Morricone is best known for his Spaghetti Western scores, particularly for the "Dollar" series starring Clint Eastwood. These are a
small sample of his partnership with classmate and director Sergio Leone, who produced a large number of films during the 60s and beyond, often released in Italian and then dubbed into English. With this combination of the Italian background and the tough-guy western, it is perhaps not surprising that the partnership also made some gangster films. If you include "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and "In the Line of Fire" it also seems as though Morricone (like Lalo Schifrin) worked regularly with Clint Eastwood! Although English speaking cinema-goers only became aware of him with the appearance of these westerns, Morricone was an established composer prior to this. He was born in Rome in 1928 and studied trumpet and composition there at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, as had Nino Rota previously. His subsequent career brought his music to radio and television as well as the concert hall, before scoring films for the Italian cinema.
Morricone's music stood out on those early Western movies as something quite new and original. With its unusual instruments and sound combinations it seems to fill in for the action when the characters are in close-up, eyeing each other and waiting for the first move. Then it punctuates the scene like a punch-line when the action is all over in a flash. The composer seemed to have the right musical instincts to emphasise the screen portrayal of legendary, larger than life characters. Those instincts could also create a timeless reverential aura for a story spanning generations for "Cinema Paradiso" and the same timeless magic is recreated for "The Untouchables" and "Once upon a Time in America". As well as these broad slow themes, "Once upon a Time in America" occasionally breaks out into period dance numbers or Dixieland Jazz. It also includes some unusual instrumentation, such as panpipes and banjo. This ability to juxtapose different styles came to the fore in "Two Mules for Sister Sarah" where he highlighted both pseudo-serious and lighter comic elements to combine the nun's supposed religious background with the suggestion of a mule's braying and trotting gait.
These examples highlight the composer's knack for deftly spanning the divide between the sublime and the ridiculous, with his seeming ability to mix unusual sound combinations and trashy pop elements with an atmosphere of legendary or religious reverence. This quasi-religious element, although often present as a subliminal undercurrent, became uppermost to great effect in the score for The Mission. This mixes hymn-like chorales with poignant solos, wordless ethnic chanting, drums and panpipes to bring out the South American jungle setting. The exhuberant chanting uses short detached notes, an usual effect which Morricone also employed on his well-known piece called Chi Mai. First used in the film "Maddalena", this theme was used again in "The Professional" and later the BBC also used it for the Television series "The Life and Times of David Lloyd-George".
It has been announced that Ennio Morricone will receive an honorary oscar this year for his contribution to film music, to be presented at the oscar ceremony on February 25th. Morricone has had a total of 5 nominations for “Days of Heaven” (1978), “The Mission” (1986), “The Untouchables” (1987), “Bugsy” (1991) and “Malèna” (2000), but has not yet won the winner's statuette.
Ennio Morricone soundtracks on Amazon.com:
Films by Ennio Morricone:
A Fistful of Dollars - the music surely hightened the impact of this original classic
For a few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - the best, and generating a no. 1 hit in the UK by Hugh Montenegro
Maddalena - first use of the "Chi Mai" theme
The Sicilian Clan
Once upon a Time in the West - the moody music including "Man with the Harmonica" came first before the plot!
A Fistful of Dynamite - set in revolutionary Mexico, this music for this western follows the quirky plot as it balances serious and comedic ideas
Two Mules for Sister Sara - wonderful mix of mule sounds, mule riding, Mexican villages and religious music
La Cage aux Folles 1, 2, 3
The Professional - again using "Chi Mai"
Orca...Killer Whale
Once upon a Time in America - including "Cocky's Song" and "Debora's Theme"
Red Sonja
The Untouchables
Exorcist 2: The Heretic
Days of Heaven
Casualties of War - not as Adagio as Barber's but another highly effective score using some pan-flute solos
The Mission- a haunting combination with the unmissable "Gabriel's Oboe"
In the Line of Fire
Frantic - in typical Morricone style there is a mix of french waltz with accordion, electronica and jazz elements plus a good deal of Herrmann Hitchcockian suspense
Disclosure
Lolita - the music is dark and haunting for Adrian Lyne's remake of the original Stanley Kubrick film
Wolf
Young Einstein - song only
The Legend of 1900
Cinema Paradiso - the themes for this beautiful oscar-winning film are touched with a wistful nostalgia - Ennio's son Andrea Morricone, who also conducts concerts of his father's work, composed the Love Theme
Bugsy
U-Turn - not far romoved from western territory, Morricone is the perfect choice for this whacky movie and conjures up plenty of his hallmarks
TV themes by Ennio Morricone:
The Men from Shiloh
The Life and Times of David Lloyd-George - this BBC series borrowed the familiar "Chi Mai"
Recommendations:
The CD to The Mission is a must, and any collection of Great Western Themes
will no doubt include several by Morricone. However, Morricone's fame is such that there are a number of collections available highlighting a range of his
work. Although several pieces are available in various collections, it is sometimes hard to find Sheet Music collections dedicated to the music of Ennio Morricone. However the "Original Soundtrack Collection" (pictured left) is a new series of film composer sheet music for piano solo, and one of the first releases in this series is "Ennio Morricone". You can find this at good sheet music stockists, and online at the Music Room web-site. Since the collection includes a CD it is very good value for money.
There is now also an official composer site at www.enniomorricone.com which is comprehensive, though currently in Italian only. Also worth a look is www.enniomorricone.it which is still under development, but a gateway page takes visitors into related material.
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