Luigi Nono/Mauizio Pollini - "sofferte onde serene..." Vinyl, LP, Album, Germany, 1979 (Deutsche Grammophon)

My knowledge on the Italian composer Luigi Nono is limited, and I have only this album "sofferte onde serene..." and a compilation with Berio and Maderna.   I have an interest with composers of the 20th-century who used magnetic tape as part of the ensemble, and Nono is no stranger to the tape machine.  Here Nono has the noted pianist Maurizio Pollini play along with magnetic tape that is haunting and very mood sturring.  It's music to wait for an upcoming storm.  And that storm is "a floresta èjovem e cheja de vida."   A composition with magnetic tape as well as clarinet played by William O. Smith, who was an original member of Ennio Morricone's (and others) Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  

a floresta èjovem e cheja de vida" is very much rooted in the Vietnam War, and Nono was very much against that war.   The texts in this piece are from various sources and mostly from the Left.  A haunting work as well as the first piece on this album. 

Ennio Morricone - "Ecce Homo, I Sopravvissuti" Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, 2002 (Dagored)

Ennio Morricone's "Ecce Homo: I Sopravvissuti" is one of his more obscure works, but of course, it's excellent.  This is more of his small orchestration with strings, some vocals, but basically a chamber work.  There is also a thumb-piano mixed in with the strings, and flute.   The Chimes gives it a slight exotica feel, but it's music that is quietly intense.  

"Ecce Homo" is a film from 1968 and directed by Bruno Gaburro.  If the film is like the music, it has to be an intense viewing experience.  Although Morricone wrote for the screen, I feel his music works just as well as an independent music piece.  I have to imagine that the works here are incidental pieces - there is no major theme music, but just a series of music that's similar or plays with the major theme.  The great Edda Dell'Orso is the vocalist, and again, her operatic touches are magical and profoundly beautiful.  In sections, I think of John Cage's prepared piano music, but I think due that the piano (prepared piano?) and thumb-piano are used in a rhythmic manner.  Also noted is the conductor, the great Bruno Nicolai.  

Egisto Macchi - "Messico" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Italy, 2016 (Cinedelic Records)

"Messico" (Mexico) at times reminds me of recordings that are tourist-like, in that it gives the listener a taste of that foreign culture.  It's traveling the world within one's Hi-Fi setup. Italian composer Egisto Macchi composed and made these recordings for film libraries, where a filmmaker or editor can go and locate music for their specific scene.   Under such anonymous service, it's amazing that the brilliant talent of Macchi served this industry so well.   "Messico" brings images of Mexico, but the Mexico that is in our imagination.  The music has strong folk melodies but expanded by an Italian's view of such a culture.   

There are touches of spaghetti western overtures, but most of all I think of Sergi Eisenstein's ¡Que viva México!  It's a fascinating culture and country, and Europeans (and one Russian) I think were drawn to its allure due to a sexual and intellectual curiosity of a distant place.  "Messico" captures the sense of wonderment and it's another brilliant album by Macchi. 

Walter Marchetti - "La Caccia (Da Aprocrate Seduto Sui Loto) LP, Vinyl, Album, 1974 (Cramps Records)

The late (he passed away in 2015) Walter Marchetti was a composer who wrote and played in the collective ZAJ, a Fluxus minded group of sound artists from the year 1964 until they officially disbanded in the 1990s.  I went to Rockaway to check out the Ronald Kane collection of LPs he sold to the record store before his untimely death.  This one stood out to me due to the cover as well as being on the label Cramps records - not to be confused with the great band called The Cramps.  Then again, there is no such thing as coincidence. 

"La Caccia" (the Hunt) is a landscape record.   Two sides of what sounds like being in nature and listening to either birds or instruments that sound like creatures in the wilderness.  Duck calls, and other devices to attract the attention to these creatures of nature are used, and on one level this is very much an environmental soundtrack album. For me, it has the touch of disgust, due that I hate the idea of one going hunting and killing an animal.   Still, since the liner notes are all in Italian (a language I don't understand) these are the tools of perhaps a hunter but used for aesthetic purposes.  This is very much a music score being played out, and although it is placed (in the aural sense) in the middle of a hunt, and more likely in a godlike freezing condition, it's a funny work of art.  Using something that is sound related for the sake of luring birds to be shot, or other animals, is instead used in a music composition.  There is something very Goon (Spike Milligan/Peter Sellers) like that crosses my mind as I listen to this album.   I now have the urge to collect all recordings from the Italian label Cramps Records.  

