THE MAESTRO AND LEONE «I saw you sleep on the desk in the classroom»: Ennio and Sergio, childhood friends
ion Special edit Year 69th - supplement no. 2 - may, 2016
DARIO ARGENTO The Bird with the Crystal Plumage: a golden debut with music from the master BIXIO AND OTHERS Comments by the publishers of the Roman composer’s soundtracks
Ennio Morricone
QUENTIN TARANTINO «He’s my favorite composer. Better than Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven»
An Oscar Life
Illustrated magazine of Film and Fiction founded by Alberto Crucillà in 1948 Register authorization no. 473 October 31st, 1948 Director Renato MARENGO renatomarengo43@gmail.com Chief Editor Andrea SPLENDORE and.splendore@gmail.com Vice Director Luigi AVERSA aversaluigi@gmail.com Art Director Stefano SALVATORI grafico.salvatori@gmail.com Production Das Designer News Agency P.zza Augusto Imperatore, 32 00186 Roma dasdesigner@gmail.com Translations from Italian Studio Duemme Snc. di Marinari M & C. Publisher CDA srl Viale Liegi,7 00198 Roma info@servizieditorialicda.it Advertising A.P.S. Advertising s.r.l. Via Tor De Schiavi, 355 00171 Roma Tel. 06 89015166 Fax 06 89015167 info@apsadvertising.it www.apsadvertising.it Printing Arti Grafiche Celori www.grafichecelori.com Supplement no. 2 may, 2016 © Cinecorriere - all reproduction rights reserved. Iconographic materials is taken from Cinevox’s archive. The opinions expressed by the authors are not binding to the Editorial Staff. All materials received and not requested (texts and photographs), even if unpublished, will not be returned.
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editorial
DEDICATED TO A SPECIAL MUSICIAN
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e gladly accepted Franco Bixio’s suggestion to do “something special” for the Cannes Film Festival, honoring such a special musician like Morricone. Bixio is President of Cinevox Record and of the Bixio Publishing Group, that published the music of many of Ennio Morricone’s successful films. Our full participation in his suggestion lead us to doing this in the best possible way for a monthly film magazine, and we devoted an entire special issue of Cinecorriere, in English, to our greatest soundtrack composer who once again received an Oscar for his film scores. We asked directors, critics, cultural representatives, authors, publishers and record labels of his most famous music and most sold LPs to give their contribution. Italo Moscati was one of these who dedicated books, reporting and short films to
the long-time friendship between Morricone and Sergio Leone. We also asked comments from Dario Argento, Quentin Tarantino, John Carpenter, and from Franco Bixio himself, who traced the composer’s artistic and human profile. Franco Bixio narrated special anecdotes tied to the extraordinary sale of some of Morricone’s musical compositions, Oscar winner in 2016. Contributions were also received from other publish-
summary Franco Bixio «Morricone: great Italian excellence» by Renato Marengo
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Ennio & Quentin Music to see Film to hear by Luigi Aversa
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Cinevox Record All the LP covers with Maestro Morricone’s soundtracks
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Italo Moscati «Leone and Morricone: an important friendship»
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Dario Argento «A future Oscar winner for the music to my first film» 22
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ers such as De Gemini, Gramitto Ricci, Sugar. In this special tribute we highlighted some of the most important aspects of the great composer’s immense musical production (over 400 original film scores), and found unpublished photos, cult record sleeves, gathered opinions, remembered awards and the many nominations and soundtracks of famous films that deserved to be awarded. All the staff at Cinecorriere, headed by my Vice Director Luigi Aversa, worked enthusiastically to this special issue, underlining also the importance of the interexchange between sounds and images that holds a special place in my heart. Ennio Morricone’s music increasingly contributed to a film’s success, to a director’s fame and to lasting memories over time. Enjoy the reading... and the great music. Renato Marengo
Verdone, Carpenter and others Italian and foreign film directors that worked with Morricone
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Other publishers «The Maestro knows how to communicate, through the heart» by L.A.
