Press Release from Quartet:Quartet Records, in collaboration with Cinevox Records, presents a remastered, expanded edition of the classic Angelo Francesco Lavagnino western score for a most unusual duel.
Directed by Eugenio Martín and José Luis Merino in 1968, REQUIEM PER UN GRINGO made use of unorthodox costume and set design and a great plot device to say something new in the genre. Based on the idea of a Ulysses-like character who uses his brain against his violent opponents, the film tells the story of peace-loving bounty hunter Ross Logan who takes revenge on his brother’s killers by turning his foes against each other while using a natural phenomenon to defeat them.
Starting off with the “Sandstorm” song performed by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni, the opening credits use familiar Sergio Leone-inspired titles of aggressively tinted movie scenes played against animated opening credits. The score features two different organs, including a church organ for Logan’s love of astronomy. Some of the other highlights include haunting vocal effects, Lavagnino’s signature percussion work over sustained organ notes, and “Follow Me,” a dance number that unwittingly sows seeds of discontent within the gang of marauders.
A selection of 18 tracks was issued on LP by Cinevox when the film came out, and the same program (plus an 11-minute suite with unreleased cues and takes) was reissued in a Lavagnino western compilation on Saimel in 2006. This new CD, produced by Claudio Fuiano and mastered by Chris Malone from first-generation master tapes courtesy of Cinevox, features the original program augmented with previously unreleased cues and a bonus suite of surviving stereo cues. The lavishly illustrated 12-page liner notes by Gergely Hubai discuss the film and the score.
