John Scott: Cousteau / Clipperton, the Island that Time Forgot (1981) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

ABOUT THE SCORE: Well into his tenure of scoring Jacques Cousteau documentaries by 1981, the subject of this particular doc - the small and uninhabited, but tragedy-stricken, island atoll known of Clipperton - elicited from John Scott one of his more introspective scores for the famed filmmaker-explorer, focused closely on the island's dark history with an evocative main theme (bookending this suite with a short but dynamic end title cue) bespoke of the human suffering endured by various shipwreck survivors stranded on the island, as opposed to the more reverent sound of the natural world that the composer usually gives preference to his documentaries (though that finds its way in, too). The resultant score for strings, brass, harp, flute and clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) is rich with fine atmospheric details and dirge-like melancholy, though moments of joy emerge sporadically. Note a bass-plucking, brass-overlapping motif at 15:44 representing a particularly fearless species of crab endemic to the island. In context, this is one of Scott's most prosaic and interesting Cousteau efforts and one of which the composer himself is very fond. Performed by members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the John Richards-engineered recording carried out at CTS Studios in 1981 sounds absolutely terrific, and though the composer himself arranged a JOS Records release of the score doubled with his 1995 Cousteau effort "Madagascar", it has never been released in any capacity. This suite is derived from the full scoring sessions retained by the composer.
The artwork is Italian painter Carlo Bonavia's "Shipwreck in a Rocky Inlet" and felt like a dramatically-appropriate depiction of lost sailors and shipwrecks that the music itself was inspired by (Clipperton island itself, for all its fascinating and tragic history, is not especially interesting-looking).

[@JoseCavendish]

Thanks for uploading this jewel.

[@JoseCavendish]

So sad this hasn't been released properly. Thanks again for the detailed info and for sharing it. John Scott deserves more recognition.

[@BSilva1984]

that was centuries later

[@querilloquerilian3966]

sounds like Britten

[@bobbengan]

Good ear. Britten is one of Scott's favorite composers, so this comes as little surprise. I've actually seen the man himself cry while listening to a portion of Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem.