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  1. Thing is that while in some cases the American perspective (or English-language) is not bad, it mostly does tend to overlook Morricone's most important and popular scores in that world. Had an obituary focused on things like his collaboration with Roland Joffe (The Mission namely) and Brian de Palma (Untouchables and Casualties of War are important and ever-popular scores, Mission to Mars not so much, sadly), that would say a lot about Morricone's talent and versatility.

    Even if you tried the Clint Eastwood angle, after all he has scored his first major starring role (A Fistful of Dollars) and his now-penultimate performance in a non-directed film (In the Line of Fire), there is a broadth of genres going from an oddball western to a generic, if brilliantly made, thriller. That's actually a good start. Then you could discuss more of the westerns, more of the gangster material (Robert de Niro is another connection as you could point out Bertolucci's Novecento, Leone's Once Upon a Time in America and The Untouchables).

    If you looked enough, you'd combine the nerdy with the generally known. But as books could and have been written about Morricone's body of work, it's quite difficult to write something this short.

    Probably in my personal obit for the magazine, I'll end up mentioning the most popular stuff. In 500 characters I sadly can't go beyond that. In my website obit, I tried to, on the more popular stuff, show how versatile he was. But that's all you can do for general audience.

    And my video picks were as easy as possible. I was thinking ambitiously of something like Vamos a Matar, Companeros or now probably I'd try the Wild Horde from My Name Is Nobody for the kick of it, but again: audience defines the examples.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
  2. PawelStroinski wrote
    But that's all you can do for general audience.


    I think that's it right there. While beloved and appreciated by film music fans across the world, it comes down to who is writing the article/obit and for whom. If the audience of the publication is mostly US-based, or Italy-based for example, you'd mention different film scores for reference. And whether it's mostly the general public who have no idea who Ennio Morricone is, you'd have to mention the popular movies to help them care and be grieved as the writer is or film community is grieved. While WE care and are incredibly saddened by his loss and are deep admirers of his wider body of work, it's likely the majority of people are not so much - and by mentioning a popular film or cultural connection to the specific audience they're writing for, that adds meaning where there might not have been any before. And even if it's a small representation of his life and contributions, I know I definitely appreciate any and all meaning and recognition given to the great and iconic Ennio Morricone. smile
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2020
    We are not likely to agree cheesy

    In other news, the CD-I release Vidi Aquam. Id est Benacum is something that I still need to get. Does anyone know it?
  3. You are so much more well versed with Morricone's repertoire than me. And maybe that's why this conversation might not be for me, but I tried to join in anyway to keep the thread going, haha. I try to listen to what I can, but my Morricone exposure is definitely limited to mostly the "popular" scores - I don't do Spotify, so I'm limited to what I buy on CD. And I guess I've just chosen to expand my collection in different directions than expanding my Morricone selection, but it's not because I don't love his music or appreciate him as an artist, I guess he was just a later discovery for me.
  4. Fairly late for me. Because I do Spotify, I actually spend most of this time alleviating most of my backlog and that includes many, many classics I haven't yet heard for many sort of reasons (one being the fact that I am more interested in stuff up, to say 2010-2015) and my general being unable to force myself to get into Italian cinema more than I do.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2020
    It´s fine. Morricone was a prolific composer that, regardless of differentiating points of references, moved so many people. I have heard most of his music, but still feel I do not fully understand Morricone fully. I am confident there are so many more people more well versed and knowledgeable than me.

    But to me, he is one of the greatest symbols of this kind of shady popularity contest, which is widespread throughout just about anything else, from the news, films, scores etc. I do not want designated paths, but I want to learn and experience as much as I can on any given subject. Such curiosity is maybe not very healthy, but it´s basically a quintessential, ongoing quest.
  5. Morricone is the kind of composer you actually have to almost religiously collect and listen to to have any kind of fuller comprehension.

    There are many facets to him that are probably not discussed very often, because we did (we still do) take his genius for granted and don't really ask where does it come from musically. If we are talking about how influential he was on other composers (in one case it should become a research topic for me and everyone on the board knows who I mean), we have to consider many different paths we can take in such research.

    There are scores, of course, which are somewhat more traditional in approach, a lot of his romance/dramas are like this, whether the idiom is more classical (say, Malena or Cinema Paradiso) or more pop/jazz-laced (Love Circle comes in mind and many others), but where things become wild is when we think of Ennio Morricone as a creator of worlds, which, I think, becomes somewhat lost.

    Sure, we love the spaghetti westerns. We all do. Whether it's the sheer oddness of stuff like A Fistful of Dollars (a whistle, electric guitar and a trumpet) or A Few Dollars More (it becomes apparent, when there is an automatic element to the little recorder figure representing Il Monco and the prominent jew harp for Mortimer, which almost becomes a bit of an in-joke (literally mickey-moused into close-ups of the characters in certain scenes). There is the infamous coyote howl in Good, Bad and the Ugly that adds some levity to the finale

    (YOU'RE A DIRTY SON OF A B--

    AAAAAAAA

    ...wah-wah-wah - that bit, sounding a bit like a game-show-bad-answer kind of thing had me in stitches when I rewatched it recently)

    Of course, even there some of the material gets overlooked. Ecstasy of Gold is such a classic that I don't see the beautiful army theme (the solo trumpet) discussed often. For a Few Dollars More seems to be vastly overlooked in the trilogy and yet it's not only a bit more mature than Fistful, it also features a brilliant theme I don't hear discussed, Vizio d'Uccidere.

