La Cosa Buffa ► reececrothers.com

From the Music Box records website:

“In 1973 Aldo Lado directs the movie “La cosa buffa”, inspired by the eponymous book by Giuseppe Berto and starring Gianni Morandi and Ottavia Piccolo. The soundtrack is composed by Ennio Morricone, who uses Edda Dell’Orso’s marvellous voice
to create an unforgettable theme, both sweet and sensual.
The soundtrack was originally released on vinyl and included nine tracks. More than 20 tracks, mostly alternative versions of the main theme, were recovered during the digitization of Cinevox master tapes.”

Album review from Movie Wave:

“A 1972 romantic drama directed by Aldo Lado, La Cosa Buffa is about two young people who fall in love but who see that love challenged by their different social statuses. Ottavia Piccolo and Gianni Morandi star, and he is eventually offered a fortune by her parents to just go away. According to the liner notes, he also has a sexual liaison with a Hungarian.

Ennio Morricone’s score is blessed with one of his amazing themes (one of thousands). Edda dell’Orso’s sensual vocal is brilliant – somewhat in the style of the way Morricone used her voice sometimes in his giallo scores, although there’s no other similarity. Romantic strings accompany it along with a gentle pop sound – it’s instantly memorable, stylish and you just want to listen to it over and over again. Well, I do. And in the case of this album, that’s a good thing because it’s heard in virtually every track.

The theme takes on a completely different feel in the next track, “Pensando a Maria” – taken up first by “Chi Mai”-style echoing strings, then a secondary theme (for solo piano) alternates with it, along with bass guitar and drums – and finally Edda again.

“Indecisione con Maria” is a more laid-back, jazzier version of the theme; then the echoing strings are back in “Escerizio con Marika” (not a typo), a glassy, really minimalist piece; then “Strani pensieri” gets close to the original arrangement, albeit slightly more uplifting and summery.

“Ritorno a casa” is something different, with an accordion playing a very different version of the now very familiar theme; then in “Come Guilietta e Romeo” Morricone goes to more traditional romantic territory, with swooning strings playing a gorgeous offshoot of the theme (with some genuinely fresh melody). “Gocce di pioggia” returns to more typical ground for this score with another variant on the opening piece, before the ten-minute “Catalogo incompleto” adds I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni to Edda’s vocals – it’s a mellow, soothing way to close things out.

Cinevox’s extended album adds 16 tracks to the original album’s 9 – given it’s an almost completely monothematic score, I’m not sure how many people will sit through all of it. If you don’t like that theme, well, you’re a bit unfortunate if you attempt to listen to any version of the album; since I do, I enjoy hearing the different moods Morricone extracts from it (it is monothematic but not monochromatic) and find the 35-minute length of that original selection of tracks passes like a breeze, even though perhaps just downloading the theme might satisfy most needs.

Rating: *** 1/2“

The Film:

First edition of **Guiseppe** **Berto’s** novel.

From Wikipedia:

La cosa buffa
Directed by	Aldo Lado
Written by	Aldo Lado
Based on	Antonio in Love by Giuseppe Berto
Starring	Ottavia Piccolo Gianni Morandi Angela Goodwin Fabio Garriba Riccardo Billi Dominique Darel Giusi Raspani Dandolo
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Release date	1972
Country	Italy

La cosa buffa (lit. ’The Funny Thing’) is a 1972 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Aldo Lado.^[1]It is an adaptation of a 1966 Italian novel of the same name by Giuseppe Berto.^[2]

A young elementary school teacher falls in love with a Venetian woman who is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist.

The film is set^[2] and was shot in Venice. The music by Ennio Morricone contains parts sung by Edda Dell’Orso.^[3]