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Tag: Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone Death A Loss for Film Lovers

A sad day for anyone who loves the movies. Ennio Morricone is dead.

The composer of over 500 film and television scores, he was likely the most prolific film composer of all time.

Although he has always been very popular in America, and around the world, with tributes pouring in over the decades from both pop and classical artists, acknowledgment from the Hollywood establishment came only fairly recently. He received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2016, the same year he won his only competitive Academy Award, for his score to Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.” By then, he was 87 years-old. (He was nominated five other times, the first in 1979.) Earlier, he received an honorary Oscar, for lifetime achievement, in 2007.

Of course, Morricone never needed Hollywood to confirm his greatness. He churned out score after score from his home in Rome, and always supplied his own orchestrations – by no means standard practice in the film industry. The sheer volume of his output ensured that he left his mark on nearly every genre, but none more indelibly than the western. His collaborations in the form with director Sergio Leone – especially “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and “Once Upon a Time in the West” – made him internationally famous.

His music for “The Mission,” “The Untouchables,” and “Cinema Paradiso” also remains popular. His melodies are much appropriated by figure skaters, television commercials, and by the movies themselves. His music has been quoted or reused in over 150 films, in which he has had absolutely no involvement. Even in instances in which the movies were absolutely atrocious, Morricone could be counted on to draw on his unfailing professionalism, infusing the ridiculous with dramatic tension and often heartbreaking lyricism.

No word on whether or not he was able to follow through on his commitment to write music for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina.

Morricone was 91 years-old. One of the last of the legends is gone.

“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

“The Mission”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41oGXgVmZg

Morricone conducts “Cinema Paradiso”

July 6, 2020
South American Film Scores Rózsa & Morricone

If you are a Miklós Rózsa fan, you’ll want to join me for this week’s “Picture Perfect,” as I dig deep into the archive for two contrasting scores to movies set in South America.

Rózsa, who is probably best remembered for his work on Biblical and historical epics (he won his third Academy Award for “Ben Hur” in 1959) provides a lush symphonic tapestry for “Green Fire” (1954), starring Stewart Granger and Grace Kelly. Rózsa piles on the MGM gloss, for a conflict between love and lust for emeralds in the jungles of Colombia.

Then we’ll hear perhaps Rózsa’s most unusual venture, “Crisis” (1950). “Crisis” stars Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer in the story of a brain surgeon who must weigh ethical considerations when faced with saving the life of a dictator who oppresses the people of an unnamed banana republic. Unusual for a composer who likes to swing for the fences, Rózsa set himself the limitations of writing for solo guitar.

MGM must have felt it had scored a major coup when securing famed Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos to supply music for “Green Mansions” (1959). The big screen adaptation of W.H. Hudson’s novel, set in the rainforests of southeastern Venezuela, stars Audrey Hepburn as Rima the Bird Girl. Unfortunately, the studio deemed what Villa-Lobos produced unusable, since the composer had begun writing based on his impressions of the novel, rather than wait for the completed film. MGM house composer Bronislau Kaper was brought in to salvage what he could.

Finally, we’ll turn to one of Ennio Morricone’s best-loved scores – that for “The Mission” (1986). “The Mission” stars Jeremy Irons, as a Jesuit priest who penetrates the South American jungle to convert the native Guarani to Christianity, and Robert DeNiro, as a reformed slave hunter. The lovely and moving “Gabriel’s Oboe” became a recognizable hit, thanks in particular to its use by figure skaters and Aer Lingus.

This is the score for which Morricone believed he should have won the Oscar.

I hope you’ll join me for these South American adventures this week, on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 5, 2020
Summer Film Scores A European Vacation Soundtrack

With two weeks left in August, there’s still time for a quick European vacation. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we glance across the pond for an hour of music from foreign films with summer settings.

“A Summer Story” (1988), based on a tale of John Galsworthy, tells of a young London lawyer and a farm girl who fall profoundly in love at the turn of last century. Georges Delerue provides the poignant score.

The juxtaposition of “Igmar Bergman” and “comedy” may seem like something of an oxymoron, but the dour Swede’s “Smiles of a Summer Night” (1955) proves to be a witty examination of the folly of the human heart. Frequent Bergman collaborator Erik Nordgren wrote the music.

Director Yves Robert adapted the memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, who spent his childhood summers in the south of France, into two lovely films, “My Father’s Glory” and “My Mother’s Castle” (1990). We’ll hear music composed for both by Vladimir Cosma. Pagnol’s experiences in Provence marked him for life, informing the films and writings of his maturity, including “The Baker’s Wife,” and “Jean de Florette.”

Finally, we’ll have a generous sampling from one of Ennio Morricone’s most beloved scores, that for “Cinema Paradiso” (1988). “Cinema Paradiso,” set in a post-war Sicily where it seems always to be summer, is a nostalgic paean to the shared experience of film and the significance it holds in our lives. It won a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was honored with an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Music is the universal language. Join me for summer overseas on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical NetworkWWFM and wwfm.org.

August 16, 2019
Morricone’s Olympic Anthem Italy or Princeton

Allegedly, Ennio Morricone has stated that he will write a new Olympic anthem, but only if Milan is selected as host for the 2026 Winter Games.

If Princeton is selected, I will write the anthem, and for half the fee.

Ennio Morricone will write Olympics anthem – if Italy wins

May 16, 2019
Facebook Fail Ennio Morricone Tribute Delayed

Evil, time-sucking Facebook isn’t allowing me to post with a photo today, so I am putting this up as a place-holder until I can get it to accept my Ennio Morricone 90th birthday tribute. In the meantime, I shake my fist at you, Facebook!

November 10, 2018

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