The Other Morricone

 

"Morricone has been to film music what Picasso was to painting – an endlessly voracious intellectual organism that after reformulating and re-imagining everything absorbed, shockingly designs back into the cultural landscape." – John Bender, producer

 

Known as one of the greatest talents in the composition for films of all time, Italian composer Ennio Morricone is still stigmatized by musical image of spaghetti westerns. No doubt it was a revolutionary and filled of personality work on its time. And still influential (just see Django Unchained), and the enduring creative breath of Roman maestro was responsible for other landmarks of film music as The Mission, Cinema Paradiso and The Untouchables. All well received in the stores shelves and turned best sellers by collectors. But Morricone, in 50 years of activity in the movies did much more than what is usually referred to him. His production is not limited to Sergio Leone and Giuseppe Tornatore. Nor is limited to symphonic music that the composer himself has been cultivating in recent decades of activity.

 

After consecration in westerns, and obviously not intended to be retained in them, Morricone found in thrillers and political cinema a very interesting field of possibilities in creation. This occurred in the early 70s and films like Il Gatto a Nove Code (Cat of Nine Tails, 1971) or La Califfa (The Rebel, 1970) were indicators of that direction to experimental new grounds. In La Califfa, a political drama starring Romy Schneider and Ugo Tognazzi the funereal atmosphere is highlighted in intense bells touches. Regarding the melodic beauty – something also very valued in Morricone´s work – the main theme, La Califfa, (with oboe solo), stands out as one of the most beautiful and lyrical ever done by the composer. The instrumental experimentation in that score puts it right between the experiences of Westerns and the subsequent production of the composer. Incorporating any exoticism to greater effect, Morricone here paved the way for its rich and highly original production in the 70s.

Instrumental experiments would also be the mark of Teorema (1968) that explores nuances of strings and voices. The composer decentralizes the sound set as the visitor's presence (Terence Stamp) unbalances the family who receives it and even what would be a simple pop song as Fruscio In Foglie Verdi acquires a strange tone for inclusion in a musical ensemble such uncommon. Due to the economic exposure in the film is a trail that is worth much more when heard separately. CD edition of Swedish label Fin De Siecle Media also contains the tracks of Stagione Dei Sensi (1969) and Vergogna Schifosi (1969). 

Experimentation is also the mark of Quando L'Amore é Sensualitá (When Love is Lust, 1973 CAM Records). Economic motifs for piano, strings in pizzicati and monosyllabic vocals (da-da-da) sums up in one of the most intriguing scores of the composer. The film is an erotic drama about the difficulties of a just-married young (Agostina Belli) to accept the bridal consummation and the music follows the drama in childish chant of several passages. Mechanical rhythms (almost as metronomes or watches) conduces the music to enclosure in one of the most difficult and unusual works of the composer, but also one of the most interesting by the daring. Amid the "tick-tock" of rhythms and voices, stand out the beautiful "chopinian" theme Canzone Per Donatella for piano solo, the comic of Strano Collage Camera and the retro ballad Soluzione Borghese.

Unexpected sound combinations also feature Veruschka (1971), drama starred by the famous model that names the film. It is a score quite unexpected in the career of composer for its psychedelic orientation. Here again the pop music instrumentation is predominant, but the musical language is unclassifiable, ranging from reference to rock (drums and guitar effects) for an indefinable sound expansion.

Intense and diverse the adventure Revolver (1973) has in its score the theme Un Amico that was used in Inglorious Basterds (2009) on the death of Shosanna in film projection booth sequence. This theme and a 12-minute suite of rhythmic blocks are the main musical material of the score. Curiosities like jazz-soul In Un Bar and the pop-baroque Quasi Un Vivaldi (string quartet and rhythm on drums) adds diversity to one of the most dynamic tracks of Morricone for one of the best police adventures of the period in European pop cinema.

Another interesting work is Bloodlink (Extrasensorial, 1982) not much remembered, but with an interesting soundtrack that opts for introspection and avoids the common place. Unlike the score, the film – from specialist in B movie, Alberto de Martino – is an attempt to follow Brian de Palma formula (which, in turn, followed Hitchcock). Starring Michael Moriarty, one of the worst and funniest actors ever seen. Here Moriarty plays the cliche twin-brothers in a thriller: one normal, the other, killer. Moriarty was probably cast for his resemblance to John Lithgow, actor specialized in unbalanced and famous on De Palma thrillers. Bloodlink is a great tonal piece with pop-romantic main theme. The second theme, an apprehensive waltz (properly called Macabre Walzer) is the one that opens the film in a dance hall. The romantic introspection Through His Eyes (in harpsichord and piano) is also one of the highlights of the trail. Other topics fulfill their function with suspense atmospheres, but Morricone avoids clichés in sweet and evocative atmospheres that sound nice and very little frightening. An exercise in expectation. Released by Beat Records label including the score of the western Five Men Army (1969).

Concluding, Morricone´s work does seem to be an infinite place of research, discoveries and good surprises.