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Morricone's New Album... And A Question.
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Topic: Morricone's New Album... And A Question.

Al

Standard Userer

I've recently been listening to Morricone's new album "La Luz Prodigiosa," and I have to admit the price comes with about as much disappointment as it does satisfaction.The opening two tracks are the highlights of the album (as is often the case with Morricone's sequencing), featuring the expected Morricone sound with a hint of Spanish flavor. The opening song most prominently features this, and while its mainly of the sad haunting sort, it manages to buildup to a majestic climax that is all too brief. It's definitely the highlight of the album, followed next by a lovely piece which demonstrates that Morricone is writing for strings and solo instruments more intimately than ever. Everything after that, unfortunately, turns into less interesting suspense music with sad moments now and then, very much like A Pure Formality. Only in the end track does the mood pick up with a reprise of the main theme sans vocal.
While I love the careful and intimate approach Morricone is taking in his writing, I recently have been missing the moments when his themes would really take flight. I've been searching for some sweeping Morricone recently, and in a description of a Indiana Jones knock-off "Treasure of the Four Crowns" at Intrada, the score is described as sweeping and rousing. The word 'sweeping' caught my eye. Has anyone heard this score and can comment on it?
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Also, for all Morricone fans, I highly recommend the fairly recent score "Un difetto di famiglia." I've had it for over a year, and it has been in my player more than any other Morricone score. It's very pleasant and uplifting, featuring three wonderful themes. It's simply a great album.
posted 08-03-2003 08:49 PM PT (US) 
BMikeJ

Standard Userer

Al, Treasure Of The Four Crowns has some of that trademark "annoying suspense music" from Ennio but, apart from that, there's some great music on there. I wouldn't describe the score as sweeping or rousing but it's pretty solid. The mastering on that GDM disc is a little problematic as there are still some digital pops that managed to make their way into the final CD release. I went back and made my own disc sans "annoying suspense music" and digital pops.
posted 08-03-2003 10:18 PM PT (US) 
stalemate12
Non-Standard Userer

I agree that Dulce Pontes' song is the absolute highlight on the 'La Luz Prodigiosa' CD. Incidentally, she premiered it at Morricone's Paris concert last year. I'm also not overawed by the rest of the album, but it's still worth having.Of the Maestro's new scores, I can really enjoyed 'Perlasca'. An very interesting score indeed with some beautiful passages.
The 3rd new score is 'Ripley's Game', which won't be to everybody's taste. But there're some very good moments on the CD. It's probably wise not to start with Track 1 however.
posted 08-04-2003 04:19 AM PT (US) 
BMikeJ

Standard Userer

Perlasca is wonderful, isn't it? There's a theme from one of the spaghetti westerns that pops up in there, from I Crudelli, I think. I just love the way he revisits that theme and reworks it for Perlasca. John Barry did something similar for Cry, The Beloved Country with one of his themes from Zulu.
posted 08-04-2003 09:43 AM PT (US) 
Al

Standard Userer

Perlasca has another example of Morricone's developing talent for careful, intimate scoring. The strings in "Romanticamente interiore" are so expertly placed that one can really tell that Morricone's years of composing countless love themes are actually building up to something new rather than becoming repetitive.Are there any "sweeping" Morricone themes out there any of you can recommend? You may assume I already know the obvious ones.
And BMikeJ, I only have one question further to ask about Treasure of the Four Crowns: Is it better than Sahara? What a piece of cheese that was, aside from the decent opening track.
posted 08-04-2003 10:37 AM PT (US) 
BMikeJ

Standard Userer

Al, definitely better than Sahara. The main theme is a little more introspective and reflective in typical Morricone fashion.
posted 08-04-2003 01:00 PM PT (US) 
Al

Standard Userer

Thanks. I'll plan on ordering this soon.
NP: Isham's "October Sky"posted 08-04-2003 03:36 PM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB
