Ennio Morricone

[Adam Blake]

Here we would have a perfect example of how to score and deploy effective incidental music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhaEK71 ... re=related

My favourite scene from "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" - notice how the music creeps in as the scene develops at 1:38 with some open guitar strings suggesting that any direction is possible, then as the pathos builds as Tuco is told of his parents death a melody emerges, not a specific melody but one which suggests a piece by Tarrega or Rodrigo - ie, one generic to the culture of the characters in the scene. As we go from the poignant Biblical allusion to the scene of Tuco and Blondie's departure, electric guitar is brought in to suggest movement and courage over heartbreak. It's been done to death a million times since (and let's face it, it was done to death in this wonderful but excruciatingly overlong movie) but it's never been done better than here.

[judith]

There's nothing better than a great musical soundtrack and the Morriconi stuff is so perfect. So much so the movies for which he composed wouldn't be near as entertaining without them.

I've been told Clint Mansell has also done a fine job of it in "Requiem For A Dream". I've been hesitant to watch the film.

In the film, "Hero" (all controversy aside), in the Chinese version particularly, Tan Dun does some wonderful stuff with a zither and the male chorus was frightful...but then, these compositions stand on their own without the film. With Morricone, one evokes the other.

If I were a composer, I would want to write filmscores. I remember when I saw "Anatomy of a Murder" - Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Again, much different than in the spaghetti westerns, perhaps not so illustrative kind of sneaking in and out while, in my mind, adding another entire level to the film. Again, unlike Morricone. Not many around like Ennio Morricone.

[Adam Blake]

There has to be a really sympathetic understanding between director and composer, which is pretty rare, I think. Sergio Leone and Morricone had it, perhaps Nino Rota and Francis Ford Coppola enjoyed a similar relationship. Rota's music plays such an important part in setting the tone of "The Godfather" movies.

[Adam Blake]

I've been told Clint Mansell has also done a fine job of it in "Requiem For A Dream". I've been hesitant to watch the film.

Ha ha! It's a lovely film.

First time I saw it was on a rented DVD. It had been recommended to me but I had no idea what it was about. I had to pause it several times and pace up and down the floor smoking a cigarette before I could continue.

[judith]

What is your take on the musical score?

[Adam Blake]

It doesn't stick in my memory like the music from Darren Aronofsky's previous movie "pi" does. That was the first (and last?) time I heard drum'n'bass being used as soundtrack music (I think it was Aphex Twin) and it really, really worked well.