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Face to face with Franco Bixio, President of Cinevox Record, the record label that published many of Maestro Morricone’s soundtracks, including the famous tracks from Duck, You Sucker (Giù la testa) and One Night at Dinner (Metti, una sera a cena) by Renato Marengo
«Great Italian Excellence»
Ennio Mo C
inevox Record, the Italian record label specialized in the production of film music, recorded many of Ennio Morricone’s most famous film scores. We asked President Franco Bixio to talk about his relationship between Cinevox and the 2016 music Oscar winner, Ennio
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Morricone. «I was 19 years old in 1969, the year we published the music for Ennio Morricone’s first film with our label. The film he was supposed to compose the music to was One Night at Dinner (Metti una sera a cena), directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, quite a particular film since the theme was a tribute to incommunicability. Those were years of important battles and major social clashes.
1968 was a significant moment for Italy, filled with social unrest and transformations perfectly described in the film, needing a very evocative type of music that underlined and highlighted those feelings, unrest and turmoil. Ennio Morricone composed for us one of the most appreciated film scores ever. Since then and following the great success reached with Maestro Morricone, a profitable collabn.2 may 2016
orricone oration began particularly thanks to the relationship that was established between him and my brother Carlo who started managing the editorial business, after my father had done it for years, being devoted to developing soundtracks. Ennio Morricone was undoubtedly one of the most appreciated musicians of that time, a legend of the film score. It was my brother Carlo to establish n.2 may 2016
the relationship that would have led to extraordinary results in producing many soundtracks. Regarding the fact that I was only 19 at the time, I’d like to add that it was the year I ventured out as a musician, as a film score composer. Having Morricone in our studios with his music and style strongly influenced me and helped me grow professionally. Ennio Morricone was already a cult figure for us
younger musicians, a major point of reference, legendary and unattainable. Most importantly, it was a pleasure to listen to his composing skills and his ability of characterizing his harmonic style. The musical experience, the research by the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, whose first record we printed, is evidence. This was only the beginningÂť.
Opening: Ennio Morricone with the Oscar. Below: Franco Bixio, President of Cinevox Record
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After that first soundtrack, there were many others that followed. One Night at Dinner (Metti, una sera a cena) was one of the first major record successes, selling both 45 and 33 rpm. The soundtracks we used to print with the Cinevox Record label were much appreciated by the public that closely followed film scores and used to leave film theaters singing or whistling to the music. This was taken into account when composing film scores since musicians were often usually asked to compose a recurring leitmotiv that became the film’s theme. Is it true that many films with Morricone’s soundtrack are remembered thanks to the music? Yes, it’s true. Even if great films often contribute to the success of the film score, the contrary can also happen: in certain cases, the film score has made a film famous,
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contributing to its success. The film would have probably been successful anyway, but was even more so thanks to the score. Which other successful film scores did Morricone record with you? Morricone’s musical production that directly involved the Gruppo Editoriale Bixio was undoubtedly the one for his romantic films, but also for brilliant Italian comedies. These films include La cosa buffa, Stay as You Are (Così come sei), The Cat (Il gatto), A Dangerous Toy (Il giocattolo), as well as thrillers such as Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Quattro mosche di velluto grigio), The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo) and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto). The only soundtrack to a Western, even if atypical, that Maestro Morricone composed and recorded with us
was for the film Duck, You Sucker (Giù la testa) by Sergio Leone in 1971, that was a huge success and the LP released by Cinevox won the Golden Record just like One Night at Dinner (Metti, una sera a cena).
