Ennio Morricone
Quattro Mosche Di Velluto Grigio

Never officially released on VHS and DVD, Quattro mosche di velluto grigio was for several decades the least seen film by Dario Argento, a champion of the Italian thriller genre during much of the '70s, until some recordings of the feature film, taken from its last television appearance about twenty years ago, began to circulate on the internet.

If DeBaser also took care of film reviews, I would elaborate extensively on the importance of the film and its plot, extremely intriguing and current, where Argento deftly stages, amidst chases, violence, and murders, the weaknesses of an artist and the crisis of a couple, the true central theme of the story.

Instead, I am forced to focus on the soundtrack of the film, composed, as with the previous films of the Roman director, by Ennio Morricone, then a young composer with an experimental vein and now an acclaimed master awarded with an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Unlike similar works, which are rarely appreciated if detached from the images for which they were conceived, the soundtrack of 4MVG proves to be extremely enjoyable on its own, independent of its original function and destination.

It is, in fact, a series of tracks with interesting rock, blues, and jazz inflections, characterized by a nervous rhythm section that seemingly underpins the various compositions, giving them an accented dynamism and a touch of anxiety. The strongest connection with the hard rock of the early '70s can be heard in the opening track, intended for the film's opening credits, in which Morricone skillfully retraces the styles of certain music from the era (primarily Deep Purple), intertwining guitars, Hammond organs, drumrolls, and electric bass runs. Almost as a reminder of the unusual nature of this rock, the track, however, has sudden pauses where the indistinct "background noise" of a crazed synthesizer emerges: here the harmony of the music seems to give way to the darkness of the human mind, as indeed highlighted by the film itself.

A particular melodic touch - at times similar to the sounds of Morricone's "C'era una volta il West" - distinguishes the second track of the album: a descending synthesizer line alternates with brief interventions by string instruments, while voices chase each other, intoning a melancholic and nostalgic song, full of pathos. Solid yet delicate the rhythm section, sometimes similar to a heartbeat. Those who have seen the film cannot help but associate these sounds with the final scene, one of the harshest - and at the same time touching - of Argento's cinema, where the death of a central character in the story leaves the viewer astonished, led to feel a sense of liberation and pity.

The third track is varied and dynamic, divided into a first part similar to a skewed waltz played by the synthesizer, which transforms in the second part into a beautiful piano-based jazz rock, where all instruments elegantly intertwine, painting a relaxed and almost "freak" atmosphere, typical of the film itself and the characters that animate it.

The fourth track of the album is decidedly unsettling, naturally indebted to the original function of the soundtrack: synthesizer, string instruments, piano, voices, percussion, and bass chase each other with studied slowness, defining the sick psyche of the current killer, whose presence is well-perceived in the continuous panting that serves as the background to the instrumental evolutions. I don’t recall the specific placement of the track within the film, but the central idea suggested by the piece seems to be that of the chase: the killer follows their victim, the killer's past pursues and gnaws at their soul, making them relive sensations they believed long hidden. As in all early Argento cinema, past traumas resurface in the present, and the whirlpools of the subconscious permeate the destinies of victims and killer, in an eternal return that grips the viewer/victim of the director.

Rarefied and sinister atmospheres characterize the next piece, dominated by the textures of the bass and the evolutions of the synthesizers: if the theme of the previous track was pursuit, here the main sensation is that of "waiting": the killer waits for their victim in the shadows. The sixth track initially revisits the theme of "Come una madrigale", to implode into a delirium of piano, strings, and synthesizers up to the final implosion, a sign of the madness that hovers over the entire film. The concluding piece returns to rock blues sounds, more relaxed than those of the opening track, with repeated piano, voice, and guitar phrases, both catchy and refined.

In summary: a soundtrack on par with the film. If not two masterpieces, two experiences to try.

To A. & G. (long live the mature ones… ).