The single best Morricone film music compilation
Chris Cathcart | Portland, OR USA | 04/01/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you're going to get a Morricone compilation, this is the one to get, or for a couple extra bucks you can get this disc repackaged along with a second CD, titled "Itinerary of Genius," also from Milan records. (You should go to the page for that album here on Amazon to get listening samples.) This is the best place to go for "beautiful Morricone," which necessarily excludes quite a number of other famous soundtrack recordings he's done; this is the place for classic romantic-style melody. My favorites on this set include the two "Once Upon a Time" themes, "Rampage" "Lolita," "Metti, una sera a cena," "Romanza," "Gabriel's Oboe," and "Cinema Paradiso." These are all alternate arrangements ("Deborah's Theme" from "Once Upon a Time in America" excepted) done with reductions for chamber-music arrangements, but whether you like that format or not, the gorgeous melodies remain.
This is a cornerstone to a basic Morricone collection, and there are a few ways to building up, which involves much overlap and alternate arrangements. After this, I would recommend, in order of importance, the soundtracks to "Lolita" and "Legend of 1900," and then "Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone" (for its version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Casualties of War") and Silva Screen's "Once Upon a Time..." compilation on 2 discs (most importantly for "Harvest" from the movie "Days of Heaven" and the theme to "Duck, You Sucker"). If you like "Deborah's Theme," seek out the main theme from "Once Upon a Time in America," which may require getting the original soundtrack. I also like "For Annette and Warren" on the soundtrack to "Love Affair," and I prefer the orchestral arrangements of the themes from "Cinema Paradiso" and "The Mission" as they appear on Decca's 2-CD "Movie Adagios" set.
That will give you an essential core of Morricone's best "beautiful" work as I've been able to discover so far; there's plenty more of it scattered throughout his entire corpus and a lot of it hard to find. But for the barest Morricone essentials on the fewest CDs, get this (or "Itinerary of a Genius") along with "Lolita" and "Legend of 1900."
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Track Listings (16) - Disc #1