On top: Morricone with Cesare A. Bixio. Above: the cover of the special edition for the 35th anniversary of Duck, You Sucker. Next page: the golden records Cinevox won n.2 may 2016
There is a story tied to the success of this soundtrack. Paolo Frajese, who at the time was Rai Tv’s Domenica Sportiva host, used the theme from Duck, You Sucker (Giù la testa) that was just released in film theaters, when Gustav Thoeni won his first World Cup for parallel slalom with Ingemar Stenmark. Thanks to Tv, the event became famous across the world. The sports show Domenica Sportiva added the music of Morricone’s Duck, You Sucker to Thoeni’s slalom in slow motion. Sergio Leone’s film contributed to the soundtrack’s success with no doubt. Tv using that music immediately made it a popular hit. In those days, it was quite common for Tv and radio to play film soundtracks. This created a recorded music market that increased the film’s success. Soundtracks composed during those years, first of all those by Maestro Morricone, n.2 may 2016
have been enjoyed over the years. The music, initially composed for a film and inseparably tied to it, took on a life of its own through the years. Today, radio stations often play the music that is also used in Tv shows or advertisements. An example of this is the music composed by Morricone for the film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto), directed by Elio Petri. The main theme, Indagine (Investigation) is still currently used in Tv programs or journalistic reporting, in films or documentaries referring to crime and detective stories. The success of these uses is based on music publishing, essential for having musical production continue to live on. It is equally true that that type of music perfectly matches the “investigation” experience. Morricone succeeded in creating important popular themes
for art films, for dramatic genres and Westerns, while also successfully composing music for comedies. Yes, for our publishing group in the 1980’s he composed the scores for the films Bianco, Rosso e Verdone and Fun Is Beautiful (Un sacco bello), directed by Carlo Verdone. I would also like to mention another film: The Cat (Il gatto), directed by Luigi Comencini starring Mariangela Melato and Ugo Tognazzi. It was a blend of comedy and mystery! In that case, Morricone succeeded, through his orchestra, to convey the feeling of the film’s symbol: the cat. When listening to the music, one can actually hear a cat walking with all his feline poses and movements. This was Morricone’s strength: succeeding without the use of electronic instruments and often only using one voice to create certain sound effects that originally imprinted the music, per-
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Above: Ennio Morricone, in the foreground, with Cesare Andrea Bixio and Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
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fectly transmitting the scene’s feelings and sensations. This is best exemplified in the heart-wrenching harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West), played by the late Franco De Gemini, that musically symbolized the movie. And also in One Night at Dinner (Metti, una sera a cena), Edda Dell’Orso’s voice became the protagonist of many of Morricone and other composers’ soundtracks. How long did it take Morricone to compose his film scores? A reasonable amount of time. That’s what he would answer. Composing film scores is not an easy task: it takes one’s own inspiration connected to the inspiration of the film. It’s quite complex. The film must be seen with the director’s sensitivity and it is necessary to
read into the film’s images and see what they transmit. One needs to listen to the director’s suggestions, while also being detached from them. It takes time to develop and create the composition, even quite fast. At your Trafalgar Studios there is a large hall with a maxi-screen and there’s room for the orchestra. Did Morricone have the habit of looking at the film scenes while conducting his orchestra? Morricone didn’t always conduct himself, sometimes he appointed Bruno Nicolai for that, but this was so he could better devote himself to composing the film score. The music was recorded with the orchestra playing, while special projectors played out the scene continuously, as if it were a “loop” until a perfect version was produced.
The recording occurred watching the film scenes “live”, based on an ancient alchemy that originated in 1930 with the first Italian sound film. We were involved in those movies too, since it was my father that composed the first song of the sound film and his musical history often developed by using soundtracks to launch many of his songs. Which film was this? The film was The Song of Love (La canzone dell’amore) and the song was named after the title. It was the song that said... Solo per te Lucia va la canzone mia… That film is interesting not only since it was the first sound film, but also because the spectator discovered how soundtracks were recorded and how the first 78 rpm records were made. I wanted to mention my father, Cesare Andrea Bixio, n.2 may 2016
since both my father and Morricone’s paths crossed also artistically, thanks to Patroni Griffi who, in 1975, directed the film The Divine Nymph (Divina creatura), with the beautiful Laura Antonelli, a wonderful Marcello Mastroianni and a perfect Terence Stamp. The film’s music not only contained the musical score by Morricone, but also many of my father’s songs that the great Maestro Ennio Morricone revisited and re-arranged. There was a special collaboration between the publisher and the musician. It was really very beautiful. This was back in 1975, nearly at the end of my father’s life, an added recognition to his brilliant artistic career. Ennio Morricone won an Honorary Oscar in 2007 in recognition n.2 may 2016
of many films that received Oscar nominations that he deserved to win. I think he deserved to win the Academy Award many times. I am sure, and am saying this because I love him, he should have deserved to win it for the film score of Once Upon a Time in America (C’era una volta in America), Sergio Leone’s last film, who was also a classmate of Morricone’s. To me, that is one of his masterpieces. Can we then say that Hollywood gave him that Honorary Oscar for his career to make amends? I think so. As it often happens, the Honorary Oscar for one’s career is awarded when there is a realization that a mistake was made in the past. So the second Oscar he won
this year with Quentin Tarantino’s film is a real triumph and recognition from all the film world towards this great composer. From the entire world! Not only the film world, but also the cultural world, the media and people with artistic taste that loved and continue to love the music written by Ennio Morricone, representing Italian excellence. !!!
