R. I. P. Ennio Morricone

[Thor 7,451]

2 minutes ago, Score said:

A masterpiece that is not as well known as it should be (at least here), is "The Secret of the Sahara", the score for an Italian TV miniseries. The main theme is absolutely gorgeous, and the rest of the score is full of highlights ("The Hawk", "The Mountain", which was also used in Inglorious Bastards...). It's strange that he never played a suite from it in concerts.

 

I would argue that it's fairly well-known as far as Morricone (and Morricone fans) are concerned. It's certainly among my own favourites.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

NOBODY is fantastic!!!!###.

Zimmers theme for SPIRIT seems inspired by the " Wild Bunch" theme.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

3 minutes ago, Score said:

A masterpiece that is not as well known as it should be (at least here), is "The Secret of the Sahara", the score for an Italian TV miniseries. The main theme is absolutely gorgeous, and the rest of the score is full of highlights ("The Hawk", "The Mountain", which was also used in Inglorious Bastards...). It's strange that he never played a suite from it in concerts.

I constantly rant over the fact that there's no adequate, uncompressed, pristine-sounding release of this wonderful score. It gets a lot of appreciation in this forum.

By the way, the excerpt from The Mountain that can also be heard in Inglourious Basterds does not stem from Secret of the Sahara. Just like Tarantino, they stole that bit from The Return of Ringo which is the film it was composed for.

[Josh500 1,615]

10 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

Yeah, up until the other day I had been thinking I was in fact immortal. 

 

Nobody cares what you "think."

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

30 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

Nobody cares what you "think."

 

Don't you think Hollywood's A-list actresses are all hideous men in drag?

[Score 770]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I would argue that it's fairly well-known as far as Morricone (and Morricone fans) are concerned. It's certainly among my own favourites.

 

Also among mine! Really a fantastic score. I was meaning that the general public is much less aware of that one, compared for instance with the main themes of Mission, Once Upon a Time in the West / America, and so on, which everyone knows.  

 

 

3 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

I constantly rant over the fact that there's no adequate, uncompressed, pristine-sounding release of this wonderful score. It gets a lot of appreciation in this forum.

By the way, the excerpt from The Mountain that can also be heard in Inglourious Basterds does not stem from Secret of the Sahara. Just like Tarantino, they stole that bit from The Return of Ringo which is the film it was composed for.

 

Interesting, I didn't know that! I'm not familiar with The Return of Ringo. With hindsight, the cue sounds a bit "out" with respect to the rest of The Secret of the Sahara, but it is gorgeous, so I am fine with that. Actually, it works perfectly in Inglourious Basterds as well!   

 

 

[Biodome 714]

I've just made this ~1 hour tribute video for Morricone, combining many different sources from the internet. I'm sure I'm testing the limits of Facebook guidelines in regards to copyrighted material, but nothing has been muted upon upload, so it might just pass as fair use:

https://www.facebook.com/pauliuseidukas/videos/4751260311566506/

[Thor 7,451]

Cool, Biodome! I'll take a look when I get the time (and if it's still up at that point).

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I’ve never really been able to grapple with Morricone, but I’ve been making an effort to immerse myself in more of his work the last few days. The one work that stands out to me as particularly lovely and “fitting” for the occasion of his passing (whatever that means) is Marco Polo. I assume that is one of his better known works? Some atrocious sound quality hampers it, but it’s a great score otherwise.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

https://open.spotify.com/track/2NndOGI6s9gbjXZeGnRt5M?si=yYWP7B48QleNVjuaQ9Roxw

 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1mlPOwXbHTZTxCc1KZYKcL?si=RD2H56PmRbKogTxW2VyqZg

 

https://open.spotify.com/track/1unBmHY6xSngqqNfQyPVdt?si=3VZGLxLMRdO4EJRZ4pcc2g

 

@Jay, do you know why these links won't embed?

[Jay 37,249]

I don't.  Maybe the site only embed playlists or albums, and not single tracks?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

No, whenever I paste any Spotify link, I get an error message. It says "The link could not be embedded because an error occurred on open.spotify.com." Am I the only one having that problem?

