When a forgotten piece of music by composer Ennio Morricone featuring a magnetic tape recording of poet Pier Paolo Pasolini was unearthed, K-array and SZ Sugar embarked on a journey to revive a masterpiece from two of the greatest creators in 20th century Italian culture, and share it with the world.
The moment in which Maestro Ennio Morricone’s music intertwines with the words of Pier Paolo Pasolini, performed live for the first time by an orchestra in the evocative setting of the Teatro Verdi in Florence, is captured in a new documentary: “Musica per una fine”. A special project by K-array, curated by WE RAD, the documentary is now available online with free access.
“Intelligence will never carry weight, never / in the judgment of this public opinion (…) every idea is unreal, every passion unreal”. The work opens with these stirring words, spoken by the late poet Pier Paolo Pasolini, as the renowned late Morricone’s music enters—clear and gentle—embracing the listener in a feeling of profound completion.
Conceived by Andrea Torelli of K-array and Anna Leonardi of music publishing house SZ Sugar, the documentary recounts the story of this special project and goes behind-the-scenes of the first live performance of the choral and orchestral version of the piece. A journey through art, sound, and memory, the composition is performed by the musicians of the Orchestra della Toscana and the voices of the Harmonia Cantata Choir, conducted by Raffaele Puccianti, live at the Teatro Verdi in Florence.
Bringing together two giants of twentieth-century Italian culture in Morricone and Pasolini, the work comes alive through images, emotions, and the testimonies of those who made it possible. The documentary concludes with moving words of gratitude penned in a handwritten letter from Maria Travia, Ennio Morricone’s wife.
The documentary is the first episode in the “Beyond Sound Towards Meaning” series, a cultural sharing program which invites audiences to rediscover sound as a universal language. The series will explore the role of sound as meaning, delving into the artistic and ethical values of works while technology remains invisible. Care and responsibility, truth and delicacy are the principles that guided K-array in restoring the essence of Morricone’s work and the value of Pasolini’s text, allowing people to fully experience their important cultural legacy.