Top: one of the panels for the Exhibit “C.A. Bixio: music and cinema in the Italian 1900’s” with a series of images from the covers of some of the soundtracks published over the years by Cinevox Record. To the side: Ennio Morricone with the Oscar
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Ennio & Quentin Music to see Film
to hear Following the successful collaboration for the Oscar-winning The Hateful Eight, that received a Golden Globe and many other awards, Tarantino and Morricone decided to work together again. «But I’d like to have more time this time», said Morricone
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by Luigi Aversa
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nnio Morricone wasn’t at the Golden Globes that night in Los Angeles, to receive the award for best original score for The Hateful Eight. Quentin Tarantino went in his place. On that occasion, the director from Knoxville, Tennessee, addressing the audience of colleagues and film people, manifested his deep admiration for the Roman composer that he pursued for so long to work with. «He’s like Mozart or Beethoven», stated the exuberant US filmmaker. «It’s fantastic – he added – do you real-
ize Ennio Morricone is my favorite composer? And Ennio Morricone has never won an award for any one of the movies that he has done. He has in Italy, but not in America: at 87 years of age he did an original score and won the Golden Globe, for Ennio, I say thank you». Morricone had already received awards in the past. The Golden Globe for The Hateful Eight is actually his third. The first one came in 1987 for the music to Mission by Roland Joffé, the second in 2000 for The Legend of 1900 (La
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leggenda del pianista sull’oceano) by Giuseppe Tornatore. After five Academy Award nominations received over the years for Days of Heaven (I giorni del cielo) in 1979; Mission in 1987, The Untouchables (Gli intoccabili) in 1988, Bugsy in 1992 and Malèna in 2001, it was only in 2007, that he received the Academy Honorary Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music”. Accompanied by a standing ovation, Morricone received the award from Clint Eastwood. «I want to thank the n.2 may 2016
Academy for this honor, by giving me this prestigious award – said Morricone to the audience the night of his first award – but I would like to thank all those that strongly wanted this award for me and deeply felt I deserved it. I want to thank my directors that called me trusting in me to compose the music for their films, I honestly wouldn’t’ be here hadn’t it been for them. My thoughts also go to all the artists that never received this award and even though they worked with enormous commitment and talent, I hope they will be recognized in the near future. This Oscar is not a point of arrival, but a point of departure to improve both at the service of film, and for my personal aesthetics on applied music. I dedicate this Oscar to my wife Maria who loves me very much and I love her too the same way, this prize is also for her». Morricone dedicated his second Oscar won on February 28, 2016, also to his wife Maria. This Oscar, however, was the first won for a film score, the one written for Quentin Tarantino’s movie. The moment during the ceremony when the 87-year-old musician stood on the stage together with his son Giovanni was particularly moving. His voice broken by emotion, Morricone thanked the Academy, nominated col-
Opening: Ennio Morricone and Quentin Tarantino. Below: the two with Kurt Russell and Michael Madsen at the Italian premier of The Hateful Eight
On the page, top from left to right: the film’s poster, Tarantino with the Golden Globe, Morricone with his wife Maria, the director and composer with the orchestra, the Maestro with the Oscar, Madsen in The Hateful Eight
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To the side: a scene. Below: Michael Madsen. Bottom: Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and another scene
leagues as well as Tarantino and producer Harvey Weinstein, closing in thanks to his wife. His son translated his speech into English and while Morricone was holding the Oscar given to him by Pharrell Williams and Quincy Jones said, «I dedicate this music and victory to my wife. No great music exists without a great inspirational film. Thank you Quentin Tarantino for having chosen me».
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Author of unforgettable soundtracks imprinted in the collective memory, from Investigation of a Citizens Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) to Once Upon a Time in America (C’era una volta in America) up to Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso), with the music to The Hateful Eight, Maestro Morricone surpassed himself. The original
score composed for Tarantino’s 8th film is a veritable symphony, with an actual ouverture, reviving and reminiscent of the grandeur and atmosphere of the music written for Sergio Leone’s films. «I used bassoons, the tuba, and trumpets to give that dramatic quality that is then transformed into irony», explained the Roman composer the day the film premiered with the Italian press.
