Exotic flavours: part 7

Title: L’inchiesta (The final inquiry)

Year: 2006

Composer: Andrea Morricone

After a long break I finally found some time to write a new review. I’m planning to do some more in near future, mostly concentrating on some new releases from last year. Let’s hope I’ll find time to do so.

It’s Eastertime and I decided to review a two-episode TV-miniseries which tells the story of Jesus from the Romans’ point of view. The score was made by Ennio Morricone’s son Andrea, most well-known for his love theme from Cinema Paradiso for which his father did the rest of the score.  He is however a gifted composer in his own right and if L’inchiesta is any indication, clearly needs some high profile assignments.

The album starts with an extended slow-moving piece of murky action with ethnic percussion and low flutes punctuated by militaristic trumpet fanfares. A large choir enters soon after singing in Latin and the song keeps building towards a victorious closure. A powerful and highly enjoyable start to the album which makes you hope the rest of the score is nearly as good as the opening.

Fortunately the beginning of the album doesn’t disappoint. After some dark string lines, Taurus introduces a driving, triple meter base on top of which a slower, victorious horn line is heard. The choir returns halfway and continues underneath the driving rhythm and horns until the finish. Thrilling stuff! Gerusalemme has another modern film score staple: the wailing female voice provided this time by Yasemin Sannino. Fortunately it isn’t overused here. What follows is another build-up based on a unique melody that is both ‘Middle-Eastern’ and ‘Jewish’ with its progressions and has an underlying militaristic beat. The military fanfares from Battaglia make a short cameo as well.

An attractive little melody starts Cristanità with addictive woodwind writing before the march for the Christians is heard. This tune might be the most ‘classical’ moment of the score drawing inspirations from Bach’s oratorios. The melody gets a few reprises later in Veglia and in the finale. The score isn’t that keen on establishing a single unifying theme but a strong contender melody-wise is L’incontro which is by far the prettiest the score ever gets. Especially the middle part when the pianos create a crescendo to the rising string line gives me goosebumps every time I hear them.

The five first cues present the building blocks for the rest of the album. Melodies inspired both by the sacred and profane, classical and folk progressions. Latin choir mixed with ethnic instruments. However with an opening this strong, some of the darker pieces heard in the middle aren’t as interesting or rewarding in comparison. Bruxos has beautiful choral writing and Taurus-inspired rhythms though. Compared to his father’s suspense writing, he keeps things still moving and melodious throughout. For instance Lapidazione has once again some amazing, dramatic choral work though the music is dark and foreboding. Strangolamento is probably the most brutal moment of the score, not surprised by the title, and even that cruelty ends with a melodic string reprise of the theme from Taurus.

The wailing vocals return along with the judgmental choir and the triple meter percussion in Crocifissione which ends with a slow elegy for the voice and a plucked, ethnic string instrument. I’m glad that they used restraint for the pivotal scene of crucifixion but I feel that the trope might be a cliché by now which lessens its impact. Luckily what follows is the score’s greatest cue Amore which is the extended love theme heard in track 5. The impressionistic opening for choir and wind instruments makes way to the melody that is as good as the love theme from Cinema Paradiso. After the reprise arrives a new surprise, namely a passionate cello solo that ends the cue peacefully. Another lovely extended moment is Maria which begins with romantic strings and then moves to beautiful, pristine flute and an ethnic, acapella vocal performance of the love theme and finally an orchestral reprise of the cello cadenza. The score ends with a nostalgic reprise of Taurus melody in Verità and a restrained hymn to Christianity called Esodo.

L’inchiesta misses the full 5 stars by only a small margin. The score is melodic throughout, it sounds mostly fresh and mixes various musical styles together successfully. The biggest hindrance for me is that the opening is so strong that the rest can’t offer similar oomph and sheer power presented previously. Still whether or not you’re a believer, most listeners will no doubt be moved by its beautiful melodies and the ingenious orchestrations.

Rating: ****1/2

Tracklist:

1. Battaglia (06:17) *****

2. Taurus (04:22) *****

3. Gerusalemme (05:13) *****

4. Cristanità (02:45) *****

5. L'incontro (02:04) *****

6. Bruxos (02:26) *****

7. Il palazzo (02:44) ***

8. Lapidazione (03:44) *****

9. Rissa-Presagio (04:09) ****

10. Vita (02:17) ****

11. Strangolamento (01:38) ****

12. Il corpo (02:27) ****

13. Crocifissione (04:49) ****

14. Amore (03:49) *****

15. Veglia (03:00) *****

16. Attesa (03:35) ****

17. Inquietudine (02:09) ***

18. Maria (04:05) *****

19. Svolta (02:07) ***

20. Verità (04:07) ****

21. Esodo (03:33) *****

Need for drama: part 6

Title: Padre Pio – tra cielo e terra

Composer: Ennio Morricone

Year: 2000

Maestro Morricone is no stranger to scoring films featuring religious figures. In the 2000s he composed the music for three TV movies about two popes: John Paul II and John XXIII. However the first project of that nature in the new millennium for him was the music written for a TV miniseries about a monk called Padre Pio who, among other things, exhibited stigmata and was later canonized by the Catholic Church. The music offers a kind of religious quality that Morricone has provided to many films over the years. No matter the connotations, it is a pleasant and beautiful listening experience in any case.

