VA - Risonanze/3 - Evocazioni Musicali di Temi Biblici -1979- (Tape, Edizione Paoline), Italy

After Risonanze 2 which was posted earlier on the blog, here we have the third and last in the series. Risonanze was published through papal record label Paoline from the Vatican and was based on biblical themes. The composers of the music were Ennio Morricone, Egisto Macchi, Gino Marinuzzi, Armando Trovaioli, Miriam Bordoni and Luigi Zito. These compositions were surely not primarily created as biblical themes, but gathered for this particular series and perhaps renamed. I'm sure most pieces are a lot older than 1979 as well. Very strange music history indeed.

If I compare the two Risonanze volumes I think that the first one is a bit more diverse and less classical in its approach. This one sticks far more to some sort of traditional biblical theme than the other. The pieces tend more towards classical and folk music, but nevertheless create imaginitave cinematographical atmospheres. Some of the songs have electronic sounds, whilst others have choirs of sacral voices. Ofcourse many of these Italian composers are undoubtedly some of the best in existence so this is beautiful music. Who has volume one of the series?

Get it HERE

Donated by Kim


Also wanted to say that these coming months I will have some truly in-cre-di-ble posts coming and you will love it! Stay tuned!

VA - Risonanze/2 - Evocazioni Musicali di Temi Biblici -1979- (Tape, Edizione Paoline), Italy

This cassette is a compilation of some of our favorite Italian composers (some of them were part of  Il Gruppo Nueva Consonanza): Egisto Macchi, Ennio Morricone, Giorgio Carnini, Alessandro Alessandroni, Sandro Brugnolini and Miriam Bordoni. Some of these composers are known for creating soundtrack and library music for great Italian (B-)movies from the sixties and seventies.This time a set of songs based on biblical themes was put together by papal record label Paoline which still exists today. So what exactly happened here?

Risonanze was a series of three based on biblical themes that came out both on cassette and vinyl. I think most of the songs existed before on other library records or albums by these composers. But somehow they got compiled together on this series to resemble biblical subjects and notions placed in a religious framework. Surely these recordings are older than 1979, but this cassette apparently came out late seventies (or at least the record according to Discogs).

It almost feels like this series was published as souvenirs from Vatican City or as some sort of religious paraphernalia just like a small statue or postcard. In any case, this series contains beautiful music and does create a sacral and sometimes serene atmosphere, although it also goes into freaky psychedelic music sometimes. Furthermore I know that during the early seventies lots of Italian records with a Christian concept leaning towards prog-rock, electronic music or folky stuff came out. If someone could point me out to some of the more interesting ones I'd be very happy.

Sadly we don't have the first volume of the series, but volume three will follow shortly! Stay tuned!

Get it HERE

Donated by Kim

Gruppe Nuova Consonanza - Improvisationen -1969- (LP, Deutsche Grammaphon), Italy

So this probably doesn't need too much of an introduction, but I'll do it anyway. Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza (also The Group or Il Gruppo) was an Italian free improvisation Avant-Garde group. The three main people involved were Franco Evangelisti, Ennio Morricone and Egisto Macchi. They have created numerous incredible albums ranging from electro-acoustic improvisation to jazz to beat-driven psychedelic rock in a krautrock fashion. The coolest thing was that they were already men in their fourties when they made all this music.

Lately many of their records and recordings have been reissued by multiple record labels as well as some of the records made by individuals of the group. I can strongly recommend the solo work of Egisto Macchi. Morricone's work we all know by the legendary soundtracks he produced for movies like The good, the bad and the ugly and Once upon a time in the west. Italy's library and soundtrack music will always prevail over that particular genre of music elsewhere.

This record is a typically full-improvised recording of the group that was even published by the very renowned Deutsche Grammaphon company that was specialized in classical music. I know this was available on the web at some point, but is barely to be found these days so I thought it was a good idea to share again.

Get it HERE