Marco Polo

Category: Adventure – Epic

User Rating: 9.5/10

Originals			Performed	Released
1	3:21	Marco Polo (Titoli)	1982	1982
2	3:54	Verso l'oriente (Ripresa viaggio)	1982	1982
3	6:03	Saluto alla madre	1982	1982
4	2:02	La leggenda della grande muraglia	1982	1982
5	2:33	Canzone di Mai-Li	1982	1982
6	2:59	Il sud brucia	1982	1982
7	0:57	Marco Polo (Ornuz)	1982	1982
8	1:27	Marco chiede la sepoltura di Guido	1982	1982
9	4:16	I crociati	1982	1982
10	3:53	Primo amore (Finale)	1982	1982
11	1:44	La città proibita	1982	1982
12	1:45	Tema di Marco (Morte nel vento)	1982	1982
13	5:37	Verso l'oriente (Viaggio)	1982	1982
14	1:13	Nostalgia del padre	1982	1982
15	3:02	La grande marcia di Kublai	1982	1982
16	3:29	Al santo sepolcro	1982	1982
17	1:11	I Mongoli	1982	1982
18	1:01	Tema di Marco (Dialogo)	1982	1982
19	0:54	I sogni	1982	1982
20	3:54	Adolescenza	1982	1982
21	1:54	I sogni	1982	2004
22	4:06	Il lungo viaggio inizia	1982	2004
23	4:40	Al santo sepolcro	1982	2004
24	5:19	Marco Polo e i Mongoli	1982	2004
25	5:24	Risveglio nel tempio tibetano	1982	2004
26	4:06	Tema di Marco (Un nuovo mondo)	1982	2004
27	2:11	Musica di corte (Arpe)	1982	2004
28	1:10	Tema di Marco (Nel palazzo imperiale)	1982	2004
29	6:54	Festeggiamenti a palazzo	1982	2004
30	4:54	Una nuova civiltà	1982	2004
31	5:13	Tema di Marco (Nuove sensazioni)	1982	2004
32	7:11	Canzone di Mai-Li (Ripresa)	1982	2004
33	6:39	Musica di corte (Ripresa)	1982	2004
34	6:00	Ricordo della madre	1982	2004
35	4:06	Tema di Marco (Nostalgia di Venezia)	1982	2004
36	1:45	Verso la grande muraglia	1982	2004
37	3:05	Kublai Khan	1982	2004
38	3:35	Tema di Marco (Ritorno verso casa)	1982	2004
Revisions			Performed	Released
39	8:48	Marco Polo	1987	1987
40	3:26	Main Theme	2004	2004

Show Cover Versions (6)

Ennio Morricone Composer Arranger Conductor;
Except:
39: Ennio Morricone Composer Arranger Conductor; Metropole Orkest Orchestra;
40: Ennio Morricone Composer Arranger Conductor; Yo Yo Ma Performer;

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‣18/01/2021 Bob Hendrikx Notes on Soundtrack: MARCO POLO (1982) (Part 1)
TV mini-series (480 minutes, 8 episodes) link / link / link
Director: Giuliano Montaldo (1930-) link

First aired in the US on 16 May, In Italy on 5 December 1982. link
Episode 1 was aired on Rai 1, Sunday 5 December 1982, 8:30 pm to 9:50 pm. (Radiocorriere 1982 #49, page 4)
Episode 8 was aired on Rai 1, Sunday 23 January 1983, 8:30 pm to 9:35 pm. (Radiocorriere 1983 #3, page 4)

Composer, Orchestrator, Conductor: Ennio Morricone – Opening credits: jpg

Orchestra and Choir: Unione Musicisti di Roma
Recorder: Marianne Gazzani Eckstein
Viola: Dino Asciolla
Recorded at Forum Studio (1980-1997), Rome.
Closing credits: jpg

Voice (2004 2CD, 2/18): Not credited (page 214 of the EMM says it is Edda Dell'Orso)
Harp: Vincenzina 'Zizi' Capone (MSV #94, page 41)