Egisto Macchi - "E.S.P. Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, Limited Edition, 1973/2016 (Cometa Edizioni Musicali)

For those who have read my previous posts as well as my talk on Egisto Macchi https://youtu.be/rqCI97HMQxY know that I'm a huge fan of his work. I'm very passionate about Macchi's music at the moment because it's a new discovery or a new love.  Macchi is known for the music he composed for library music companies.   He was very much a close associate of Ennio Morricone, and like that great composer, they do share a sense of aural adventure.  Morricone did a lot of big budget films, and Macchi did mostly work for grade-z film productions.  Nevertheless, he was a brilliant composer.  E.S.P. is a work of stunning beauty.  

E.S.P. was an Italian TV series, and the music on this album basically plays the one theme but in different arrangements.  When I first heard E.S.P., it reminded me of the soundtrack "Twin Peaks, " in that both pieces capture a wishfulness but a sense of sinister underpinning around the corner.  The main instrument on E.S.P. is the Theremin.  Played not like a science fiction soundtrack, but more of a melodic instrument that fits in the orchestration perfectly.  The score is haunting and it's the perfect late night sound to reflect on one's life.  A superb album. 

Armando Sciascia - "Violin Reactions" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 1974/2015 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

Armando Sciascia is an Italian musician, composer, arranger, and violinist.   Mostly for Italian soundtrack films, but also very much a huge figure in the music library world.  This is music used by film producers to select music to fit a scene in a movie.  It's not original music for that specific film, but more of stuff left in a closet, and one approaches the space for the perfect sound at that moment. "Violin Reactions" are set pieces with Sciascia's violin playing, as well as composition, that is a hybrid of strong melodies, beats, and electronically processed sounds.  Sciascia had his own record label for his music and studio as well.  By day he served the film industry, by night he got into his own weird groove. 

The photographs I see of Sciascia are always from the 1950s or even earlier, and they somewhat do not convey the sounds he made in the 1970s.  Here, in his studio, he's a combination of Brian Eno and Joe Meek as he experiments with aural tools to make a new world.  "Violin Reactions" is a title that doesn't disappoint.  Every piece of music here has a strong presence of Sciascia's violin playing, but it's the mixture or the soup that he places the violin within that gives this album much pleasure. 

Egisto Macchi - "Bioritmi" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue (The Omni Recording Corporation)

I know little to nothing about Egisto Macchi, except that he's an Italian composer who worked on music for film and Television, and is a close associate of Ennio Morricone and is a member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  I have two albums by him, including "Bioritmi," and he's exceptional.  

Originally released in 1971, and reissued/remastered by the great label The Omni Recording Corporation, "Bioritmi" is a record of great feeling and beauty.  It's noted in its informative sleeve notes that there are traces or a hint of Moondog's music within its grooves.   The music here is very much a quartet of strings and distant percussion and it does move in a circular fashion just like Moondog. It's very machine-like but done by humans.  The music builds and then slowly releases its intensity.   Listening to this I think of insects working in a hive.  It's almost a musical portrait of a society working, but not necessarily a human's approach to society unless they're watching insects building a nest and obtaining food.   A quiet album or work, but with great feeling and the clockwork of giving and releasing makes "Bioritmi" a give and take the pull as one listens.  An amazing album and the composer is a genius.  

Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza - "Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2016/1966 (Schema)

Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Conssonanza is a group of Italian composers who got together to make improvised 'noise' music.  The most famous member of the band (orchestra) is Ennio Morricone, who plays Trumpet within this experimental group.  The others are composers, who border on the classical or are writing film track music.   Here, they can go wild, and wild do they go.

This is music that is not open-ended but contained in an aesthetic history that is a combination of Fluxus and music by John Cage.  Perhaps even traces of The Art of Noise (the other Italian Futurist sound movement) not the British 'pop' group.  Using conventional instruments, they make new sounds by altering the instruments or through electronic means.  What sounds like chaos is really master musicians working in a format that takes chances at a high point, yet never fall off the cliff.  At times ambient but more likely in one's face, this is essentially 20th-century music that changes the shape of the air around them.  I think of their music more sculptural than anything else.  

The album was released in 1966, and this is a reissue, that is in a limited edition of 500.  Pick it up before it goes bye-bye.  The other composers/musicians involved besides Morricone are Jerry Rosen, Frederic Rzewski, Franco Evangelisti, Roland Kayn, Mario Bertoncini, Ivan Vandor, and John Heineman.   The sound of 1966 that is the new sound

Ennio Morricone - "Crime and Dissonance" CD, Compilation, 2005 (Ipecac Recordings)

Ennio Morricone is the most magnificent composer in the 20th century.   He does film work, and of course, a film composer is an integral part of the film aesthetic, but I often feel that Morricone's music is usually more important than the actual films he worked for.  It allowed him to experiment, mix music genres, and make awesome (soundtrack) albums.  Mike Patton, a superb singer for various groups and sessions, has his own label, Ipecac, and here he has put together the more experimental and moody works in one package.  It's an excellent introduction to Morricone's inner-world and avoids a lot of his famous melodies, but a focus here on his more experimental touches. 

If you take the entire works of Morricone, it can be divided into sections.  The spaghetti westerns,  Mafia/crime narratives, high-comedy or farces, soft-sex films, and horror.  This collection consists mostly his work on horror films as well as crime.   As a package, it is going to either attract one to listen more, or you may run away from the speakers.  If you stay, you're going to be awarded many hours of pleasure, if you track down the original editions of these masterful soundtracks.  

Beside Patton, John Zorn is the only other artist to capture the whole spectrum of Morricone's work.  He initially did an album of his music, and that was my first introduction to this Italian composer.  It's a love affair that never ends. 

Ennio Morricone - "La Proprieta' non e' Più' Un Furto" Album, Vinyl, Italy, 2017/1973 (Goodfellas)

The great fun of purchasing an Ennio Morricone album is that you don't know what to expect. For the beginner (and of course, you were introduced to the Spaghetti Western and "The Mission" soundtrack), I would look for the name Bruno Nicolai on the cover.  He sometimes arranges or conducts the orchestra for Morricone.  Think of him as David Bowie's Mick Ronson.   Stating all of this, "La Proprieta' non e' Più' Un Furto" is Morricone at his most adventuresome.  The hum of a synth, an acoustic guitar playing the melody at times, a voice through some electronic process, crazy percussion, harpsichord with another electronic keyboard of some sort - and bingo instant Morricone. For what looks like an Italian sexy comedy, this is very much an avant-garde work of music.  With touches of a glorious melody, of course.  If I walked into the room, and not knowing what is being played in front of me, I would swear it's a recording from The Letterists.  There is also some crazy Trumpet work, which I'm sure is played by Morricone.  The album turns like chasing a lizard.  You don't know what direction it's going - except you know it's a work of genius and therefore you just sit back and bathe yourself in the sounds of this record.   Also note, this is an excellent album package. It comes with a movie poster!  - Tosh Berman

Ennio Morricone - "Eat It" Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, Limited Edition, Italy, 1969/2016 (Cinedelic)

Ennio Morricone.  "Eat It."   I think the composer's name and the title of the film say it all.  The original Italian title of the movie is "Mangiala."  I haven't the foggiest idea what the film is about, but I suspect it has something to do with science, eating meat, and sex.  I'm sure it's a good film, but the soundtrack is incredible.  This may be a good introduction to the overall sound of Morricone's music. Because you have the strong melodies part, the amazing orchestration (arranged by pal Bruno Nicolai), and total noise ambient all in one package.  

Then again, it's hard to contain Morricone on just one album.  I just did an inventory of the albums that I own by him, and it came to 60.  None are bad, some are super good, and there are the exceptional ones.   "Eat It" is for sure up there.  There is one major melodic theme that runs through the album but re-arranged in many ways.  My favorite cut, and for a future club hit, is "Quinta Variazione Aricami."  A percussion work- out that Adam Ant must have heard somewhere in his musical past.  An incredible rhythmic song, with the classic Morricone melody laying on top of it or by its side.  A chef's method, which Nicolai brilliantly arranged.  

As mentioned, there are various types of music on this soundtrack, and all of them are essential Morricone.  There is a need to actually go through his entire catalog and write about it.  Perhaps I can do this as a book.  Till then, I'll write about my Morricone collection here ... and there... but mostly here now.