Ennio Morricone: Quentin Tarantino Movies
It's no secret that Quentin Tarantino has been influenced by filmmakers of the past. But it wasn't just the visual aesthetic, or the genre-fuelled action that attracted him.
He recognised the importance of the soundtrack, and the way in which music enhances what we see on screen.
Indeed, there are segments in his films that are akin to music video clips. Music is as much a part of the film's "language" as the script, and often is all that is needed to convey the mood or actions at a particular point in time.
Not surprisingly, soundtracks from Tarantino's films have sold well over the years.
One of Tarantino's favourite (and most influential) filmmakers is Italian Director, Sergio Leone, the father of the "Spaghetti Western": films characterised as much by their soundtracks, as their story lines.
Probably due to European cultural influences, these Italian/Spanish/American co-productions had a distinctive audio-visual style: they were gritty, and nothing like the romantic epic westerns that had been made previously in America.
Among the notable composers who wrote music for Spaghetti Westerns, are Pierro Piccione, Armando Trovaiolli, and even Argentinian composer, Luis Bacalov.
But it is the music of Ennio Morricone, particularly from the films of Sergio Leone (such as the "Man With No Name" trilogy, more commonly known as the "Dollars" trilogy), that is most famous.
Morricone is a prolific composer, who has written music for over five hundred productions!
His musical breadth ranges from Spaghetti Western themes, to the sublime music of film such as The Mission.
It is the former that captivated Tarantino, from when he was a young man watching the films of Sergio Leone. Subsequently, Tarantino has used many of Morricone's themes in his films. And from a wide selection of Morricone's scores.
Whereas music in American westerns was richly orchestral and infused by brass, Morricone developed a style more in keeping with the films' settings: most significantly, he adopted the use of electric guitars, along with an array of other exotic instruments, such as chimes, and the Jew's Harp. He also incorporated ethnic embellishments such as whistling, and cacophonous choral intonations. Morricone used the trumpet, not in an upbeat Jarabe Tapatío (Mexican hat-dance) fashion, but as a desolate voice of the pioneers of the barren west.
This compilation is a celebration of Morricone's genre-styled compositions, and also an acknowledgement of Tarantino's cinematic inspirations. It is in some respects, sentimental, as well as being an enjoyable collection, beautifully performed by Solisti e Orchestre del Cinema Italiano (who, I suspect, had a lot of fun recording this CD).