3:20 – A1 – Marco Polo, Titoli (2004 2CD, 1/01) – Play: mp3
3:53 – A2 – Verso l'Oriente, Viaggio (1/16) – Play: mp3
6:02 – A3 – Monica (aka "Saluto alla madre", 1/02) – Play: mp3
2:01 – A4 – La leggenda della Grande Muraglia (2/14) – Play: mp3
2:33 – A5 – Canzone di Mai-Li (2/05)
2:56 – A6 – Il sud brucia (2/10)
0:55 – A7 – Marco Polo, Ormuz (1/12) link
1:26 – A8 – Saluto alla madre (aka "Marco chiede la sepoltura di Guido", 1/10)
4:16 – A9 – I crociati [the crusaders] (1/07)
3:52 – B1 – Primo amore (aka "Primo amore, Finale", 2/18)
1:44 – B2 – La Città Proibita [Forbidden City] (2/11) link
1:45 – B3 – Tema di Marco, Morte nel vento (1/08)


‣18/01/2021 Bob Hendrikx Notes on Soundtrack: MARCO POLO (1982) (Part 2)
5:35 – B4 – Verso l'Oriente, Viaggio (1/11)
1:14 – B5 – Nostalgia del padre (1/03)
3:03 – B6 – La grande marcia di Kublai (2/16)
3:28 – B7 – Al santo sepolcro (1/09, 0:00 to 3:27)
1:12 – B8 – I Mongoli (1/13) link
1:02 – B9 – Tema di Marco, Dialogo (1/15)
0:53 – B10 – I sogni (1/05, 0:00 to 0:52)
3:52 – B11 – Adolescenza (1/04)
First released on LP:
Marco Polo – Fonit Cetra LPX 108 – Italy – 1982 link
Front (Ariola 204 699): jpg
A-side label (Ariola 204 699): jpg
B-side label (Ariola 204 699): jpg
Other editions: link

2:45 – 1/05 (0:52 to 2:45) – I sogni
4:08 – 1/06 – Il lungo viaggio inizia
8:05 – 1/09 (3:27 to 8:05) – Al santo sepolcro
5:22 – 1/14 – Marco Polo e i Mongoli
5:26 – 1/17 – Risveglio nel tempo tibetano
4:06 – 1/18 – Tema di Marco, Un nuovo mondo
2:13 – 2/01 – Musica di corte
1:12 – 2/02 – Tema di Marco, Nel palazzo imperiale
6:56 – 2/03 – Festeggiamenti a palazzo
4:57 – 2/04 – Una nuova cività
5:15 – 2/06 – Tema di Marco, Nuove sensazioni
7:14 – 2/07 – Canzone di Mai-Li
6:40 – 2/08 – Musica di corte
6:02 – 2/09 – Ricordo della madre
4:06 – 2/12 – Tema di Marco, Nostalgia di Venezia
1:46 – 2/13 – Verso la Grande Muraglia [Great Wall] link
3:07 – 2/15 – Kublai Khan link
3:35 – 2/17 – Tema di Marco, Ritorno verso casa
First released on 2CD:
Marco Polo – Rai Trade FRT 405 – Italy – 2004 link
Back: jpg
CD 2, track 7 has a higher sound level and suffers from distortion.
36 tracks (18 & 18) – Total time: 133:41 (64:27 & 69:14) – All tracks in stereo.