[publicist 4,643]

You have to copy the embed and then. paste it in html mode.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Yeah, I reckon that works, but it used to be embedded automatically.

[Jay 37,249]

Yea if I just paste in the link copied out of the Spotify app, the forum software automatically turns it into an embed; I don't have to go into html mode or anything.

 

I just tried pasting in a link like I usually do as a test, and got the same error you mentioned - "The link could not be embedded because an error occurred on open.spotify.com."

 

So, I would assume Spotify themselves changed something, and whatever IPBoard was doing behind the scenes no longer works.  Nothing we can do about it but wait for Spotify to change it back, or IPBoard to update the forum software

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

8 hours ago, Score said:

A masterpiece that is not as well known as it should be (at least here), is "The Secret of the Sahara", the score for an Italian TV miniseries. The main theme is absolutely gorgeous, and the rest of the score is full of highlights ("The Hawk", "The Mountain", which was also used in Inglorious Bastards...). It's strange that he never played a suite from it in concerts.

 

Seconded on this one, a terrific score that is well worth exploring. The Moutain has terrific although the ecstatic writing in The Golden Door is absolutely spine tingling. Need to revisit this one.

8 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

I constantly rant over the fact that there's no adequate, uncompressed, pristine-sounding release of this wonderful score. It gets a lot of appreciation in this forum.

By the way, the excerpt from The Mountain that can also be heard in Inglourious Basterds does not stem from Secret of the Sahara. Just like Tarantino, they stole that bit from The Return of Ringo which is the film it was composed for.

 

Is it me or are quite a lot of Morricone's scores fairly poor, recording wise, even some of the more recent ones aren't as good as might be hoped. The older ones can be very hit and miss. Given how particular he was, it's surprising he wasn't more fastidious with the quality of the actual recording/mixing.

[Thor 7,451]

17 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Is it me or are quite a lot of Morricone's scores fairly poor, recording wise, even some of the more recent ones aren't as good as might be hoped. The older ones can be very hit and miss. 

 

That's the understatement of the year. A lot of the more obscure ones range from abysmal to mediocre. But once in a while, you get lucky.

[Lewya 360]

Alberto Iglesias on Ennio Morricone (a new article by Iglesias):

 

Ennio Morricone: repetition and glory in five steps

Composer Alberto Iglesias analyzes the work of the Italian musician through his best scores for film

 

Perhaps the most valuable thing in the vast work of Ennio Morricone, a composer of extraordinary and intimidating fertility, is how he always knew how to combine his classical training and taste for melody with a decidedly experimental desire. Being so prolific, being able to work so fast, and at the same time knowing how to keep the guy with dignity allowed him to transfer that adventurous spirit to smaller productions, especially to those Italian genre films of the sixties and seventies. With his band Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza (a group in which he participated with other Italian composers since the 1960s, such as Franco Evangelisti or Egisto Macchi) he also gave free rein to his avant-garde instincts.

Although this combination is a very distinctive feature of his work, he never forgot that predilection for melody and the taste for popular song that is inevitable in the profession of film composer. Morricone knew how to collect the legacy of Nino Rota, and, together with composers of his generation such as Georges Delerue, he defined the music of the great European cinema, whose influence transcended the continent. He also knew how to introduce concepts of music such as India or Indonesian gamelan, at the same time he picked up the witness of great authors such as Antonio Vivaldi. He composed hundreds of soundtracks. This selection of five allows a review of some of the essential aspects of his work:

 

‘The Battle of Algiers’ (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

It has a very impressive start. It is a film with little music and, nevertheless, it has an exceptional protagonism, which draws powerfully the attention of the viewer.

 

‘Until his time came’ (Sergio Leone, 1968)

His work in the western genre is one of the most recognizable parts of his career. Here, his mastery of the synthesis and repetition of musical motifs as aesthetics is verified, allowing the viewer to focus more on the image. It uses very simple elements that end up building a very emotional set.

 

'Days of Heaven' (Terrence Malick, 1978)

In this work his mastery in the use of slow times stands out. He said that he did not know how to direct adages, but this score, a sample of the mastery of the art of calming musical times, contradicts him.

