Morricone Pop playlist

Morricone Pop

After the playlist titled "Se telefonando", dedicated to Ennio Morricone's career as a song composer, it is now time for this long playlist which offers some of the many arrangements written by the Maestro for the world of song, tackling it both with pop stars of the moment like Rita Pavone or Gianni Morandi, and songwriters like Luigi Tenco or Gino Paoli. And it's really extraordinary to rediscover with what focus and involvement Morricone was able to grasp the mood of a song and give it the most suitable sounds.

For the Maestro, every sound was music, from the noise of the water bubbles used for Edoardo Vianello's Pinne, fucile e occhiali to the noise of a rolling jar, for which he had a device rigged up in the recording studio to roll a real jar and capture the sound in the recording of Il barattolo by Gianni Meccia. And then adding Ludwig van Beethoven 's Moonlight Sonata to Voce 'e notte in the version by Miranda Martino, with whom he created a series of admirable recordings from the classic Neapolitan song repertoire.

His Roman nature can be found in Renato Rascel's Scirocco, in an arrangement with dark and dramatic tones, from which he moves so naturally to the adolescent youthfulness of Fatti mandare dalla mamma a prendere il latte by Gianni Morandi. And then there are the incipits, the opening bars of an arrangement that introduce with a few notes all the sonic mystery of a song, thanks to which we never tire of listening to those songs. And each time they seem new to us as we grasp fresh nuances and at the same time, are familiar and reassuring sounds, like when you meet an old best friend. This is what happens with Sapore di sale by Gino Paoli or Il mondo by Jimmy Fontana.

You will not fail to note that Morricone does not hesitate to use the trumpet, in homage to the instrument he majored in when he graduated from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He always paid close attention to the use of female voices as orchestral instruments. These played dominant roles in his soundtracks and we find traces of this in this playlist both in Quando finisce un amore by Riccardo Cocciante and Una pioggia d’affetto by Renzo Zenobi. Happy listening.