The Godfather is the soundtrack from the film of the same name, released in 1972 by Paramount Records, and in 1991 on compact disc by MCA. Unless noted, the cues were composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Carlo Savina (who was credited on the LP, but not the CD). The song "I Have but One Heart" is sung by Al Martino, who performed it in the film as character Johnny Fontane. The score was nominated for an Academy Award; however, the Academy withdrew the nomination after determining that the "Love Theme" was a rewritten version of Nino Rota's music from the 1958 film Fortunella. Coppola hired Italian composer Nino Rota to create the underscore for the film, including the main theme, "Speak Softly, Love". In October 1971, Coppola flew to Rome with a copy of the film to give Rota to view and create the score accordingly. For the score, Rota was to relate to the situations and characters in the film. Scott Cain of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reacted to Rota's work with the movie's score by saying that regardless of how the movie turned out, "it will be worthwhile just for Rota's contributions." Rota synthesized new music for the film and took some parts from his 1958 Fortunella film score, in order to create an Italian feel and evoke the tragic film's themes. Rota also based the piece Main Theme (The Godfather Waltz) off the opening melody of Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 1. Paramount executive Evans found the score to be too "highbrow" and did not want to use it; howeve