I Made Two Playlists of Beautiful Italian Film Compositions

It may be a stereotype but man did those Italians know how to make beautiful music. The soundtracks for a lot of these films I’ve been watching lately just blow me away with their lush arrangements and relaxing “lounge/jazz” sound. So, I made these two playlists of some highlights in order to share this material easily with others. They are arranged in such a way that each song “flows” into the next and nearly all of the major composers from the era get time to shine. 

The composers include: Stelvio Cipriani, Piero Piccioni, Armando Trovajoli, Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani, Gianfranco Reverberi, Henry Mancini and non-Italians Syd Dale, Bob Crewe and Paul Mauriat. I did not plan it this way going in, but the first playlist wound up being very Cipriani-centric while the second is very Piccioni-heavy.

I used songs from the following films: Uccidere in Silenzio, Femina Ridens, Scacco alla Regina, La Matriarca, Devil in the Flesh, Venus in Furs, The Lickerish Quartet, La Voglia Matta, Ti Ho Sposato per Allegria, I Dolci Inganni, La Parmigiana, Barbarella, Anonimo Veneziano, Io La Conoscevo Bene, Le foto proibite di una signora per bene, The Flight of the Phoenix, La morte cammina con i tacchi alti and La Legge dei Gangsters. 

I will probably make a third and even a fourth installment in the near future and when I do, I will post a follow-up. There’s so much amazing music that came out of this era that it’s amazing. I had to leave a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor in order to preserve the “flow” and keep the length of each playlist manageable for the listener. (I believe each should be heard straight through in one sitting.)

First Playlist (“Awesome Italian Playlist”)

Here’s the links for YouTube (with the audio reversed due to copyright) as well as on Vimeo and the Internet Archive.

Tracklist:

1 Uccidere in Silenzio (sequence 1) 0:00
2 Uccidere in Silenzio (sequence 2) 3:35
3 Love Theme From “Devil in the Flesh” 6:00
4 Weekend with Mary 9:33
5 Capriccio 11:37
6 Sea of Memories 15:11
7 Mary’s Theme 18:19
8 Uccidere in Silenzio (sequence 9) 20:30
9 Male Gaze 23:40
10 La Matriarca (Bossa Nova) 25:43
11 Da Soli In Vacanza 29:29
12 Chorus and Brass Fugato 32:02
13 Uccidere in Silenzio (sequence 8) 33:57
14 Aspetto Ancora Un Giorno 37:51
15 Rendezvous in the Castle 40:19
16 Scacco alla Regina 42:10
17 Venus in Furs (Theme) 45:34
18 Femina Ridens 49:03
19 L’amore Dice Ciao 52:27
20 Antla 55:32

Second Playlist (“Playlist of Passion & Yearning”)

Here’s the links for YouTube (with the audio reversed due to copyright) as well as Vimeo and the Internet Archive. 

Tracklist:

1 La Voglia Matta (Sole e Sogni) 0:00
2 Come un Sogno 4:29
3 Love Theme From “Barbarella” 6:32
4 Francesca Meets Enrico – In the School 9:36
5 Anonimo Veneziano 10:55
6 Io La Conoscevo Bene 16:24
7 Felicita (Version 2) 18:39
8 Love is Blue 20:45
9 Love Theme From “Flight of the Phoenix” 23:22
10 Vivre Pour Vivre 25:46
11 La Matriarca (Slow Theme) 28:36
12 Lujon 31:42
13 Le foto proibite di una signora per bene 34:18
14 Lui e lei 39:03
15 Ti Ho Sposato Per Allegria 41:36
16 (Walking Around) The Old Villa 43:52
17 La Parmigiana 46:54
18 Crepuscolo sul mare 51:18
19 Tema del Titolo 54:01
20 Dancing by the River 56:18
21 Once and Again 59:13
22 Sognando La Tua Voce 1:05:05
23 I Love All the Love in You 1:08:59
24 Love Scene at Night 1:12:45