Dangerous Liaisons: The Music
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On Composing the Score to Dangerous Liaisons
by Malcolm Caluori
This is a period story, and when Johnathan
and I decided to take on the project, we decided almost immediately to keep it in its original setting. This
decision led me to make several decisions about how I wanted the music to sound, and the show itself to feel.
With any period in history, comes a period in musical history. And with this show, at least as far
as the setting is concerned, we are dealing with the specific musical atmosphere of the French Baroque, bringing with it a
rich setting of developing musical forms, the birth of chamber music, and handily enough, a strong social and artistic focus
on the rise of the opera.
Dangerous
Liaisons the musical, is not a period piece. This is
not a Baroque opera. But the melodrama of the story, and the strong convergence of music with the lives
of the aristocracy, lend themselves naturally to music. And I felt that it was not only necessary, but
also inevitable that the taste of the score would involve more than just mere indications of the music of the period.
It was important to embroider the sounds of the time into the score in order to take the audience into the world of
these characters. But for me, even as a composer, the drama itself must always come first.
So in the score one can expect the drama of each scene to
be told with contemporary musical devices, but tinged with rhythms characteristic to the period, and the sounds of a harpsichord,
or perhaps a pair of recorders. Further, there are no low brass instruments in the orchestration, only
horns and a trumpet, and there is even a scene which parodies the comic opera buffa (or in French, opéra
comique). But even with such stylistic references, this is most definitely modern musical theatre,
and it has been a joy to create.
As well as composing and orchestrating the score to Dangerous Liaisons, Malcolm Caluori also cast and produced
the Original Concept Recording, directed the music and vocalists and personally oversaw the coordination of all aspects of the recording process, including
sound design and effects, editing, mixing, mastering, and even graphic design.
The Original Concept Recording
Complete, every note. It's just like sitting
in on the whole show!
This 3CD set, the only recording available of the original version in its entirety, includes
liner notes with a full reprint of Johnathan Daniel Steppe's brilliant and compelling original libretto, and features composer
Malcolm Caluori's dazzling original orchestrations. The talented cast includes Shaun Whitley's amazing Valmont
and powerhouse Maura Carey Neill as the Marquise.
Official Selections (Piano/Vocal)
Specially adapted authoritative
arrangements by the composer.
A unique volume, the Dangerous Liaisons Official Selections
contains solos and duets for all voice types, hand chosen by the librettist and composer. Based on the original orchestrations,
the arrangements have been specially adapted by the composer himself specifically for independant vocal performance with piano.
A distinctive (and affordable) joy for professionals and musical theatre enthusiasts alike!
Limited Time, save over
45% when you get the Dangerous Liaisons CD!
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here to learn more about this item.
The Intermedio (In Full score)
The unforgettable Reflections
sequence, including its Prelude.
Now available bound as its own volume, the original version
of the powerful "Intermedio" from Dangerous Liaisons, in Full Score. Music by Malcolm Caluori. Libretto
by Johnathan Daniel Steppe. For solo mezzo-soprano, mixed voices and orchestra. The Marquise de Merteuil recounts a series
of brief episodes from her life and childhood as a dramatic explanation of her wickedness.
Limited Time, FREE
CD Offer!
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~ RUNNING ORDER ~
1. PROLOGUE: The Vow
A. Andiamo Udire il Mare
B. At the Opera
C. Volanges’ Supper Party
D. Gercourt – The Vow
ACT I
3. Correspondences:
A. The Shoemaker
B. The Warning to Tourvel
C. Like a Rosebud
D. Something More Than Love
4. Madame de Tourvel
5.
The Deal
6. The Chevalier
Dançeny
7.
Hunting
8.
The Village
9.
I Found a Letter
10.
Valmont’s Arrival
11. Mail
12. The Game
13. The Plan
14. In the Garden
15. The Meeting – If Only
16. A Quandary
17. Merteuil’s Recitative
18. Letters from Dançeny
19. Unfinished Work – If He Were
Here
20. Merteuil’s
Success
21. Correspondences
(Reprise): “Guardian Angel”
22. Valmont’s Return
23. Confrontations
24. The Garden Song
25. The Fires Within
26. The Key
27. She Closes Her Eyes
28. The Seduction
29. A Simple Time
30. Cécile’s Confession
31. Finale: Secrets
INTERMEDIO 32. Prelude
33. Reflections
ACT II
34. The Storm
35. The Nature of Man
36. Valmont’s Recitative
37. Rumors
38. Seasons Running From Ourselves
39. Forever
40. A Heart to Run to
41. The Lioness
42. Valmont’s Success
43. Motherhood
44. Correspondences:
A.
Friendship and Love
B.
When My Heart’s Most Torn
C.
An Episode in Secrecy
D.
A Story
45. Speak Gently
46. The Game (Reprise)
47. It’s Not My Fault
48. Soliloquy
49. Promise Me Anything
50. The Argument
51. Salve Regina – The Veil is Torn
52. The Duel
53. When Silence Reigns
