One of the
great many pleasures of visiting the city-state of Monaco is taking a tour of
the Musee Oceanographique. And if visitors to this combination of museum and
institute had their reasons stamped on their foreheads, mine would have read
“Jacques Cousteau Brought Me Here”. Cousteau served as its director from 1957
to 1988.
Many like me
who grew up watching the adventures of Jacques Cousteau in his television
series The Undersea World of Jacques
Cousteau were obviously enthralled by his discoveries in episodes such as
“The Sleeping Sharks of Yutacan” and “The Legend of Lake Titicaca”.
The
captivating scenes of deep sea divers kitted out in their diving suits, goggles
and acqua-lungs as they explored the surrounding marine environment which
Cousteau’s films usually insisted was uncharted, were of course memorable, and
indeed, formed one of the supreme delights of watching television in colour.
Perhaps
under-appreciated by children such as me was the accompanying music with its
signature fanfares and cadences which communicated the wondrous and exotic
world of reefs, oceans and sea creatures. The music was created by the likes of
Walter Scharf, Leonard Rosenman, Lyn Murray, William Goldstein, John Scott,
Kenyon Hopkins and Gerald Fried. Lalo Schifrin and George Delerue were perhaps
the most famous contributors.
Sadly, little
by way of the original music is available for purchase in the original vinyl
format or in digital form. However, a few months ago, I discovered an album
composed by Scharf, who received two Emmys in 1970 and 1974 for his work on the
series of documentaries produced between 1965 and 1975. Entitled The Legend of the Living Sea, it was an
original symphonic work specially commissioned in 1971 for a Cousteau museum
exhibition aboard the Queen Mary moored off Long Beach in California.
It was
recorded in Bavaria, West Germany with Scharf conducting the Graunke Symphony
Orchestra of Munich.
Enjoy!
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2018)
Adeyinka
Makinde is a writer based in London, England.
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