Title: Un
uomo da rispettare (The master touch)
Year: 1972
Composer: Ennio Morricone
A heist
film about a retired master thief committing one last job in London received
another cleverly written score by Maestro Morricone. Quartet Records luckily
reissued the old, out-of-print album in 2017 which hopefully makes some new
people discover its greatness.
The score
begins with its highlight cue which is almost a kind of miniature symphony of
at times smooth, at times sinister atmospheres. It’s designed intelligently and
forms a perfect arch. The beginning introduces icy-cold piano motif which forms
the basis to the muted trumpets’ melodies. These are performed on top of a
layer of whistling sounds utilized previously in Maestro’s giallo scores. Next
enters Cicci Santucci’s cool-sounding flugelhorn which provides a little comfort
with more laid-back tunes. However simultaneously the cue starts to slowly grow
into its highpoint which is a sweeping crescendo for the whole orchestra with
large brass section, and loud ‘urban’ sounding chords Maestro usually features
in his scores depicting cityscapes. The rest of the cue plays the previous
material in reversed order beginning with the solo flugelhorn and ending with
the same cold atmosphere which opened the track but this time with cooing urban
brass chords playing in the background. The reprise of the opening is a more
beaten-down version of the more urban aspects of the cue but it still ends the
score with a sense of brooding tension.
No matter
how cold the opening piece was, the following Un tempo infinito takes things to a completely new level. It
consists entirely of noise produced by hissing, rattling and beeping
electronics which might work within the film but on the album are completely
unlistenable. The suspense of the opening returns in Colpo parallelo which is by far the creepiest piece on the album
because there is a constant feeling of unresolved tension made especially by
the whistling choir and drum set fills. It’s even more admirable when you
actually break down how little the cue has going on, yet how incredibly
effective it is. L’incarico begins
with a short burst of suspense before turning into a noir jazz club scene with
a laid-back flugelhorn solo and the urban brass chords making a more subdued return.
Against the
bleak tone which most of the tracks have, there is another theme which is more
romantic in nature. It’s introduced in Prima
di lasciarla which builds into a rather nice romantic crescendo towards the
end. The melody itself doesn’t remind me of other Morricone themes but the
chord progressions follow a familiar pattern. Nevertheless the sweet nostalgia
the theme possesses is once again a real delight to listen to. A Florinda begins similarly to the
previous cue but it ends with the bare accompanying chords. Its reprise is an
introverted version for soft strings and solo piano which is just stunning with
its fragility. There’s also a short piece of 70s party-music, 18 Pari with groovy keyboard and flute
solos carrying the cue forward.
It’s
incredible how much anxiety Maestro Morricone has been able to craft with so
little. The overall mood is however rather unforgiving and at times even bone-chilling
which might be difficult to handle for listeners not familiar with Maestro’s
similar writing. Luckily the couple of romantic cues help to relieve the
despair momentarily before returning back to the bleak cityscapes.
Rating: ****1/2
Title: Senza
movente (Without apparent motive)
Year: 1971
Composer: Ennio Morricone
Senza movente is a film about a marksman murdering the elite
of the city of Nice one by one. Over the years this relatively short score by Maestro
Morricone has been paired up with many scores from different genres and I think
the reason might be because it has its own sound that is somewhat hard to place
to one specific soundtrack genre.
The main
theme is reminiscent of Maestro’s secondary theme to Una lucertola con la pelle di donna from the same year. There’s a
simultaneous feeling of whimsy and ambiguous threat which is created by the odd
harmonies and creepy rattling percussion and electronic sounds which lurk
underneath. Hence it’s very hard to figure out whether to feel discomfort or joy
while listening to it, but nevertheless it’s still 100 % Morricone. No other
composer could emulate his voice which shines through from the piece. The
trademarks presented here include the whistling by Alessandro Alessandroni
straight from Maestro’s spaghetti westerns and a solo mellophone providing a
sort of call-answer -type dialogue with the whistling. Unfortunately the theme
is a bit too overplayed on the album but it still gets some nice variations
throughout. The best version is track 15 where the melody is first reprised
with just the whistling and slowly having more and more instruments appearing
into the mixture. There’s also some fun stabbing string writing and constant
low piano crashes which burst from underneath in a disturbing way. Track 17 has
some chilling atonal string chords.
The rest of
the score consists of a series of more or less suspenseful cues. Sospensione folle continues the similar
electronic noise heard in Un uoma da
rispettare over sparse string chords which soon take over completely
crating a typical Morriconean dark atmospheres. Il movente begins with a dramatic bell toll and stabbing strings
before reprising the main theme in a subtle fashion before the groovy drumbeat
changes the atmosphere into a more upbeat direction. Ricerca apparently plays over an investigation montage and has a
very in-your-face attitude which becomes almost unpleasant or annoying with its
building intensity. The only real action track is In pieno petto which starts with the wandering strings before
switching the mood completely to nauseating swirling strings and rumbling
rhythmic action writing for low pianos and bass. The reprises of these tracks
offer some new variations but nothing worth to mention.
The score
is a minor one by Maestro’s standards but nevertheless leaves an impression
with its unmistakable style which is somewhat unique compared to his other
crime flick scores. There’s a struggle with darkness and light here which
creates a disturbing yet intriguing combination of constantly changing moods.
Rating: ****
Tracklist:
1. Un uomo
da rispettare (11:34) *****
2. Un tempo
infinito (04:19) *
3. Prima di
lasciarla (02:36) *****
4. A
Florinda (03:04) ****
5. Colpo
parallelo (03:46) *****
6.
L’incarico (02:01) *****
7. 18 Pari
(03:16) *****
8. A
Florinda (02:43) *****
9. Un uomo
da rispettare (02:45) *****
10. Senza
motivo apparente (04:20) *****
11.
Sospensione folle (02:35) ***
12. Il
movente (02:28) ****
13. Ricerca
(02:10) ****
14. In pieno petto (02:23) *****
15. Senza motivo apparente (2) (05:04) *****
16. Ricerca
(2) (02:29) ***
17. Senza
motivo apparente (3) (01:58) ****
18.
Sospensione folle (2) (01:40) ***
19. Senza
motivo apparente (4) (01:20) ***
20. In
pieno petto (2) (01:41) *****
21. Il
movente (2) (02:27) ***
22. Senza
motivo apparente (5) (02:29) ****
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