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Drama and irony are only two of the multi-faceted aspects forming Tarantino’s film. «A Western version of Reservoir Dogs (Le iene)», as Tarantino himself defined it. The Hateful Eight is a blend of different genres: from western to mystery, from thriller to historical drama, tinged with horror. «Since I can’t make all the films I’d like to, each time I make five films in one!», he added. «To me, it’s absolutely not a Western, it’s a dramatic film a set at a specific time in American history taking place in a snow-covered location», commented Morricone. «It’s rare to see a Western take place in that kind of location. For me it’s not a Western and I never treated it as such. I wanted to do something different from what I had done fifty years ago. I know that my scores are recn.2 may 2016
ognizable since they have certain recurring elements, but my intention is to give each director the music he deserves». Throughout his lengthy film career including over four hundred titles, Morricone spanned through every type of genre. Not only that. His music shaped and personalized each film, making them unique and unparalleled. Working together with Sergio Leone, for example, created a series of masterpieces with images and sound inseparably intertwined. Tarantino aimed at achieving this result, having attempted in the past to work with the composer for the film score of Inglorious Basterds (Bastardi senza gloria), when commitments were conflicting. Following the current successful Oscar experience, the two could work again, «But I would need
more time – underlined Morricone – and above all, a broader exchange of ideas with Quentin before writing the score». !!!
Above: Samuel L. Jackson. Below: Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh
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Italo Moscati
“Morricone and Leone: an important friendship”
From school days to world success in film and music: the special friendship between Ennio and Sergio gave the Seventh Art moments of pure poetry
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he important friendship between Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone dates back to when they were in elementary school together. Leone referred to this in an affectionate postcard -which we publish with pleasure in this issue-- sent to Morricone written in rhyme on occasion of the release of Duck, You Sucker (Giù la testa), directed by Leone with Morricone’s musical score. The rhyme read, “T’ho visto dormì su li banchi de la scola. T’ho sentito russà mentre stavi in moviola, ma ste musiche belle, sti magnifici soni, ma quanno li componi? Con affetto da Leone a Moricone”. (I saw you sleep on the classroom desks. I heard you snore in front of the slow-motion, when do you compose this beautiful
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music, these wonderful sounds? With affection from Leone to Moricone”). “Leone had an important friendship with Morricone not only based on the latter’s intuition, but also because he succeeded in reinventing Leone’s ideas. Music was used in certain film scenes to set the pace to the situation, but mainly to create a musical environment where even the cameraman and the Director of Photography were inspired in creating images having the profound rhythm of Morricone’s music. His music was also made of noises and of bells ringing, all that creates the aesthetic quality of film is at least 80 percent the result between editing and dubbing. Manipulation does exist, the myth n.2 may 2016
of what is taken directly from filming has its substantial importance, particularly regarding images and ideas the director has in mind and that he succeeds in communicating to the actors and his collaborators.” (with reference to Ita lo M osca ti’s short film, C’era una volta e ci sarà sempre, Sergio Leone)
The young Sergio Leone worked with director Carmine Gallone, who after the success of films like Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (Scipione l’Africano) dedicated his career to making melodramas with famous female leads such as Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida. Gallone had also made Leone read and study the scores of the most important works of Italian opera. “...It’s possible that the success of all the films made one after the other caused Sergio to develop a musical sensitivity that he found in Ennio Morricone who was an expert on Italian masters such as n.2 may 2016
Verdi and Puccini, making him the right person for re-interpreting the music and conveying that unforgettable association between sequence of scenes and musical score, particular to so many of his films.” “...Before Leone, the Italian Western was frontier cinema, phony contracts requiring lengthy time frames. Sergio succeeded in changing things; if Ejzenstejn succeeded in convincing Prokof’ev, Sergio did the same with Ennio Morricone, who in the early days signed off as Don Savio...” “...with A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari) and mainly the year later with For A Few Dollars More (Per qualche dollaro in più) made in 1965, Sergio Leone showed himself to be a film director moved by an inspired hunch. He was an artist capable of blending spectacular unbridled violence with a refined style, aesthetics and accurate slow motion with musical editing. Morricone was in charge of the music, sounds, noises and
naturally, also Alessandro Alessandroni’s “whistling”, present in his film scores...” Moscati quotes Tarantino: “Without spaghetti westerns... a large part of Italian film would not exist. Hollywood wouldn’t be the same without Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson, without Morricone...” Leone’s relationship with the musical score: “...His love for music, his friendship with Morricone, noises and sounds that become scores. Film has always had its music, even when it was silent, with Charlie Chaplin that whistled and a Maestro that would compose the notes; and with Leone who didn’t whistle, but grumbled and turned common sounds into words – a door creaking, a fly buzzing, water drops – that Morricone transformed into a film score.” !!!
