EL CUCO

Original score from the 2023 horror thriller feature film directed by Mar Targarona, starring Belen Cuesta, Marina Gatell and Jorge Suquet, produced by Barry Films and Rodar y Rodar Cine y Television and released by Filmax (Spain).

Winner of the best music award at the 24th Fantastic Costa del Sol International Film Festival 2023.

THE STORY: Marc and Anna decide to change houses with Hans and Olga, a German retired couple they met online, little by little the change of houses becomes a nightmare for Marc and Anna who discover that they have other plans for them.

THE SCORE: “This film’s premise, and also its title, is the cuckoo bird. Since the cuckoo bird and the cuckoo clock are always present in the film, my first idea to build the main theme was the movement of the second hand of a mechanical clock. That is why, during the piece, the first thing we can hear are the violas playing the same note (G#) in exact one-second intervals, with a bow articulation called col legno, where the strings are struck with the wood stick. As the cuckoo bird had to be present in the main theme, the second idea was to include the classic melodic interval of the cuckoo calls. In this case, C natural/G#, played by the first violins, producing harmonics just touching softly a string with the finger while the bow is used normally. The main theme in a thriller tone written for string orchestra, piano, harp and percussion includes a small choir for three sopranos in order to highlight the idea of a ritual or spell, which plays a significant role in the film. Then, I introduced a mixed choir in other pieces to cast the spells mentioned before with the orchestra. The music evolves with the film, on a journey from light to darkness, always led by that cuckoo bird interval or melody, a motif that already always have been part of the collective memory.” - Diego Navarro

THE COMPOSER: Diego Navarro is one of the most renowned names in Spanish film music nowadays. His latest works have received several awards and nominations like his World Soundtrack Award nomination for Passage to Dawn, and a double nomination to the IFMCA awards, for Capture the Flag. His music for The Mauthausen Photographer was nominated for ‘Best Orchestral Score’ at the XI Gaudi Awards and the II Spanish Audiovisual Music Awards. El cuco received the Best Music award at the 24th Fantastic Costa del Sol International Film Festival in 2023. As a conductor, Navarro is considered nowadays one of the most important batons in the universe of film music. He is also a main promoter of the genre as the director and founder of Fimucite, the worldwide known Tenerife International Film Music Festival, which celebrated its 17th year in July 2023.

Official CD-R pressings

01 El cuco (Tema principal) 02:54
02 Llegando a casa 01:59
03 Premonicion 00:48
04 Una nueva ilusion 02:05
05 La cancela abierta 01:09
06 Ordenando recuerdos 01:30
07 El accidente 02:28
08 Tiempos felices 01:20
09 El hechizo 03:35
10 Todo empieza a cambiar 01:28
11 Fasnacht 02:53
12 La revelacion Pt 1 02:46
13 La revelacion Pt 2 02:49
14 Reconciliacion 01:25
15 El espejo 03:17
16 Tomate la pastilla 01:54
17 Traigo fresas 01:47
18 Devastacion 02:25
19 El hechizo y el hospital 03:02
20 Desazon 01:59
21 Conversacion 01:14
22 Una placida ducha 01:20
23 El parto 02:32
24 Tu cuerpo a cambio de su sangre 01:29
25 Nunca me gusto mi nariz 01:03
26 Un nuevo comienzo 01:57
27 El cuco suite (Creditos finales) 05:16
28 Blues nocturno (Bonus track) 00:48