Silvano D’Auria

The relationship of pianist, composer and producer Silvano D’Auria (Ascoli Piceno, 1944) with film music is limited to just two movies, both directed by Nardo Bonomi. The musician from Ascoli, formerly the leader of the D’Aurias, a beat-prog group that toured Italian clubs until 1971, came into contact with the world of Italian cinema thanks to a friend, camera operator Claudio Speranza, who introduced him to Bonomi just when the director was making his second film, The Long Arm of the Godfather, a mafia-movie starring Adolfo Celi, Erika Blanc and Peter Lee Lawrence. 

Unlike many of his famous colleagues, the young composer did not confine himself to the main soundtrack theme. Rather, he let his imagination roam free and wrote different themes for the various situations and characters in the film. The recording sessions saw the involvement of Giacomo Dell’Orso in the role of arranger, conductor and overall “factotum” (he found the recording studio and made sure to have his wife, soprano Edda Dell’Orso, vocalize in various pieces with her unique and unmistakable style). 

The result is simply astounding, featuring exquisite themes, impeccable performances with baroque-jazz vibes, fuzz guitars, psychedelic flutes, strings and orchestral instruments, and the amazing Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni. 

D’Auria worked again with Bonomi in 1974, when he was asked to score Sortilegio, a movie that has never never released (and was perhaps never completed) and is now considered lost. In this case, too, D’Auria’s soundtrack is truly exceptional, with disturbing atmospheres and groovy rhythms, which demonstrates his talent for film music. 

D’Auria’s brief but brilliant stint as a film composer ended shortly afterwards, when he started a successful career as a record producer, first at RCA Italy in Rome, and then at Lucio Battisti’s label Numero Uno in Milan.