Opening: a scene from Once Upon a Time in America, below, Italo Moscati. Below: Henry Fonda, Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone. In this page, from top to right: Leone and Morricone, the director with Clint Eastwood on the set of For a Few Dollars More, James Woods and Robert De Niro in Once Upon a Time in America, a scene from the film
(Italo M osca ti: from the book Sergio Leone - Quando il cinema era grande - Lindau)
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Dario Argento
“A future Oscar winner for the music to my first film” Not all might know that Morricone wrote the music to The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo), the first film directed by the Italian master of horror film. The two worked together again for Four Flies on Grey Velvet (4 mosche di velluto grigio)
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or my first film as a director, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo), I certainly didn’t want to work with a crew of experts. I couldn’t get used to the idea of hearing suggestions from those who would have tried to impose their ideas, with the excuse they had more experience than me. I asked around and many work22
ing in the field warned me about the fact that an ignorant director is the only thing worse than a nasty director. Having to give orders, if those on the set realize you are insecure and hesitant, it’s over: you don’t stand a chance and they will take control. I had overcome my shyness a long time ago and told myself I would be assertive, determined, knowing what I wanted.
I was a novice and didn’t know much, but if I could have relied on valid people, I would have succeeded. n.2 may 2016
In the opening page, above and below: images from the The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Above, to the left and in the next page below: two scenes from Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Opening page, lower left: Dario Argento on the cover of his book Paura (Einaudi)
I wanted a set based on the greatest creative freedom and made sure, - looking back, somewhat foolishly - that I would work with young inexperienced people, but who very eager to work. Needless to say, having been Sergio Leone’s screenwriter allowed me the luxury to have an outstanding composer like Ennio Morricone for the musical score, also a great friend of n.2 may 2016
my father’s . I have a special memory of the first time I met with Morricone, after he had accepted composing the music to my first film. We met at his home and I naively brought him a bunch of vinyl records, suggesting he listen to them. They contained tracks that I thought were interesting. At first he was offended, but then he understood my
gesture was in good faith. I really made a fool of myself. Unlike others, Morricone was already a well-known name, while my director of photography Vittorio Storaro, was just starting out. My first film actually included two future Oscar winners: these things don’t happen to everyone. !!!
(Dario Argento, from the book Paura - Einaudi)
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SOUND
screens From Carlo Verdone to John Carpenter, an overview of Italian and foreign film directors that worked with Maestro Morricone ear Ennio, it’s a great day today: I was a nobody next to two gi- Basilisks (I basilischi - 1963) and “ for an immense artist like ants that were helping me out. Marco Bellocchio with Fists in the
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you. My most sincere compliments for this important tribute the film world has awarded you, you fully deserve it. Not many know that you come from highly complex studies in contemporary music and that you studied with the highest intellectual composer: Goffredo Petrassi. You are an example of integrity that has led you to compose only what you like, never settling. I am most struck that both of us, even if in my case thanks to another director, reached the Oscars and this is truly fantastic. But yours, compared to mine in my supporting role in The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), is much more because your is only yours. When Sergio Leone introduced me to Ennio Morricone, it all felt like a dream. A feeling I can’t transmit not even by L.A.
