Ennio Morricone
But considering music’s importance to film, it’s hardly surprising that some significant partnerships have developed over the art form’s history. A few immediately come to mind: Federico Fellini and Nino Rota, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, and the Italian duo Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. In fact, the work of these composers is largely responsible for film music being taken seriously as an art form in its own right rather than serving merely as a background element.
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Film sound tracks are now enjoying unprecedented commercial popularity. While random collections of pop tunes frequently make the charts (a trend that really began with The Big Chill), original scores have been appearing on them too. Labels have been generously reissuing old film scores on CD, and it’s clear that appreciation for sound tracks now extends beyond a rabid group of aficionados.
Much of Morricone’s work in the 60s was executed with the help of an ensemble he formed, the Cantori Moderni. This group provided trademark Morricone elements: the distinctive whistling and Duane Eddy-ish, reverb-heavy electric guitar of Alessandro Alessandroni; the haunting, angelic wordless female vocals; the searing trumpet and lonesome twang of a Jew’s harp; and the shouted grunts in unison. He later innovatively employed electronics and feedback. Whereas most film scores are orchestral, Morricone’s scores used all sorts of bizarre instrumentations and arrangements. When one gets over the novelty of hearing the music from the spaghetti westerns outside of the films, the distinct lack of melody and development becomes palpable. They are carefully sculpted moods, rife with tension, texture, and atmosphere. Because of the formalistic audacity, the music’s sheer inventiveness proves to be a renewable source of pleasure on its own terms.