    So if we looked a this kind of overlong comment: we have Ennio the crowd-pleaser (almost always the drama/romance scores and in his final years - more often than not that'd be Giuseppe Tornatore), we have Ennio the world builder (spaghetti westerns, giallo, but also everytime he goes beyond a traditional sound, even his jazz/pop scores can be traditional), we have the avant-garde Ennio (absolute music, but also some of his challenging suspense, especially in the more horror material. Each of these would warrant a book, though his more beautiful dramatic scores might perhaps be sometimes a bit less interesting functionally (they usually work as brilliantly, just aren't as interesting to decipher, this is what I mean). That's what you get when you combine a highly prolific career with personal genius smile
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 18th 2020 edited
    I still don´t entirely know to what extent you are familiar with his career, but his Giallo scores do go hand-in-hand with his absolute, challenging suspense and horror material.
  6. The first one. I found it fascinating, because the whole atonal material was firmly in free jazz territory which is a very interesting approach for a horror film, mostly featuring avant-garde orchestral writing.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 19th 2020
    Revolver (one of my favorites)

    http://www.maintitles.net/reviews/revolver/
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 19th 2020
    • CommentAuthorOnyaBirri
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2020 edited
    I have more Morricone than any other film composer, by far.

    In general, the only other artists who come close in terms of numbers of albums I own are Sun Ra and Duke Ellington.

    If I had to pick one favorite, it would be nearly impossible, but I would probably choose "Le foto proibite di una signora per bene."

    I happened to have the week off after the E-man crossed over, so I spent the week listening to his albums and drinking wine. It was a nice celebration.

    I tend to go for the late 60s/early 70s stuff, especially the giallos and Bacharach-inspired tracks.

    The three-disc "Mondo Morricone" collection and two-disc "Crime and Dissonance" collection tend to encapsulate everything I love about Morricone.

    I am obsessed with this track from "Fear Over the City."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCjJbHijCZA
  7. Is what you recommended a track title or a score title? What I found fascinating in the only giallo score I listened to at the moment was that the dissonant/avant-garde horror stuff wasn't exactly as it would be "traditionally" - orchestral material, but came more as a sort of free-jazz like improvisation.

    Adds a lot to the unsettling weirdness.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2020
    Yes, you can have a comfortable jazzy bass guitar rhythm, surrounded by all sorts of dissonant instruments and it can completely change at every given moment. There are some often returning ingredients, as redefined by Morricone, but there's more to Giallos, even including the more traditional orchestral suspense. I also like this psychedelic sort of music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbIG_HsAIUA
  8. What I had wasn't a "comfortable jazzy bass guitar". While the drums (definitely a jazz set) was quite constant if somehow syncopated (also a staple of jazz music), everything else was completely odd. The somewhat orgasmic vocals notwithstanding.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorOnyaBirri
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2020
    PawelStroinski wrote
    Is what you recommended a track title or a score title? What I found fascinating in the only giallo score I listened to at the moment was that the dissonant/avant-garde horror stuff wasn't exactly as it would be "traditionally" - orchestral material, but came more as a sort of free-jazz like improvisation.

    Adds a lot to the unsettling weirdness.


    Greetings, if you are referring to my post, "Le foto proibite di una signora per bene" is a film title. "Fear Over the City" is also a film title, at least that was the title in English. The YouTube link is a track from the latter.
  9. Will see if Spotify has it.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2020 edited
    PawelStroinski wrote
    What I had wasn't a "comfortable jazzy bass guitar". While the drums (definitely a jazz set) was quite constant if somehow syncopated (also a staple of jazz music), everything else was completely odd. The somewhat orgasmic vocals notwithstanding.


    I am not entirely sure which score you are talking about, presumably L'Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo. If not, the ultimate orgasmic cue is this unrivaled piece from the same score:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9XiS6l … mp;index=8

    I have heard a variety of Italian composers, even including Morricone, do something similar, but nothing comes close.
  10. Yeah, that one.
    http://www.filmmusic.pl - Polish Film Music Review Website
    •  
      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeJul 26th 2020
    Thanks for writing these reviews, Joep. Highlighting a few things I haven't heard but must seek out.

    I've written a few of my own in the last couple of weeks:

    The Thing
    The Mission
    The Big Gundown
    Il Pentito
    Il Prato
    Slalom
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 26th 2020
    Thanks. Didn't you already have a review of The Mission?
    •  
      CommentAuthorSouthall
    • CommentTimeJul 26th 2020
    I did. It’s not really a very new one (updated it a bit to remove some hyperbole). The others are genuinely new though.
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeJul 28th 2020
    I knew it. I mostly agree with your views expressed in this recent batch, except for Il Pentito which I would rate a little higher.

    Note, Gabriel Oboe's is one of the most played tracks live, a cliche on its own. But the collaboration between the Dutch Carel Kraayenhof and Morricone is sensational. If you haven't heard it; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGAhGcma87A

    A new review:

    Ecce Homo
    http://www.maintitles.net/reviews/ecce-homo/
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeAug 5th 2020
    Ennio Morricone - Il Gatto a Nove Code
    http://www.maintitles.net/reviews/il-gatto-a-nove-code/
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeAug 7th 2020
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeAug 24th 2020
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeNov 9th 2020
    ´´Regarding Youtube, totally expected, but when I play a single cue from a random Morricone score, it is immediately followed by a cliched piece of music´´.

    I did a little experiment.I first got a random performance of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Il Triello, followed by a loop of 13(!) different performances of the same piece. crazy
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeDec 30th 2020
    La Piovra 4
    http://www.maintitles.net/reviews/la-piovra-4/

    The staccato rhythmic cues and the lullaby for Esther are particular types of music that gain strength from repetition, while traditional themes risk becoming too overbearing. Miraculously, it never becomes uninteresting, but I suppose some will feel deprived of any emotional connection because of the immense amount of repetition over the course of the 608 minutes long season.

    I do wonder how others feel about this in modern days....
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeMay 12th 2023
    •  
      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeMay 15th 2023


    Wonderful score.
    I am extremely serious.