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Those were other times, wonderful ones. Have a lovely evening. Carlo Verdone” Carlo Verdone, director of Fun Is Beautiful (Un sacco bello), posted these words on Facebook to celebrate Ennio Morricone’s winning the Oscar. Thanks to his mentor Sergio Leone as referred to in this letter, Verdone was fortunate to make his film debut in 1980 with an exceptional film score composed by Maestro Morricone. This collaboration continued the year after also for Verdone’s film Bianco, Rosso e Verdone. Even before Verdone, many other Italian film directors had the opportunity to work with such an outstanding composer for their film debut. Lina Wertmuller with The
Pocket (I pugni in tasca - 1965) are two of these. Bernardo Bertolucci met Morricone for his second feature film, Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione -1964). He then worked with him on many other occasions (Partner, 1900 - Novecento, La luna, Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man - La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo). Most great Italian film directors worked professionally with Maestro Morricone: from Carlo Lizzani to Gillo Pontecorvo, from Giuliano Montaldo to Liliana Cavani from Francesco Maselli to Elio Petri, Luigi Comencini, the Taviani brothers and Mario Monicelli. Pier Paolo Pasolini also had a privileged relationship with Morricone having composed the music to eight of his films: The Hawks and
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the Sparrows (Uccellacci e uccellini), The Earth As Seen From The Moon (La Terra vista dalla luna), Appunti per un film sull’India, Teorema, The Decameron (Il Decameron), The Canterbury Tales (I racconti di Canterbury), Arabian Nights (Il fiore delle mille e una notte), Salò, or the 120 days of Sodom (Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma). These were all the films Pasolini directed from 1966 to the end of his career. More recently, Maestro Morricone established a similar intense artistic partnership with Giuseppe Tornatore. From the Academy Award won for Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso - 1988) to The Correspondence (La corrispondenza - 2016), the collaboration between Tornatore and Morricone was never interrupted. The music to The Legend of 1900 (La leggenda del pianista sull’oceano) and Malèna, were also awarded among other prizes, a Golden Globe (2000) and an Oscar nomination (2001). Morricone also received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination already in 1987 for the soundtrack to Mission directed by Roland Joffé, that also won the Golden Palm at the 39th Cannes Film Festival. Morricone also worked with Joffé for Fat Man and Little Boy (L’ombra di mille soli - 1989), City of Joy (La città della gioia - 1992) and Vatel (2000). Morricone received his other three Oscar nominations for the music written to just as many films made in the US. The first was in 1979, for Days of Heaven (I giorni del cielo) directed by Terrence Malick, with whom Morricone worked again this year for Voyage of Time, the unreleased and long-awaited documentary by the brilliant American director based on the universe’s life and history. After Mission, in 1988, the Oscar nomination came for the music composed for Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables – Gli intoccabili, Casualties of War (Vittime di Guerra 1989) and Mission to Mars (2000). Before Malèna, in 1992, Morricone also received a nomination for n.2 may 2016
Bugsy directed by Barry Levinson. The composer and director from Baltimore also worked again together three years later for Disclosure (Rivelazioni - 1994). A unique, but particularly significant collaboration was the one with John Carpenter who was also a musician and author of the music of nearly all his films. Carpenter decided that he would have someone else write the film score to his film The Thing (La cosa - 1982). «He’s fantastic, simply brilliant», stated the American director in speaking of Morricone in an interview with Rolling Stone. Morricone recalled that «the collaboration with Carpenter was truly extraordinary and very particular. He came to Rome to show me the film, but had to leave immediately after that. I was struck by the movie, but concerned since he left me with no instructions». Carpenter then phoned Morricone asking him to compose something «really simple and effective». «I tried to use different sounds – said Morricone. At the end,
he chose only one track. And now, one of the tracks he did not choose, is part of The Hateful Eight’s soundtrack». The two films share another important common element: Kurt Russell. The lead actor of the 1982 film based on the sci-fi horror novel Who Goes There? (La cosa da un altro mondo) by John W. Campbell, also in the cast of The Hateful Eight, in presenting Tarantino’s film in Italy, Kurt Russell expressed his gratitude to the Maestro’s art in a few words, «I’m happy to have been in two films with Morricone’s music». Simple and effective. !!!
Opening: Robert De Niro in Mission. To the side: Ennio Morricone. Below: Carlo Verdone. In this page, from the top: a scene from The Untouchables, the Maestro with John Carpenter (left) and with Brian De Palma. Above: Monica Bellucci in Malèna
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Other publishers
«The Maestro’s ability is knowing how to communicate with his musicians: through the heart»
by L.A.