The score begins with an absolutely stunning performance of the title theme. The A section of the melody is built around a rising hopeful tune reaching for the heavens and written in the composer’s typical style discussed above. Surprisingly it is followed by a short victorious brass fanfare that is sadly never heard again before the B section melody begins along with heavenly choral voices. This section reminds me of the main theme of The mission with similar harmonies and simplicity of the melody. Eventually the moods that started the piece bring it to a peaceful close. The main theme is reprised in La croce della gloria with another Morricone favourite, a solo oboe not far from the one played in that other religious film. The cue’s ending takes a darker turn to a more sacred direction with melodies and harmonies clearly inspired by ancient Latin hymns. Nel silenzio offers a more playful variation of the B section melody over a pizzicato bassline and an occasional bed of warm strings, eventually performed by the chorus in unison. Some textures heard here remind me of another Morricone score from 2000, Mission to Mars. It’s strange how Maestro Morricone can make similar moods work in completely different film genres. The last full reprise of the theme is for solo organ and strings in track 7 and though the organ sounds somewhat synthetic, the backing strings are at their most moving here.

La sofferenza introduces a different long-lined melody, another one that brings tons of others by Morricone to mind. Yet it is just so delicately gorgeous with its presentation and viola solo, that the familiarity doesn’t ruin the overall experience. The reprise of that theme in Dolore come amore is written just for the strings which have such a wonderful echo that makes the sounds float straight down from above. Yet another solo string piece La verita’ nelle stimmate is clearly a sacred composition that doesn’t reach the heights of the previous themes but is still gorgeous with its somber tone. 10-minute Sia fatta la sua volonta takes the minimalism of the album’s beginning to new directions and features a simple harp tune that plays over and over on top of rather abstract string harmonies which are slowly building up with intensity towards an unseen closure. At 6.5-minute mark however the mood warms up to the glorious strings which guide the cue back to a safe haven. Though there seems to be not that much happening, the cue is all about textures and moods that for me depict spirituality through music. It could be either a moment just before sunrise and the first rays of emerging light or a soul ascending through a layer of clouds depending on what you believe in. Nevertheless its beauty is undeniable. La casa della sofferenza brings a smile to my face because there is a direct quote of Gabriel’s oboe’s opening line hidden in the passionate woodwind solo that plays over the harmonic base of the main theme.

There are a few exceptions to the overall free-floating nature of the cues. Il dolore e l’ira is another version of the doomsday hymn Dies irae, this time performed with a harpsichord over rather pleasant harmonies. As the tune gets going, it also gets brisk accompanying staccato chords that add a sense of lurking danger. 7 raccordi is clearly this album’s version of the trademark long suspenseful track. However this time there is just something about the playing which reveals a spectrum of different moods in addition to suspense: terror, agony and perhaps even remorse or reflection. It’s hard to describe but compare it to other straight up Morriconean suspense cues and hear what I mean. For instance the last two sections feature the hymnal quality heard previously at the end of track 3. Those moments are obviously darker than the other material but far from suspenseful. The album ends with Solo voci which is the most sacred cue of all featuring just the acapella choir singing in Latin. Though there are melodic quotes to Dies irae, it is an original composition that doesn’t sound like a composer trying to imitate a sacred sound but a piece of genuine church music. The modern harmonies are soothing with their meditative quality and the piece is a perfect way to end the album that in itself already consists of mostly slow-moving cues.

Even though I’m not a religious person I can still appreciate what Morricone has created here: a true work of beauty that transcends all prejudices one might have with a title like this. No matter if you are a believer or not, there is no denying that this music truly reaches the very depths of the within. Whether you call it a soul or just emotions, you’ll know after listening to this album.

Rating: *****

Tracklist:

1. Padre Pio tra cielo e terra (04:18) *****

2. La sofferenza (04:10) *****

3. La croce della gloria (03:24) ****

4. Il dolore e l'ira (03:46) *****

5. Nel silenzio (05:10) ****

6. La verita' nelle stimmate (02:27) ****

7. Tra cielo e terra (03:25) *****

8. Dolore come amore (04:12) *****

9. Sia fatta la sua volonta (09:56) *****

10. La casa della sofferenza (03:20) *****

11. 7 raccordi (10:55) ****

12. Solo voci (05:54) *****

To boldly go: part 2

Title: Mission to Mars

Year: 2000

Composer: Ennio Morricone

Maestro Morricone really isn’t well-known for writing music for space operas. So when it was announced that he would score Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars there was almost no previous clue how he would handle the dangers and awe of space travel. Nevertheless he did it in his unmistakable style mixing something new to his bag of old tricks, combining unusual instrumental choices to electronic applications and traditional melodic writing to moments of stark chromatic structures reminiscent of modern classical music. At the same time he experimented with what was the appropriate kind of music for sci-fi films by his controversial choices. Around the film’s release there was talk that Morricone’s score was one of the worst parts of the film. Trust me, the film had issues far greater than this score which by itself is a masterpiece and one of the most unique experiences in Maestro’s catalogue.

