“The defining feature of Boccaccio 70 is Nino Rota’s way of reconciling music coming from very different worlds (children songs, brass bands, night-club music, advertising jingles, folklore, classic quotes, etc.) in a unique and very cohesive flow. His secret lies in the musical unity of harmonic and melodic formulas. On closer analysis of Boccaccio 70, you’ll discover that everything stems from a chromatic cell of a few notes coming back all along the partition, depending on the variations and styles. This is ‘music’ as a whole that fascinates Nino Rota, beyond eras and styles (let’s not forget his thesis submitted in 1937 was about a Renaissance composer, Gioseffo Zarlino). In all the recordings devoted to Nino Rota, I benefited from the collaboration of the Verdi Orchestra in Milan which is used to go from one style to another in a very flexible manner. This isn’t a problem for these musicians to perform some Brahms then to go on playing some Cole Porter, for example. This is in a way the ideal orchestra for Nino Rota’s music. But this sound variety must also be found in the recording and the mixing: with Stefano Barzan, the technician that has been handling these complete works since the first CD, we’ve spent hours looking for the most accurate sound quality.” Giuseppe Grazioli (interview by Nicolas Magenham). ©NM/Qobuz