HE ADDED SOUND TO A SILENT FILM

The restoration of the 1927 French silent film “Casanova” was hailed as a major cinematic event when it was screened by the Cinematheque Francaise and the UCLA Film Archive in January, 1986, accompanied by a new score composed by Academy Award-winner Georges Delerue. This restored version of “Casanova” will be shown at 8 p.m. Monday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, and again Delerue will conduct an ensemble of 15 musicians, but this time the players will be drawn from the Pacific Symphony. What follows are Times Music Critic Martin Bernheimer’s review of the UCLA performance and excerpts from an interview of Delerue by Steven Smith. Both pieces ran in Calendar.

First “Napoleon”; now “Casanova.”

The second of two ambitious restorations of French cinema, Alexander Volkoff’s 1927 silent “Casanova” will (be seen accompanied by) a specially commissioned score by Oscar-winner Georges Delerue, who will conduct a live 15-piece orchestra.

“Robert Maniquis, who was in charge at Cinema Francaise, asked me if I could use some existing music I had written--but I soon learned that wouldn’t work for raisons legales ,” Delerue said with a grin.

“More crucial was the artistic factor. Each film has its own personality.

“So, I suggested I write an original score for the film--but at that time, last fall, I didn’t realize the film was two hours and 15 minutes long! I had given my word, however, and I’m glad I did--it was a challenge extraordinaire. “

This challenge aside, Delerue is hardly noted for the ordinaire. The composer of about 200 film scores (“Jules et Jim,” “A Man for All Seasons,” “A Little Romance,” “Agnes of God”), at least 200 television scores, several ballets, a symphony and numerous other concert works, Delerue is among the world’s foremost musical dramatists. . . .

Unlike many composers in film, Delerue insists on writing his own orchestrations. “The instrumentation varies tremendously with every film, although I do have a predilection for some instruments: I love the velvety quality of strings.”

On “Casanova,” however, Delerue realized that with two hours and 15 minutes of music needed in 2 1/2 months, an assistant would be needed.

“Richard Stone--a very good composer and my music editor--worked under my supervision, and my instructions were very, very precise,” Delerue said. . . .

A frequent Delerue hallmark in any medium is lyrical delicacy, an impressionistic use of strings, harp and woodwinds that often borders on the mystical.

“I don’t define myself as religious, but even before I composed for film, many people told me there was a very mystical quality to much of my music. I cannot really find that in myself, but it may be my conception of what music is--or a side of my personality I don’t know about.” But “Casanova,” he explains, will have little of that.

“The film is very playful and lighthearted, and my music is often a pastiche. For example, during a chase, I parody a Western. For the scenes in Russia, I write in the Russian style. Italy, a la Italienne. It is sometimes very stereotype , but that is the film’s style.”