‣18/01/2021 Bob Hendrikx Notes on Soundtrack: MARCO POLO (1982) (Part 3)
Ennio Morricone: "It was challenging for me to compose such a thick and eclectic score to accompany Marco Polo's journey in the unknown Oriental territories, to the point that I felt compelled to visit those places and grasp their tastes, timbres and sounds.
Montaldo and I studied the details of the historical epoch, the musical references, and all this turned into a crucial research-based, experimental study for me. I sought to reproduce the static harmonies of the Oriental music I had gotten acqainted with during my journey." (In His Own Words, page 125)

Director Giuliano Montaldo & Composer Ennio Morricone:

1967 – AD OGNI COSTO link
1969 – GLI INTOCCABILI link
1970 – GOTT MIT UNS link
1971 – SACCO E VANZETTI link
1973 – GIORDANO BRUNO link
1976 – L'AGNESE VA A MORIRE link
1978 – IL GIOCATTOLO link
1982 – MARCO POLO link
1986 – IL GIORNO PRIMA link
1987 – GLI OCCHIALI D'ORO link
1989 – TEMPO DI UCCIDERE link
2007 – I DEMONI DI SAN PIETROBURGO link

‣20/10/2002 MCMoricz My favorite, still, after all these years...
Although I knew Morricone's music superficially before I heard the MARCO POLO soundtrack, hearing this album back in 1982 really changed my life. At that time most music in the concert hall was arid or ugly, and while there were a few wonderful film composers working, there wasn't a lot of orchestral music around which excited me. When I heard MARCO POLO, it stunned me with its long tracks of quiet, elegant, repetitive but slowly developing music. I had never heard anything quite like this: the repetitions of the basic musical unit of "Monica"*with slight variations each time, the langorous string writing where strings sustained above, changing pitch at untraditional times, that wonderful viola solo at the beginning, and the strange way in which Morricone seems to distort our sense of linear time as some of these tracks unfold. Twenty years later, this score still stuns and delights me, and is easily one of my three favorite soundtracks of all time. As a young composer just out of grad school in 1982, hearing MARCO POLO helped change my direction and open my mind to the possibilities of writing expressive music that was still relevant to our time. I am a much better composer today than I would have been without encountering the music of Morricone, and MARCO POLO was the score that fully converted me to a fandom of Morricone which has never faded and which remains undiminished as I grow over, even as I've lost interest in many of the other film composers whose music had so inspired me when I was younger.

I recommend this score to anyone who likes beautiful, haunting, not-always-traditional music. Like a strange kind of minimalism, Morricone takes what seems at times like the simplest of textures and turns them into a mesmerizing tour-de-force of quiet, expressive elegance.

*oh, and just when you think he exhausted the repetitive possibilities of the "Monica" theme, he brings it back for an even more exquisitely beautiful rendering in "On the Way to the Orient"!

‣15/01/2003 jaime Re: My favorite, still, after all these years...
Hello, Im Jaime and my english is not very good (sorry). I'm looking for this soundtrack many years. Can you help me? I want to buy in CD but I don't know how.
Thanks for your help

Jaime

‣16/01/2003 Didier Thunus Re: Re: My favorite, still, after all these years...
Hi Jaime,

The CD seems to be available at Movie Boulevard:

Marco Polo

Good luck!
Didier

‣01/08/2003 crath Re: Re: My favorite, still, after all these years...
Jaime:

How did finish your search?
I need the same like you!

Christian

‣30/10/2003 ceccobeppe Re: Re: My favorite, still, after all these years...
It's my problem, but this is not an answer!

‣12/11/2003 WebMaster Marco Polo CD back in stock at Arksquare
The most sought after among the Morricone CD's is now back in stock at Arksquare.

(Thanks to Gordon Rairdin for letting us know via the Morricone Yahoo Group)

‣26/07/2004 trk New 2CD-Edition!!
Hi
BIG NEWS! RaiTrade/IntermezzoMedia will release the complete(!) Score of MARCO POLO on 2CDs early September.
http://www.intermezzomedia.com/


‣04/08/2004 Micke Re: New 2CD-Edition!!
Maurizio Buttazoni of Intermezzia media told me that
the 2CD will have 36 tracks and more than 136 min's of (remastered) music!

definitely something great to look forward to

Micke :-)

‣24/08/2005 fredo Marco Polo / Exorcist II
Don't you think that "Marco Polo e i Mongoli" could have been part of the BO "Exorcist II" ? Same orchestration, same choir and feminine voice...
Excuse me for my english !

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