in Italy was halted for many months, leaving the local Resistance to fight Nazi troops. The Forgotten Front: The Resistance in Bologna (produced by Paolo Soglia and Lorenzo K. Stranzani) is an Italian documentary that tells the story of the liberation of the Italian city towards the end of World War II. Bologna-born composer Marco Pedrazzi – whose earlier work includes the documentary Quanto Resta della Notte? (2012), (also produced by Lorenzo K. Stranzani) – has composed a fine score; one that is appropriately mournful but a resolute tribute to the freedom fighters of the war.
Pedrazzi’s score starts with a couple of tracks that set the tone for the bulk of the album’s 35-minute running time. “This is the Blossom” opens with sombre strings quoting a theme played at a funereal pace which is supplemented with, as the cue progresses, disconcerting woodwinds and then powerful horns. The cue is a good example of the composer’s approach to this score: start a cue sparingly and build it by adding layers of various sections of the orchestra to the mix. “But We Must March On” offers a glimpse to the second main ‘sound’ of the score: a more militaristic approach. Here the composer builds the cue around a prominent and relentless slow timpani march, where the slow pace provides a weight and momentum to the cue. An unsettling tone is added by skittish strings and the inclusion horns again gives a powerful, portentous impetus. Pedrazzi’s use of strings and horns (e.g., “The Storm Rages”) reminds me somewhat of Murray Gold’s use of this instrument combination in some of his Dr. Who scores. The composer handles the mournful aspect of the score very well indeed, providing some of the highlights to the score. “Adagio, After the Metamorphoses” and “If I Die as a Partisan” are worthy of particular mention. The former is a beautiful track featuring all that you would expect from a first-class adagio: mournful strings tug at the heart with their power (one of the many examples of the excellent playing of the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna). The latter cue, “If I Die as a Partisan”, features a wonderfully evocative theme that is delicately played first by solo flute before being passed to other woodwinds and then to shimmering strings. A slow tempo provides additional emotional heft to an already powerful theme. The appearance of percussion, more (this time shrieking) woodwinds and brass does detract a little from the emotion established at the start of the cue but the composer reclaims that initial feel with a final rendition of the theme in the low strings. Curiously, this final statement of the theme is accompanied by a countermelody from a glockenspiel, an element that appears subtly at other parts of the score (e.g., “This is the Blossom”).
“There Is No Going Back” is a bit of a jolt to the listening experience to the album so far as it features the most dissonant part of the score. Scratchy and dissonant strings supported by woodwinds provide an expectant feel in the listener which is fed by powerful timpani and crashing cymbals. The halting rhythms put me in mind of the final eruption sequence in Alan Hovhaness’ Symphony No. 50, ‘Mount St. Helens’. This cacophony of dissonance is punctuated with staccato brass patterns and sliding string and horn effects. This would be an unsatisfying conclusion to the album (“There Is No Going Back” is the penultimate track) so it is pleasing that the album concludes with a strings-only version of “The Storm Rages” which showcases the orchestra’s string section. The Forgotten Front: The Resistance in Bologna is a powerful score that features track after track of music that offers something interesting to listen to. Emotional, mournful and sombre, it certainly seems to deliver for the documentary’s subject and Pedrazzi’s music is solid enough to be very enjoyable away from the film.
Rating: ****/*****
- This Is The Blossom (4:05)
- But We Must March On (3:20)
- The Storm Rages (2:42)
- Adagio, After The Metamorphoses (4:41)
- Eyes All Over Us (2:04)
- If I Die As A Partisan (5:24)
- The Stars Guide Him Through The Night (3:14)
- Through A Crack (1:46)
- Benedictus (Perti in Memoriam) (3:40)
- There’s No Going Back (3:14)
- The Storm Rages (Strings Only Version) (2:29)
Running Time: 36:44
Marco Pedrazzi (2020)
Reel Music 