Audio Watchdog
By Douglas E. Winter
Horror All’Italiana
Claudio Simonetti delivers a career-de- fining score for the final chapter of Dario Argento’s “Three Mothers” trilogy, La terza madre (THE MOTHER OF TEARS, 2007; Edel/ Universo/Deep Red US209/CD, Italy, €19.99, 46 tracks, 77m 41s). The keyboard prodigy, son of Italian pop icon Enrico Simonetti and a founding member of Goblin, had earlier scored Argento’s Il cartaio (THE CARD PLAYER, 2004) and his two MASTERS OF HOR- ROR entries, “Jenifer” (2005) and “Pelts” (2006), as well as features for the likes of Lamberto Bava, Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi. With La terza madre, Simonetti moves beyond his signature electronic and rock-fla- vored sound to a full-on orchestral/choral/ electronic opus that echoes and riffs on themes and textures of the earlier “Three Mothers” scores—Goblin’s SUSPIRIA (1977) and Keith Emerson’s INFERNO (1980)—while defining elements decidedly its own. For depth and dexterity, it’s the best of the three scores. The orchestra, with massed strings and cavernous percussion, adds sonic breadth and an otherworldly dimension while offering Simonetti the opportunity to quote Bernard Herrmann’s racing violins. The chorus, eighteen voices strong, enters with a “Mater Lacrimarum” chant that challenges the Satanic masses com- posed by Jerry Goldsmith for THE OMEN (1976) and Ennio Morricone for EXORCIST II: THE
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HERETIC (1977). There are subtle keyboard, solo soprano, and string ensemble interludes that introduce melancholy and romanticism. But many listeners will find the greatest delight in Simonetti’s sly reprise and reinvention of action cues from SUSPIRIA, complete with pulsing percussion, Eastern-flavored instrumentation, and eerie voices (crying “Mother” here, rather than “Witch”). Then comes Simonetti’s end title, a raging mash-up of two central themes twisted by his band Daemonia and Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani Filth into a symphonic death metal anthem, “Mater Lacrimarum,” meant to match, then overpower, Emerson’s “Mater Tenebrarum.”
Simonetti also found time to compose far different music for a far different Argento-in- spired project—this is not a joke—PROFONDO ROSSO: IL MUSICAL (Cinevox MDF 627, Italy, €16.95, 19 tracks, 55m 34s). Adapted for the stage by Marco Daverio (who also wrote the lyr- ics) and directed by Marco Calindri under Argento’s “artistic supervision,” the musical made its debut in Novara on October 7, 2007, and played across Italy to mixed reviews through mid-2008.
The presentation honors the original film and its score, opening with Giorgio Gaslini’s “map puppet” cue “School at Night,” and offering three incarnations of Goblin’s main title (the original plus Simonetti’s “macabre” version—which lay- ers in additional cathedral organ and synth riffs— and his “progressive” version, a less satisfying
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