 

‘The mission’ (Roland Joffé, 1986)
This score shows that influence in his music of the geniuses of the Italian Seicento. There are also traces of a taste for choral, quasi-mystical music. I don't know if he was a believing man, but these notes give off great spirituality. On one occasion I heard him relate this soundtrack to Igor Stravinski's Symphony of Psalms, although I think they are not so similar.

 

‘The Hateful Eight’ (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)

This piece, which earned him his first and only Oscar, I really liked; Morricone's work has a great influence on the editing of the film. I don't know if he composed it before or after the images, but I think there is no doubt that Tarantino very much believed in music. This late work is a waste of imagination and a lesson in the dramatic use of serious instruments such as the bassoon and the bassoon.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

"This late work is a waste of imagination and a lesson in the dramatic use of serious instruments such as the bassoon and the bassoon".

 

What the actual?! This makes no sense, whatsoever.

 

[Thor 7,451]

Ha, ha, yes. Must be a faulty translation somehow.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Totally, utterly wasted.

[Score 770]

Indeed, there must be something wrong. The bassoon is not a serious instrument.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Is it me or are quite a lot of Morricone's scores fairly poor, recording wise, even some of the more recent ones aren't as good as might be hoped. The older ones can be very hit and miss. Given how particular he was, it's surprising he wasn't more fastidious with the quality of the actual recording/mixing.

One of the problems is that many of his scores get merely re-issued by GDM without any effort put into a proper remastering or remixing (you get an impression how little attention is paid to consistent sound, when you listen to the newly mixed bonus tracks on some releases). There should be more complete overhauls by La-La Land and Quartet!

[Edmilson 7,367]

Jon Broxton of MMUK has been reviewing some obscure Morricone scores from the 60s, not only for westerns but also for dramas, comedies, coming-of-age movies, etc.

 

It's a good starting point if you want to dig deeper on his extensive filmography:

 

https://moviemusicuk.us/2020/07/09/ennio-morricone-reviews-1961-1967-supplemental/

 

https://moviemusicuk.us/2017/08/13/ennio-morricone-reviews-1961-1965/

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Chris Malone is working on a project......

 

H..m....m.mmmmmm😗

I can't wait until Brian XL Russo issues a ' statement on how he influenced them.;)

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

I rarely care about football, but I appreciate this:

 

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

On 7/9/2020 at 1:24 PM, Brundlefly said:

One of the problems is that many of his scores get merely re-issued by GDM without any effort put into a proper remastering or remixing (you get an impression how little attention is paid to consistent sound, when you listen to the newly mixed bonus tracks on some releases). There should be more complete overhauls by La-La Land and Quartet!

GDM oddly went under from what I could gather. I noticed a year ago or so that all of their CDs disappeared from SAE, and the store in their website gives you an error message and link to an arbitrary lawsuit concerning handbags. 

[bruce marshall 1,314]

I must confess I'm surprised that. OUTA and particularly " Deborah' s Theme' is so well regarded.

It's an inferior version of the magnificent OUTW.

Maybe cuz it was commercialized?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

None of Morricone's scores are more popular than his Spaghetti Westerns. Once Upon A Time In America is well regarded because it is a brilliant score. Zimmer's favorite, actually.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

12 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

None of Morricone's scores are more popular than his Spaghetti Westerns. Once Upon A Time In America is well regarded because it is a brilliant score. Zimmer's favorite, actually.

Nah.

The film isn't that good either, sadly.

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

2 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Nah.

The film isn't that good either, sadly.

 

 

That's because you've only seen the trimmed down USA release, which doesn't make much sense.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

That's because you've only seen the trimmed down USA release, which doesn't make much sense.

Don't insult me. There is no bigger Leone fan than me.

I waited for years for this film-.i even saved an advert from Variety announcing the start of production.

Then I waited again to see the LONG version ( boycotted the cut print)

I bought the LP long before the film was even released in the US.

 

One of the biggest disappointments of my film going life.

Even Frayling isn't a fan and hes the BIGGEST Leone champion. there is.

If people were honest, they would admit it's a seriously flawed film . Only the childhood scenes really work.

In your heart you know I'm right.😁

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

I haven't seen it.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I haven't seen it.

