by Robert Wilkinson
Because it’s a very profound time for the human race, I figured it was time for some of the greatest, heaviest, most magnificently beautiful music ever made. This music will stir some deep feelings.
Ennio Morricone was a living legend, and truly one of the greatest composers on Earth. It’s safe to say that whether you know who he is or not, by the time you hear the second tune, you’ll know exactly who this Musical Master is! It would have been his birthday November 10, so today we're going deep into dozens of his best songs and more than a few brilliant live performances.
From Wikipedia: “Ennio Morricone (November 10, 1928 - July 6, 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, and conductor… who has written music for more than 500 motion pictures and television series, as well as contemporary classical works. His career included a wide range of composition genres, making him one of the world's most versatile, prolific and influential film composers of all time. Morricone's music has been used in over sixty award-winning films.”
”Morricone composed music for Academy Award-winning motion pictures, including Days of Heaven, the Mission, The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso, and Bugsy. Other noteworthy scores include Exorcist II, The Thing, Casualties of War, In the Line of Fire, Disclosure, Wolf, Bulworth, Mission to Mars, and Ripley’s Game. In the 80s and 90s, Morricone continued to compose music for European directors. His music for La Cage aux Folles, Le Professionnel, Once Upon A Time in America, and Atame! are among his best known film scores.”
He’s been nominated for 5 Oscars (won 1), and won 3 Grammys, 2 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs, 10 David di Donatello, 11 Nastro d’Argento, and a host of other accolades. I have loved his music since 1966, and know you will love some of the pieces you’re about to hear from a genuine Maestro!
First, a brilliant live performance with Ennio conducting a full orchestra giving us one of the most stirring, compelling pieces of music ever written. The operatic vocals are bone chilling! If you don’t listen to any other piece today, this one is THE one! It’s from the final scene of the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, when the three all converge on the same graveyard where hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold is buried in one of the graves. For your enjoyment, the amazing soprano of Susanna Rigacci and the magnificent Ennio Morricone in “The Ecstasy of Gold”
Also from that 1966 movie, Ennio and his orchestra giving us a brilliant performance of the awesome soundtrack tune! Ennio Morricone conducts “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
This is the original studio score by Hugo Montenegro and his Orchestra. It's 2 minutes and 45 of extraordinarily exciting music that got everyone's attention! We had never heard anything like this on the radio before then. “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
From Oct 2010, Ennio live with the Roma Symphony Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall performing "The Ecstasy of Gold." Wow!
I found the entire one hour soundtrack for the movie again! Amazing music! The original female vocal on the movie soundtrack was the magnificent Edda Dell'Orso. “Ennio Morricone – “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
I still can’t find the entire original 1965 soundtrack for the second Spaghetti Western, For A Few Dollars More, but Warner Music group seems not to want anyone to listen to it. You’d think they’ve made enough money these past 50 years . However, I did find this 15 minute clip called For A Few Dollars More Soundtrack Suite
I did find these two clips of the original title track from this iconic movie! First, here’s the original version from the movie, For A Few Dollars More, and here’s another slightly different arrangement of this iconic melody “For Few Dollars More”
Though conducted by someone else, Ennio wrote this brilliant piece for the closing duel from the 1965 movie For A Few Dollars More. For your enjoyment, a May 2009 CSUN Studio Ensemble Concert with David Newman and Carl Fortina performing “For A Few Dollars More – Final Duel”
Here’s the final scene of the movie with the soundtrack! Classic spaghetti western drama! “For A Few Dollars More – Final Duel”
In the early 60s, Ennio Morricone used to do musical arrangements for an obscure folk singer Peter Tevis. This gem was written by Woody Guthrie which Peter made into a hit in Italy. As will be immediately evident on hearing this piece, Ennio merely renamed it "Titoli," made it into an instrumental, and used it as the theme song for A Fistful of Dollars. "Pastures of Plenty"
From 1964, here’s the pioneering studio soundtrack for that first Spaghetti Western! Again, the first track "Titoli" is compelling, but then the entire soundtrack is an adventure! Once you play “Titoli” the rest of the songs will play automatically. This is worth your time! Ennio Morricone – A Fistful of Dollars
As I did earlier, here’s the original soundtrack with the final scene of the movie. Quite dramatic! “A Fistful of Dollars – The Final Duel”Last year I had a 2 hour and 37 clip with the soundtracks to all 3 Spaghetti westerns, but it’s disappeared. I did find this 26 minute clip called “The Dollars Trilogy Ultimate Cut – Ennio Morricone
Here are 29 clips all from his work in the Spaghetti Westerns! Dollars Trilogy Soundtrack
To someone’s credit, you can find all three “Spaghetti Westerns” on you tube, so if you’re into it, enjoy some iconic themes and great music!
here’s a fabulous 27 song collection of the entire soundtrack for the 1968 movie. Ennio Morricone - Once Upon A Time in the West
From 2002, a live performance by Ennio in Verona of the title song from the movie Once Upon A Time in the West
Here’s the studio version of a song from that movie, Ennio Morricone – “Jill’s Theme”
From 1984, the hour and 16 soundtrack for the movie, Once Upon A Time in America
Lest you think the Master only did Spaghetti Westerns, here’s a soundtrack he composed for another intense movie! From 1986, Ennio Morricone – Original Soundtrack for The Mission
Here’s another from the Oct 2010 show where Ennio conducts the Roma Symphony and the Crouch End Festival Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall! This is a magnificent performance of "On Earth As It Is In Heaven" and from that same RAH show, “Cinema Paradiso”
In past years I found collections of up to 3 hours of his music, but this year this is all I could find. The link will autoload LOTS of his music! Ennio Morricone – The Platinum Collection
We’ll close this birthday tribute to the Master with several extraordinary live performances. First, two live concerts in Italy!
From Sept 2002, a full 1 hour 42 minute concert with full orchestra! Ennio Morricone – Concerto all’Arena di VP
From Aug 2013, 2 hours of Ennio with full orchestra! Ennio Morricone – Live all Arena de Verona
This is a brilliant 2-part celebration from Il Maestro’s 75th birthday in 2003! Each is about an hour, and we are told part 2 is “a work in progress.”
Ennio Morricone’s 75th Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 2003 – Pt. 1 and Ennio Morricone’s 75th Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall 2003 – Pt. 2
From November 2013, a live performance in Chile of three of his best! “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” “Once Upon A Time In The West,” and “The Ecstasy of Gold”
From March 2015 in Lyon, France, a few clips that are utterly brilliant! Ennio Morricone – “The Ecstasy of Gold” featuring Susanna Rigacci
Ennio Morricone – “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” featuring Susanna Rigacci Ennio Morricone – “Once Upon A Time in the West” and “A Fistful of Dynamite” featuring Susanna Rigacci Ennio Morricone – “Gabriel’s Oboe” and “The Mission” featuring Susanna RigacciThis is Ennio taken into metal heaven! Here's an astonishing live performance by Metallica that cranks sixteen ways from Thursday! The performance begins about a minute and a half into the clip. For your astonishment and listening pleasure, here's Metallica in 2009 in Copenhagen with a very electric metal performance of "The Ecstasy of Gold"
For our final encore, a very interesting and most excellent 72 minute concert! They took the various pieces from “Spaghetti Western” soundtracks, all written by our birthday boy, and put them together in a great performance using an amazing range of instruments. The Spaghetti Western Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall – 2011
Maestro, thanks for the incredibly beautiful and stirring compositions across the decades! Your music will live forever.
© Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson
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