Hello again, wayoutwest! I'm glad you enjoyed my suggestion. I went back to your post mentioning "bleakness plus beauty" and here are a few more titles I came up with:
LA SCORTA CROSSING THE LINE IL LUNGO SILENZIO LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL IL GIORNO PRIMA A TIME TO DIE
Some of these mix a little crime with the drama ("La Scorta", "Il Lungo Silenzio"), but definitely delve into darker sonorities. "Il Giorno Prima" is mostly bleak with a fantastic choral piece. Again, I have to confess that I am not a big fan of this side of Morricone as a standalone listen, even though the scores work wonders within their respective films. I must say that my own favorite from that list has got to be "La Sindrome di Stendhal". While the film is risible (who greenlighted that atrocious blonde wig for Asia?), the score is like a nightmare without end. Pitch black and despairing, monothematic, with a hellish lullaby that is just the opposite of the comforting lullaby from the climax of "The Untouchables". It is a difficult score to get into, but once it gets its hook into you, it never lets go. Try to check it out. Avoid the film at all cost, though, for it is a major waste of time.
Hello again, wayoutwest! I'm glad you enjoyed my suggestion. I went back to your post mentioning "bleakness plus beauty" and here are a few more titles I came up with:
LA SCORTA CROSSING THE LINE IL LUNGO SILENZIO LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL IL GIORNO PRIMA A TIME TO DIE
Some of these mix a little crime with the drama ("La Scorta", "Il Lungo Silenzio"), but definitely delve into darker sonorities. "Il Giorno Prima" is mostly bleak with a fantastic choral piece. Again, I have to confess that I am not a big fan of this side of Morricone as a standalone listen, even though the scores work wonders within their respective films. I must say that my own favorite from that list has got to be "La Sindrome di Stendhal". While the film is risible (who greenlighted that atrocious blonde wig for Asia?), the score is like a nightmare without end. Pitch black and despairing, monothematic, with a hellish lullaby that is just the opposite of the comforting lullaby from the climax of "The Untouchables". It is a difficult score to get into, but once it gets its hook into you, it never lets go. Try to check it out. Avoid the film at all cost, though, for it is a major waste of time.
Wow thanks another list for me thanks Dan "The score is like a nightmare without end" sounds good to me I had hoped to find another score where the whole thing is down beat and filled with hopelessness the whole way through,the feeling gets lost quickly if it is only a track here and there,still I'd love to explore them all but that score sounds like the trip for me.
Hello again, wayoutwest! I'm glad you enjoyed my suggestion. I went back to your post mentioning "bleakness plus beauty" and here are a few more titles I came up with:
LA SCORTA CROSSING THE LINE IL LUNGO SILENZIO LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL IL GIORNO PRIMA A TIME TO DIE
Some of these mix a little crime with the drama ("La Scorta", "Il Lungo Silenzio"), but definitely delve into darker sonorities. "Il Giorno Prima" is mostly bleak with a fantastic choral piece. Again, I have to confess that I am not a big fan of this side of Morricone as a standalone listen, even though the scores work wonders within their respective films. I must say that my own favorite from that list has got to be "La Sindrome di Stendhal". While the film is risible (who greenlighted that atrocious blonde wig for Asia?), the score is like a nightmare without end. Pitch black and despairing, monothematic, with a hellish lullaby that is just the opposite of the comforting lullaby from the climax of "The Untouchables". It is a difficult score to get into, but once it gets its hook into you, it never lets go. Try to check it out. Avoid the film at all cost, though, for it is a major waste of time.
Have picked up LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL many many thanks Dan for mentioning that one it was love at first listen for me.
Having suffered a bad case of fado in Portuguese restaurants on holiday in Algarve a few times (it wouldn't have helped Tuco's digestion!) - i was not a convert. I hadnt seen this film nor got the score so when i saw Morricone perform this in London with Dulce Pontes i thought it was a bit heavy, to say the least. It did however show that the Maestro never ceased trying new styles, if it fitted the film.
Post-concert a lot of fans were raving about Pontes and the Sostiene Pereira music, so i figured i was missing something.
I listened again to Henry's clip - and a couple of other cues. Long ago i realised Ennio's stuff is what Ennio says - "My music gets quickly to the brain" - and other stuff is sneakier, its a slow-burn, and it creeps up on you like a vampire in mist form without you realising. A Brisa Do Coraçio (La Brezza Del Cuore) is one of those. First of all i found the singing a bit distracting, but Ennio is a cunning songwriter, as we know, and he slides in so many layers and lines.
What i loved straight away was that little 4-note flute burst which begins this song and then repeats throughout - crazy as it may seem, i found myself following not the song but the flute burst and waiting for them, but yet still appreciating the song in its whole. I think this element of Morricone's music lies somewhere in the analogy of what Henry observed about the mathematics and the chess, the cadence, the tempos, and particularly knowing exactly where to slot in a sound and how often, kind of like the pace of a chess game and when and where to probe and attack. I havent expressed that very well and it reads back like bollocks but i hope someone gets what i mean.
In short, i shall be looking into obtaining this score. I have been won over.
This series is inspired by a controversy thread where someone posited the idea that besides THE MISSION and some Sergio Leone westerns Ennio Morricone hasn't written anything great.
People who say this kind of thing are just stupid and/or ignorant.
This series is inspired by a controversy thread where someone posited the idea that besides THE MISSION and some Sergio Leone westerns Ennio Morricone hasn't written anything great.
People who say this kind of thing are just stupid and/or ignorant.
Your could look at it another way. In that he never lowered his standards to compose merely great music.
For some reason, I didn't listen to this when I had my huge Morricone listen-through (and acquisition explosion) a few weeks back. But listening to the Caldera now, it's quite lovely. I had expected something more abrasive and weird from the comments, but it's fairly consonant throughout.
I must say I really hold this CD as a lost opportunity to expand this score on the contrary. When I saw the movie at the time of its theatrical release, I noticed the genuine opening title was absent from the CD (we have a variation of it on a different tempo). To add this traditional-flavoured tune would also have brought more diversity to the whole contents based mostly on the song and its instrumental renditions. And I have a hard time believing that the session tapes of a score from 1995 can't be located. It ain't DIABOLIK or LABBRA DI LURIDO BLU! So I must say that this release is in the end rather puzzling to me.
