{"id":4145,"date":"2003-11-13T13:25:06","date_gmt":"2003-11-13T13:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=4145"},"modified":"2015-04-29T14:54:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T14:54:57","slug":"review-ennio-morricones-75th-birthday-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=4145","title":{"rendered":"MUSIC REVIEW: Ennio Morricone’s 75th birthday concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ennio<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 The machine-gun drum of his Oscar-nominated score for \u201cThe Untouchables\u201d opened Ennio Morricone\u2019s 75th birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 10 and signalled that the Italian maestro’s film music enthrals even without the pictures.<\/p>\n

Stately and commanding upon the conductor\u2019s podium, Morricone directed the 94-piece Roma Sinfonietta and massed voices of the Crouch End Festival Chorus in an almost three-hour review of some of his most memorable scores.<\/p>\n

To demonstrate his seriousness of purpose, the pieces were separated into four sections, \u201cLife and Legend\u201d and \u201cThe Modernity of Myth in Sergio Leone\u2019s Cinema\u201d in the first half, and \u201cSocial Cinema\u201d and \u201cTragic, Epic and Lyrical Cinema\u201d in the second.<\/p>\n

Morricone employed his original film orchestrations and followed the \u201cUntouchables\u201d rat-a-tat-tat with the plangent strings of \u201cOnce Upon a Time in America\u201d. That led to the clarinet intro to his astonishing work for \u201cThe Legend of 1900\u201d, which soon soared with strings and horns and the pulsating power of six bull fiddles and nine cellos.<\/p>\n

Solo harpist Vincenzina Capone took over before muted trombones teased into the full orchestra and then emerged the piano of Gilda Butta and the beautiful melody from \u201cCinema Paradiso\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"morricone-cd-75birthday2003\"<\/a>What marks Morricone\u2019s music, besides his peerless ability with melody, is his inventive use of found instruments. Here, he used musical instruments to replicate those sounds but they still sounded fresh, from the piccolos\u2019 coyote cry of \u201cThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly\u201d to the soaring chorale and violins of \u201c The Ecstasy of Gold\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly\u201d surprises with its smooth beginning before the instantly recognisable cues break forth. Morricone\u2019s mastery in evoking visual images in music are demonstrated once and forever in his breathtaking score for \u201cOnce Upon a Time in the West\u201d. Soprano Susanna Rigacci\u2019s heartbreaking solo rode within and above the surging full chorus over music that echoed sagebrush and a wild frontier, filled with yearning.<\/p>\n

From the romance of the west, Morricone turned in the second half to the realities of such films as \u201cBattle of Algiers\u201d, \u201cSacco and Vanzetti\u201d, and “Casualties of War.” Portuguese fado singer Dulce Pontes lent her emotion-filled voice, wrenching in its purity, to these scores. Pontes used her Fado improvisation on other classical Morricone pieces, as she does on their new Universal album, \u201cFocus\u201d, in which Morricone allowed lyrics to be set to some of his most popular works.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the concert matched Morricone\u2019s own new Warner Bros. Release, \u201cArena Concerto\u201d, taken from performances in various Italian cities. Both albums reflect the Italian\u2019s passion for film music that not only illuminates cinema but stands boldly on its own.<\/p>\n

His orchestrations put every member of the Sinfornietta to work and revealed the newly refurbished acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall in all their spectacular glory. You could taste the ashes of battle during \u201cCasualties of War\u201d and it was impossible not to be moved by the full power of orchestra and chorus in the inspiring \u201cThe Mission\u201d.<\/p>\n

In one of the many standing ovations at the end, the sell-out crowd insisted on singing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to Morricone and you were left to wonder how it is possible that this remarkable septuagenarian doesn\u2019t yet have an Oscar.<\/p>\n

This story appeared in The Hollywood Reporter but is not available on thr.com. For more about the concert<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 The machine-gun drum of his Oscar-nominated score for \u201cThe Untouchables\u201d opened Ennio Morricone\u2019s 75th birthday concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 10 and signalled that the Italian maestro’s film music enthrals even without … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,14],"tags":[2246,2244,2245,1044],"class_list":["post-4145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-music","category-reviews","tag-crouch-end-festival-chorus","tag-ennio-morricone","tag-roma-sinfonietta","tag-royal-albert-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4145"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7549,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions\/7549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}