Quartet Records 2025 re-issue:
From the Quartet Records product description:
“Quartet Records presents the premiere complete vinyl release of Ennio Morricone’s fascinating score for Folco Quilici’s OCEANO (1971), a pseudo-documentary film about a young Polynesian, Tanai, who goes in search of the island of his dreams. On an epic sea voyage from Polynesia to Alaska aboard a tiny fragile raft, he is guided by the voices of his ancestors.
Morricone’ score for OCEANO seeks to merge nature with mythology. It breathes, vibrates, transmits, and is characterized by its episodic and atmospheric structure, taking the form of an evocative soundscape. The composer draws on resources that recall a primitive, spiritual component: tribal percussion (tablas and bongos), solo woodwinds (flutes and clarinets), guitar, sitar, clanging metal and harp. The fusion of timbres in this instrumentation is unconventional. He expressively sets to music ideas associated with wind or nature, sound textures that construct Tanai’s intimate journey: we hear the sea, we feel the air roaring over the sail of his canoe, the danger lurking in the ocean, his loneliness. The music is another character that gives the film a lyrical dimension and complements the visual element, transcending its narrative function to become a gateway to meditation on the mystery of the sea and existence. Through his unmistakable style, Morricone invites us to immerse ourselves in a world of introspection, beauty and silent emotion.
The original 40-minute program was released on vinyl in 1971 in Italy and Japan, and both those LPs quickly became collector’s items. Quartet Records recently released a CD featuring the complete 70-minute score. This is the first release of the same program on vinyl, presented as a transparent blue-ocean 2XLP, mastered by Chris Malone, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.”
Album Review from Main titles:
” On the one hand, it sounds like natural improvisational music, while on the other hand, it feels like precisely notated music. “
Written by Joep de Bruijn – Review of the expanded release
“Oceano is a 1971 semi-documentary directed by Folco Quilici, who usually made films and (semi)documentaries set in tropical climates and illustrated interesting social issues. After having made a semi-documentary about a Polynesian boy who raises a baby Shark (Ti-Koyo e il Suo Pescecane 1964), Oceano follows in those footsteps, following another Polynesian boy who goes on an adventure across the Pacific Ocean in search for his dream island.
Ennio Morricone’s score uses some specific sounds and instruments – who doesn’t expect to hear tribal percussion and a twirling woodwind? – to illustrate the setting in Oceano. Before I delve deeper into that, there’s a bit of surprise, which is evident in the opening cue ´Oceano (04:03)´ that introduces its main theme. It’s almost an exact replica of the breezy main theme of Il Grande Silenzio, minus the expressive main melody on top, and adding a new melody and more emphasis on tribal percussion. Most of its renditions in Oceano have more than enough deviating ingredients to keep it fresh, but is rather difficult to fully accept it. The composer did not only use the template of the western theme, he also re-introduces several instruments that characterised that score; the tribal percussions (tablas) and sitar foremost. Especially in some of their eerie, slightly dissonance performances, Morricone also emulates the underscore of Il Grande Silenzio. Even the disjointed woodwind and metal clanging. Luckily, they mostly serve an entirely new purpose.
Oceano as a whole is best described as a textural soundscape for the boy’s adventures on the island, with little dramatic progression, if you exclude different variations on the main theme, sometimes for solo woodwind. On the one hand, it sounds like natural improvisational music, while on the other hand, it feels like precisely notated music. I especially love the variations on tribal percussion, chirping woodwinds, understated use of Edda Del Orso, and all the additional instruments, in providing illustrative phrases to establish an intriguing atmosphere. It bears feelings of mystique, a certain eeriness, and because of the textural music, even no emotion or feeling at all. The encompassing highlight to illustrate this is the wonderful 10 minutes long Il vento è il vento e soffia dove vuole (#2), which includes one of the few musical variations on the sound of a bird. However, the most interesting bird sound is heard in the rather brooding tension of Il Sole è il Sole e brucia ciò che vuole, which includes an interesting echoing sound, sitar, slightly more, and less, intense percussion and a strange woodwind emulating an unpleasant high-pitched bird.
Oceano is not a score for everyone, given the soundscape that mingles with a traditional theme. But the seemingly undirected textural ideas are what set this score apart.
The score received three vinyl releases by the labels Soundtrack Listeners Communications/RCA, after which it was paired with L´Avventuriero by RCA, marking its CD debut, only to be expanded by the excellent GDM cd release in 2010.”
Tracklist
1. Oceano 4:03
2. Isola di Pasqua 2:01
3. Vulcano 1:01
4. Speranza per una terra amica 1:36
5. Le maschere morte 2:43
6. Il vento è vento e soffia dove vuole 4:47
7. Tanai 2:18
8. Odissea 1:58
9. Notte 1:40
10. Piccola ouverture 1:46
11. Viaggio 3:03
12. Il Sole è il Sole e brucia ciò che vuole 3:30
13. Partenza 2:14
14. Il vento è il vento e soffia dove vuole (#2) 10:42
15. Viaggio (#2) 1:23
16. Oceano (#2) 2:03
17. Isola di Pasqua (#2) 4:11
18. Notte (#2) 4:24
19. Partenza (#2) 1:13
20. Odissea (#2) 3:34
21. Oceano (#3) 6:19
Total duration: 66:28