You Bastard!!#!####!!!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

So...does

Spoiler

James Woods get into the dump truck, or not?

 

[Thor 7,451]

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA is a masterpiece, and rightfully lauded as such. I've always felt that the first part of the (criminally underrated) SLEEPERS is heavily inspired by the childhood scenes in that movie.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

It is my all-time favourite film and for me it epitomizes great and epic cinema. The best film by Sergio Leone and the best mic drop a director has ever ended his career with.

[Kühni 485]

 

[Quintus 5,399]

5 hours ago, Thor said:

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA is a masterpiece, and rightfully lauded as such. I've always felt that the first part of the (criminally underrated) SLEEPERS is heavily inspired by the childhood scenes in that movie.

 

Don't you think it's a bit goofy in places? Some of the drama comes off as cheesy melodrama. I didn't mind the film, but I prefer In the West by a country mile.

[Chen G. 3,940]

I don't know about silly, but at 3.8-hours (the four-hour version is a frankenstein version) its much too long for me. By which I don't mean that the film can't hold its length. Rather, I mean that as someone who doesn't enjoy the crime-drama genre, having it for 3.8-hours straight is way too much for me.

[Quintus 5,399]

I was never big on the genre either.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

21 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I don't know about silly, but at 3.8-hours (the four-hour version is a frankenstein version) its much too long for me. By which I don't mean that the film can't hold its length. Rather, I mean that as someone who doesn't enjoy the crime-drama genre, having it for 3.8-hours straight is way too much for me.

You mean 4.5 hours... at least originally.

[Chen G. 3,940]

I've read conflicting reports on whether Leone ever intended for the 4.5-hour cut to be released theatrically. It strikes me as a work-in-progress edit. The proper version of the film is the 3.8-hour one.

 

Leone's longer cuts tend to drag, anyway: the extended director's cut of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is one of few cases where I prefer the shorter version of a movie.

 

Besides, the quality of the added footage in the four-hour cut is about on-par with VHS. Horrible.

 

Between all of that and the genre its just not for me.

[crocodile 7,973]

I've never seen this before - a pretty neat music videos for The Hateful Eight.

 

 

 

Karol - who always gets a good chuckle out of the fact Kylo Ren theme appears in this score (and is heard at around 8:30 into the second video)

[bruce marshall 1,314]

8 hours ago, Thor said:

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA is a masterpiece.....

Of course you would say that!😉😊

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

I was never big on the genre either.

Me neither but....

Check out THE UNTOUCHABLES.

A great gangster epic with a truly magnificent Morricone score!

 

'Nuff said

 

3 hours ago, Kühni said:

 

Thanks!☺☺😊

I only wish he hadn't allowed HIS music to be degraded by its use in commercials( which is probably why it is so well known)☺

[Omen II 1,235]

4 hours ago, Kühni said:

 

 

It is very fitting that the clip was posted to Twitter by a Padre Ramirez.  Tuco's brother, perhaps?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

32 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

Check out THE UNTOUCHABLES.

A great gangster epic with a truly magnificent Morricone score!

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Karol - who always gets a good chuckle out of the fact Kylo Ren theme appears in this score (and is heard at around 8:30 into the second video)

 

And quite prominently within the first few minutes of the film, as far as I remember - haven't seen it since the original 70mm release, but I'm finally getting the Blu-ray next week. Resisted picking it up earlier because going from the roadshow cut to the regular one seems like a downgrade, but since the 70mm cut isn't available, I figured less than 4 quid is alright for the shorter version.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

45 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

There's a great bit on the DVD extras were. Charles Martin Smith talks about seeing the completed film for the first time, and being blown away by the Music!

22 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

And quite prominently within the first few minutes of the film, as far as I remember - haven't seen it since the original 70mm release, but I'm finally getting the Blu-ray next week. Resisted picking it up earlier because going from the roadshow cut to the regular one seems like a downgrade, but since the 70mm cut isn't available, I figured less than 4 quid is alright for the shorter version.

Bluray is fantastic but you need a.big SCREEN cuz of the severe letterboxing.

The NETFLIX version has the  additional footage that I assume appears in the Road show versions.