from April 01, 2003

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Dan Page, Music Editor

Though scoring the project took Pecorella around the world and back, it began with a strong Chicago connection. The dramatic family comedy, starring Anne Archer and area-alum Joe Mantegna, marks the Comma Music composer’s second feature score for Chicago spot-turned-feature director Bob Shallcross.

Comma's Larry Pecorella mans the controls during the recording session.

“Bob and I have been friends for many years, and worked together on a number of spots when he was in the ad business,” Pecorella explains, “ and I scored his last film [2000’s] ‘Bored Silly.’” That successful partnership made Pecorella the natural choice to compose, arrange and orchestrate a score when Shallcross began shooting “Nino” in and around Chicago last year. “We wrote a little bit before they began filming, but the majority of the writing was done between Christmas until we went to Prague last month to record,” he notes.

The soundtrack of the story about an Italian uncle who comes to America to visit a nephew he’s never met reflects a range of styles from lighthearted American pop to traditional Old World melodies of harpsichord and accordion. The initial inspiration for “Nino” came a few years back Shallcross directed a commercial package in Italy for Barilla Pasta with producer David James. The score achieves a musical resonance of Old World wisdom transposed to modern American life fleshed out by a 44-piece orchestra.

The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra records Pecorella's "Uncle Nino" score.

The final score features about 40 minutes of original music at about 45 different cues throughout the film. While Pecorella penned most of the work himself, the film features one song co-written by Comma composer Pete Schmidt, who played mando-cello and co-produced the recorded sessions.

Music veteran Pecorella has recorded in studios from L.A. to London to Eastern Europe over the years. So when the film posed the challenge of recording a large orchestral score with top-notch talent on an independent film budget, Pecorella and Shallcross chose Prague and the renown Czech Philharmonic.

Left to Right: Pete Schmidt, Marya Fletcher, Larry Pecorella

“There was a big-time economic advantage to recording it over there, not to mention superior musicians,” he notes. “Other than the travel involved, Prague was as good as it gets.”

After recovering from jetlag from the journey over, the Comma team had two four-hour sessions to get it right. As it turned out, that was one hour more than they needed.

Left to Right: David James (seated), Pete Schmidt, Arnie Roth, Larry Pecorella

“We brought a hard drive with both our ProTools sessions to record into, and had Quicktime cuts of the movie that ran alongside on the computer screen,” he explains. “You hand out the music, rehearse the cue once, then hit record. Two takes or so later, you are on to the next cue. It went that well.”

The concertmaster, Pavel, helped the team handle translations with the orchestra, and Pecorella had recorded with orchestras larger than the 44 piece Czech group in the past. The group was amazed at how smoothly the process moved along.

“The sessions in Prague were the most fun,” he exclaims. “In fact, the day after, we were supposed to go sightseeing. I kept asking if we could go back and do the sessions all over again. It was that much fun.”

After returning stateside, Pecorella and Schmidt traveled to RoundAbout in Burbank for final Surround Sound mixing.

“The most rewarding thing is the response you get from everyone else when you get back and put the music up against the film,” he admits. “I think we did a pretty good job based on the responses.”

Audiences can catch the final product and hear the multinational intonations of the score this September when “Uncle Nino” is expected to hit theatres. Considering the calibre of talent involved and the team’s previous track record of creative excellence, I have nothing but the highest expectations for this project.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As always, please email all the latest and greatest info about your creative music projects to me at Dpageil@earthlink.net. Or give me a ring at 312/933-5661 to leave a message about news of note. Until next time, keep on rocking those spots, and scoring here and abroad.

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