This year’s passing of legendary film composer Ennio Morricone prompted me to reflect on what makes his film music of such broad appeal. Morricone himself offered a very fitting answer in a recent book of conversations from 2013–2015 with Alessandro … Continue reading →
In most film scores, themes are usually associated with a single character. This is the case, for example, with the previous two themes examined in this blog series: those for Jill and Cheyenne. But the other prominent theme in … Continue reading →
“Cheyenne’s theme” from Once Upon a Time in the West is another example of Ennio Morricone’s economical use of melodic and harmonic materials, and unusual choice of instrumentation that help bestow his music with a very distinctive sound. The … Continue reading →
Ennio Morricone has one of the most distinctive sounds in all of film music, a highly unusual trait in a business where the composer is generally a musical chameleon, writing in different styles to suit different films. But in his … Continue reading →
