I will name only one for you, Thor, expecting that it's too obscure for many people to have discovered: UNA BREVE STAGIONE (1969), whose only CD issue as far as I know was an inappropriate pairing with the incompatibly harsh and dissonant LA VIOLENZA: QUINTO POTERE. Of course, BREVE STAGIONE follows the other on the disc. ...
I should - and would - agree with you - this is a very lyrical, albeit simple and repetitive score from 1969 but its 1996 CD presentation (Legend label) is abysmal. The harshness of sound is so bad it takes much of music's quality away. A great shame. Mitch
Here's the superb song based on the main theme. Mind it's not featured on the CD including this soundtrack:
I've never been too thrilled with his abrasive/dissonant sound, or when gorgeous melodies are broken off with a sour note, a weird meter or instrument etc. -- even though I'm well aware that was his trademark as a composer.
I am, however, a complete sucker for his lyrical sound; whenever he gets to paint in broad strokes with the warm, melancholic themes. It's not for nothing that his rejected WHAT DREAMS MAY COME is one my favourites, for example.
Hey Thor, when a person "waxes lyrical" it's the same thing as "waxes poetic," right?" I'm asking because it sounds like "lyrical" translates into creating a mood and in this case, with sweeping melody.
He did something in Once Upon A Time In America that illustrates--well, not with dissonance or abrasiveness--a related contrast. It is the scene when Noodles (De Niro) enters the mausoleum crypt. There is a sweeping medium length pan flute cue that is something of a cinematic mood-setter while he explores the setting. And finally the cue dissolves (rather than ends jarringly) into a beautiful theme ("Friendship") that captures something inside the stoic figure as he sees the names of his childhood pals/adult cohorts.
This is not something easy to do in the same sequence. But Morricone did it and with style.
A Time Of Destiny is mainly gorgeous and that French one he did a few years back (translates to something like The Buds Of May) for Christopher Carion (?) is also lovely.
I will name only one for you, Thor, expecting that it's too obscure for many people to have discovered: UNA BREVE STAGIONE (1969), whose only CD issue as far as I know was an inappropriate pairing with the incompatibly harsh and dissonant LA VIOLENZA: QUINTO POTERE. Of course, BREVE STAGIONE follows the other on the disc. ...
I should - and would - agree with you - this is a very lyrical, albeit simple and repetitive score from 1969 but its 1996 CD presentation (Legend label) is abysmal. The harshness of sound is so bad it takes much of music's quality away. A great shame. Mitch
One man's simplicity is another man's eloquence. Rather than repetitive, in this score I find Morricone's melodic variations from one cue to another sublime. Decide for yourself, Thor.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Some of these I already own/have heard, others I've not heard at all. I have my listening quest set out for me, but alas, I notice that few of them are on Spotify. Guess I'll have to use Youtube for sampling instead.
I forgot to mention earlier that FATELESS -- which has been mentioned a few times already -- is a fairly recent discovery of mine. While I've heard of it forever, I only acquired it some 2 years ago, and it's right there, smack in the middle of the sound I'm looking for. Absolutely gorgeous, and it easily rocketed into my top 10 list of Morricone.
I realize that it's difficult to find an OST that is consistently lyrical throughout. Few soundtracks are. That's why I said 'the majority' in my first post. I don't mind a couple of 'mood breakers', so to speak - whether it's dissonant or energetic or ostinato-based or whatever -- as long as the bulk of the album is lyrical in nature. Even the gorgeous LA CALIFFA has tracks like that, like "Gelo e Disprezzo".
Morricone's lyrical woodwind writing always breaks my heart, so if the woodwinds are prominent as a solo instrument, I'm probably sold.
Thor, I returned to recommend as an afterthought QUESTA SPECIE D'AMORE, only to find I'm repeating the suggestion above mine. Even its expanded edition (if my memory is right) contains no chases or other mood-breaking cues for you; and its lovely main-theme melody is a delicate, solo woodwind backed by full, warm strings.
I've always had a fondness for BUTTERFLY (never seen the film, though I gather it's not-in-a-good-way trash). The CD I have (on the Laserlight label) is an expansion though...
This thread is GOLD! I want ALL of these (except maybe ORCA, which is exactly the opposite of what I asked for -- i.e. a beautiful theme, but the rest rather harsh and dissonant); I'm sampling left and right, wherever I can find it (mostly Youtube), and loving every minute of it. But I'm frustrated when I can't find a way to buy them digitally (I don't buy CDs at the moment). LA VENEXIANA, for example, where has THAT score been all my life (to be fair, I've owned a single track from this on the AN ENNIO MORRICONE ANTHOLOGY for decades)? Can't find a digital purchase option anywhere.
If BREVE STAGIONE is not among those already in your hands -- and to continue my enthusiastic championing of it -- here's the album's opening track. (It's far superior to the non-soundtrack, solo vocal rendition linked here earlier; just ignore the image being a photo of the sleeve of that same Sergio Endrigo cover.)
Oh yes, Steven, I noticed you mentioned it before. Loved it! This is all a bit overwhelming, but in a good way.
While I've heard/owned/own maybe some 100-150 Morricone scores over the years, I've kinda postponed delving deeper. Now is obviously a good chance to do so, and I want to start with the beautiful stuff (and then, maybe, at some point in the future, move on to the dissonant and outlandishly weird).
Again, very few of these are available to buy digitally (and, I would assume, even on CD), so I'll have to suffice with sampling for now.
Also, in some cases I can't find a proper OST, only expansions. MARCO POLO, for example, which several of you have mentioned, has been on my radar for years. But looking at soundtrackcollecctor, the LP release (which is what I want) has never been released on CD. There's only a super-long expansion I don't want. So there's also that kind of stuff.
I don't see it's been mentioned so another I think you would like Thor is the score to an Italian TV Series of about 10 years ago, Come Un Delfino. It has some lovely lyrical cues, some with choir and solo voice.
And again, I can't recommend The Red Tent highly enough. I believe it is his greatest ever 'Love Theme', in my opinion.
And again, I can't recommend The Red Tent highly enough. I believe it is his greatest ever 'Love Theme', in my opinion.
I was introduced to that at the Oslo concert last year, and loved what I heard (weird that I haven't listened to it before, since the film is about our very own Roald Amundsen, after all). However, sampling the soundtrack, I have to admit that it's the first 19 minutes that are good. I have more issues with the 22-minute last track, which is tough and abrasive for the most part.
And again, I can't recommend The Red Tent highly enough. I believe it is his greatest ever 'Love Theme', in my opinion.
I was introduced to that at the Oslo concert last year, and loved what I heard (weird that I haven't listened to it before, since the film is about our very own Roald Amundsen, after all). However, sampling the soundtrack, I have to admit that it's the first 19 minutes that are good. I have more issues with the 22-minute last track, which is tough and abrasive for the most part.
Yes, I think I've only listened to that 22 minute track once which was more than enough. I believe it is several short cues pieced together.
