THIS IS Michel Legrand at his purest cinematic self, back in the sixties when film music was in its most uninhibited. His youthful exuberance on the conductor's dais is matched with his vibrant training in jazz and film scores, with strings reaching up to gloriously stratospheric levels to deliver that signature Legrand sound.
Released in 1967, Cinema Legrand contains 11 tracks that run the gamut of the most memorable themes and expressions. Max Steiner's "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind scales the higher realms of the imagination, and Luiz Bonfá's "Manhã de Carnaval" from Orfeu Negro haunts the deeper recesses of the mind. "One Day" and "You Must Believe in Spring" present themselves on this album in their original titles, "Norma Jean's Theme" from The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean and "The Girl I've Never Met (Chanson de Maxence)" from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort.
It's a travesty that Cinema Legrand has never been made available in digital form for the younger generation to appreciate. Hopefully, it gets to be re-released in the future to continue delighting and inspiring cinephiles and music lovers.
Listen below to "One Day" (Norma Jean's Theme from The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean).
