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Post by Southall on Aug 3, 2013 13:05:53 GMT -8
Ennio Morricone is the greatest composer who ever worked in film. There you go, a bold statement perhaps, but it's what I feel.
I've tried to bring across the message over the years through my writing, but frankly nothing supports the claim like the music itself, so I thought I'd start a thread where I could share some of what I think are his finest pieces, but from lesser-known scores.
Starting with the main title from I Promessi Sposi...
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Post by Southall on Aug 3, 2013 13:06:59 GMT -8
And from the same score, "Addio Monti"...
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Post by Craig Richard Lysy on Aug 3, 2013 13:39:43 GMT -8
These made me cry. The music was sublime. I do not have either score and they do not not seem to be commercially available.
This is a great concept James! Thank you for all that you do.
ALl the best!
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Post by Pawel Stroinski on Aug 3, 2013 15:11:48 GMT -8
It would be great to have more composer threads. This would keep things in control a bit more.
Morricone. A composer I don't know as well as I'd like to, though my collection has expanded significantly recently. All these five-star tracks and scores is just quite a lot to do. While a lot of my score choices regarding other composers may be seen as plain weird (including disliking certain fan favourites in favour of more obscure works), I don't think that, possibly due to my little knowledge of his work!, would be the case with Morricone.
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Post by Jon Broxton on Aug 4, 2013 22:02:32 GMT -8
The problem I have with Morricone - and it's a nice problem to have - is that there is just so much of his stuff out there, it's so difficult to know what to buy and what to concentrate on without the help of an expert. I have music from 277 different Morricone scores - full scores, suites, single cues here and there, features and TV work - and according to IMDb I'm still 238 scores short of hearing the majority of what he's written. It's the most immense filmography, probably ever. But, yes, I agree with James that he is definitely one of the best ever. This thread is important, as it will help separate out the truly great from the just "good"
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Post by cflast on Aug 5, 2013 5:29:05 GMT -8
The problem I have with Morricone - and it's a nice problem to have - is that there is just so much of his stuff out there, it's so difficult to know what to buy and what to concentrate on without the help of an expert. This. Whenever my friends ask me about my favorite/the best composers, I always have to say Morricone with an asterisk, because while I love his stuff, I've listened to maybe 1% of his music (give or take). Even though I have most of his American scores and a decent number of his Italian scores, judging him based on the amount I've listened to versus what he's written would be like judging all of Beethoven on the first movement of his first symphony. It's intimidating. I'd agree he's the greatest film composer ever simply because of that incredible productiveness, combined with loving what I have heard. Although I am glad his score to What Dreams May Come got replaced. Non-sequiter, but just saying
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Post by indy2003 on Aug 5, 2013 5:54:28 GMT -8
Getting into Morricone can be incredibly intimidating, but it also adds a certain element of excitement for me. For all I know, there are dozens of musical masterpieces I haven't experienced yet simply because they were written for little Italian films I've never heard of (I have somewhere between 150-200 Morricone scores - I'll have to count them sometime soon - but I know there's so much more). He's the only major composer who I keep "rediscovering" year after year, if that makes any sense.
Also: if someone told me I were only allowed to keep one score from my entire collection, there's a very good chance I would go with Once Upon a Time in the West.
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Post by Paul Schroeder on Aug 5, 2013 10:03:38 GMT -8
While I think that Goldsmith is the best-ever film score composer, there's no denying that Morricone is right up there with the greatest. Even so, my interest in Morricone's work dissipates rapidly after the mid-70's when he stopped working with Bruno Nicolai. I feel that an "edge" disappeared from his scores that was perhaps due to input/influence from Nicolai, or perhaps it was due to a shift in the type of films that he worked. While I value later works like "Days of Heaven", "The Thing", "Marco Polo", "The Mission", "The Untouchables", "Nostromo", "Mission to Mars" and others, I miss the experimentation of his early scores. Also, I feel that the 90's was almost a lost decade where he scored too many bad American films, and most of the scores weren't that interesting, at least to me.
Just for the record, even though I own more than 150 Morricone score CDs, I neither own nor like some popular favorites such as "Once Upon a Time in America", "Cinema Paradiso", the Yo-Yo Ma album and various other later scores.
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Roman
Scoring Assistant
Quick tip: Never let a werewolf drive your car.
Posts: 114
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Post by Roman on Aug 28, 2013 6:27:19 GMT -8
Ok, I'm just starting out with my Morricone collection. I'm missing his Sergio Leone western material. I did some looking around and there seems to be about a hundred different releases of "Fist Full of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly". Is there one particular release that is better than the other? I understand the sound is pretty archival in most cases, that doesn't bother me. But if there is a faithful rerecording floating around, I'm always up for that.
Any recommendations?
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Post by Southall on Aug 28, 2013 13:40:16 GMT -8
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Post by muckle dabuckle on Sept 10, 2013 4:28:07 GMT -8
I love Ennio Morricone (which sounds like a Morricone compilation) and sometimes I feel like he's my favorite composer (I'd probably pick John Williams as my favorite if I just had to pick one). Perhaps my favorite movie theme of all time is the main theme from his "Untouchables" score. The whole theme just seems so reckless and those trumpets are amazing! You don't hear brass work like that very often. It's just one of those themes that gives you the chills and is instantly ingrained in your head after the very first listen. I miss discovering big themes like this.
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Roman
Scoring Assistant
Quick tip: Never let a werewolf drive your car.
Posts: 114
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Post by Roman on Sept 11, 2013 6:08:51 GMT -8
Thanks so much for the help. I ended up grabbing that version of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". Looking forward to my first exploration of the full score.
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Roman
Scoring Assistant
Quick tip: Never let a werewolf drive your car.
Posts: 114
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Post by Roman on Sept 27, 2013 6:03:30 GMT -8
Since we're creeping up on Halloween and I'm so unfamiliar with Morricone, what do you think are his best horror scores?
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Roman
Scoring Assistant
Quick tip: Never let a werewolf drive your car.
Posts: 114
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Post by Roman on Oct 23, 2013 6:37:21 GMT -8
Since we're creeping up on Halloween and I'm so unfamiliar with Morricone, what do you think are his best horror scores? Well I just listened to "The Thing" last night. Very creepy score, and very different from what ended up used in the film. Morricone did some really interesting stuff with the synths in his version, but it works. I think I may have to pick this one up. I see there was a rerecording a couple years ago. Any ideas how that compares to the original?
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Post by Paul Schroeder on Nov 5, 2013 6:03:58 GMT -8
While I think that Goldsmith is the best-ever film score composer, there's no denying that Morricone is right up there with the greatest. Even so, my interest in Morricone's work dissipates rapidly after the mid-70's when he stopped working with Bruno Nicolai. I feel that an "edge" disappeared from his scores that was perhaps due to input/influence from Nicolai, or perhaps it was due to a shift in the type of films that he worked. While I value later works like "Days of Heaven", "The Thing", "Marco Polo", "The Mission", "The Untouchables", "Nostromo", "Mission to Mars" and others, I miss the experimentation of his early scores. Also, I feel that the 90's was almost a lost decade where he scored too many bad American films, and most of the scores weren't that interesting, at least to me. Just for the record, even though I own more than 150 Morricone score CDs, I neither own nor like some popular favorites such as "Once Upon a Time in America", "Cinema Paradiso", the Yo-Yo Ma album and various other later scores. A re-evaluation. I acquired "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" recently and liked it, and intend to get "Once Upon a Time in America" soon as well. Have been listening to quite a few late-period Morricone scores and while I still prefer the earlier scores for the most part, Morricone's genius continues to show.
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