The backwards assembled album begins with the end title piece A heart beats in space which starts with exactly that: the sound effect of a beating heart in the emptiness. After the sweet prelude provided by the cor anglais, the music moves to a developmental section for strings, a distant choir and soft electric guitar which create a true feeling of weightlessness. Around the 3-minute mark we’re introduced to the nostalgic main theme of the film which is a stellar (sorry for the pun) melody that can only come from the pen of a true Maestro. The cue ends with a reprise of the opening atmosphere in a reversed order along with a bright Baroque style trumpet solo before cooling off back to the heartbeat. A surprisingly reflective opening to a space adventure film and a great one for sure.

In a way the album’s opening dictates how the rest of the album will be like. The tempo is usually slow, the melodies are given time to develop and flourish, and everything is oozing with the peace stemming from the depths of ageless space. A martian continues in similar vein and after the electric oboe has reprised the main theme, the writing becomes certainly more romantic and it’s easy to forget that you’re not actually listening to an impressionistic tone poem. During the cue’s latter half, the whole orchestra and choir are painting wondrous landscapes slowly rising towards A world which searches which provides fragments of the main theme once again. Between the most controversial tracks of the album the listener is treated with the peaceful A wife lost which is based on the cor anglais theme and has a bit dated synthetic sound that lessens its enjoyability slightly, and Ecstacy of Mars whose chromatic patterns, misty choir sound and another reprise of the cor anglais theme are emphasizing the astronauts’ unbelievable sights.

And now we get to the issue that is the electronic organ. You see, Towards the unknown is an 8-minute monster of a piece dominated by a chromatic rising and falling organ melody over a steadily beating bassline. The reviewers’ arguments were that an organ isn’t suitable for a space film (I wonder if they still feel like that after Hans Zimmer’s treatment of the instrument in Interstellar). But if I may ask, why wouldn’t it be suitable? I think that science fiction films are just a perfect opportunity to try something out of the box. Besides the organ sound has been modified to sound very sterile and alien (sorry again). For some listeners these might be the longest 8 minutes of their lives but for me they’re absolutely ingenious. Just that way of adding more and more instruments to the mix slowly creating tension and depth to the piece before resolving probably to the most gorgeous statement of the main theme on the whole album. The cue ends also with one of the most memorable single chords ever (at 7:36) that blurs the line between tonality and atonality beautifully. The other suspenseful tracks on the album, An unexpected surprise and And afterwards?, don’t unfortunately reach the same heights but the latter includes interesting Ligeti-inspired choral work but also annoying, restless electronic tingling which sounded already dated in the year 2000.

The two greatest epiphanies on the album are the 13-minute Sacrifice of a hero and the film’s finale Where? which cover the entire range of emotions of the human existence. The first one continues from where Towards the unknown left off. The bassline is soon taken over by ominous brass and woodwinds, a martial drum and Maestro’s 70s giallo trademark, the whispering and whistling choir. This development is followed by an almost 2-minute sustained note which accompanies the heroic brass. Finally it resolves to the most devastating moment on the album for woeful strings and flute solo that turns back to harsh atonality once more before the final patriotic sendoff. Where? on the other hand begins gloomily but soon we get the first fanfare that signals the closeness of salvation. After that the atmosphere slowly swells to the final climax that explodes in pure joy and hope. The whole orchestra and choir provide the last majestic rendition of the main theme in one of the Maestro’s most spectacular finale cues ever. The album ends with All the friends, a short and sweet postlude to the fallen astronauts.

Mission to Mars is a score that divides the film music community: you either hate or love it. As you can probably tell, I’m part of that latter group. It’s rare to hear a space adventure film score this daring. Maestro Morricone treats it almost like a classical symphonic work, like a literal ‘space opera’ without the vocal parts. It’s easily in my top 10 Morricone scores of all time and probably his greatest achievement in the new millennium.

Rating: *****

Tracklist:

1. A heart beats in space (07:58) *****

2. A martian (06:06) *****

3. A world which searches (02:58) *****

4. And afterwards? (06:33) ****

5. A wife lost (03:27) *****

6. Towards the unknown (08:15) *****

7. Ecstasy of Mars (02:57) *****

8. Sacrifice of a hero (13:20) *****

9. Where? (05:32) *****

10. An unexpected surprise (02:33) ***

11. All the friends (02:39) *****