A brief journey through the words and anecdotes of those who published and spread Morricone’s music in Italy and across the world. From Daniele De Gemini of Beat Records, the son of the man who played the harmonica, to Sugar, passing through CaroselloCurci, Universal, Warner, EmiSony and Radiofilmusica 26
F
our hundred film scores represent a vast and unparalleled musical production. In 55 years of film career, Ennio Morricone wrote a large number of film scores, an average of about seven films a year, with new music being composed nearly every two months. Considering that along with his film work, Maestro Morricone also wrote and arranged a great deal of orchestra, classical, lyrical and even pop music (Se telefonando, Sapore di sale, etc.), one wonders, as also did his friend Sergio Leone: “…when do you have time for composing all these wonderful sounds”? (see card on page 20). All his sounds, were quite different from each other, also because Morricone covered so many different genres, from drama,
to comedy, romance, thriller, horror, mystery, detective, war film, action movies and obviously, Westerns. Ennio Morricone’s curriculum includes all of film history, at least from 1961 to the present day. His musical notes always succeed in having the screen come to life with emotions through his varied scores characterized by his unique style. Daniele De Gemini, artistic director at Beat Records, that includes in its catalogue various of Morricone’s works and manages the distribution and print of many others (The Untouchables, Allonsanfan, The Battle of Algiers, The Basilisks, Companeros, Once Upon a Time in the West, to mention only a few), provides a direct testimonial of the composer’s way n.2 may 2016
Opening: Charles Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era una volta il West). To the side: Ennio Morricone. In the box: Franco De Gemini, ’”the man with the harmonica”, and the Maestro’s score. Below: Morricone and De Gemini
of working, of his capability in transmitting emotions and inspiring them also in his collaborators and those close to him, a master at creating emotions. «Other evidence of a long-standing collaboration with Ennio Morricone can be found in the relationship he had with my father, Franco De Gemini, also known as the ‘man with the harmonica’ (who passed away in 2013-Ed.)», said Daniele De Gemini. «Maestro Morricone often involved him as a playing musician when recording many soundtracks, especially those for Western movies. The most important collaboration between the two was for Once Upon A Time in the West (C’era una volta il West -1968). In the recording studio, Morricone gave my father a ripped piece of n.2 may 2016
paper describing how to play the notes played by Charles Bronson… Wheezing – Yelling – Angry – Pain – Hate – Stubborn – Cold – Poisonous – Hallucinated – Cursed – Destiny fulfilled– Bold – Chilling – Poetic – Out of reality– Always sweetly (see photo Ed.)… Morricone’s great ability was and continues to be understanding how to communicate with his musicians, from the moment he knew the extraordinary artist would have played his notes as he wanted him to, with his heart, after receiving instructions, as in this case. Today it is wonderful to see how Maestro Morricone received an Oscar for a film of the same genre, 48 years after the night he shared the dollar trilogy with Sergio Leone, for the
director’s fourth Western film musically scored by him as if it were an opera». The Beat Records’ catalogue includes various titles of various genres with Maestro Morricone’s music... «The Antichrist, Woman Buried Alive, The Devil is a Woman, E ridendo l’uccise, Dalle Ardenne all’inferno, Dirty Heroes, Holocaust 2000, Sesso in confessionale, I Am the Law, The
Above: the covers of the LPs of The Devil is a Woman (Il sorriso del grande tentatore) and The Iron Prefect (Il prefetto di ferro). Below: the LP covers of La stagione dei sensi and of Teorema
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At top: Ugo Tognazzi in The Fascist (Il federale). Above: the cover of the film’s soundtrack and Filippo Sugar. Below: the LP cover of La Cage aux Folles, Who Killed Pasolini?, Escalation and The Long Silence( Il lungo silenzio)
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Link, The Five Man Army… are some of these films. There may be others, but I can’t recall now», confirms De Gemini, adding, «Maestro Morricone is most attached to the film score of The Devil is A Woman (1974) directed by Damiano Damiani. At the time the film was made, he considered this his masterpiece. It was also se-
lected among the possible nominations for the Oscar that year». The Oscar was finally awarded in 2016 with The Hateful Eight, nine years after the honorary one celebrating his career as a composer. The soundtrack to Tarantino’s film is published by Decca Records and is distributed in Italy by Universal Music Publishing Ricordi, a major film record-label that manages Morricone’s works, in addition to those of many Italian authors, including masterpieces blending image and sound such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo).
Other works by Morricone are included in the catalogues of the Gruppo EMI Music Publishing – such as Time to Kill (Tempo di uccidere - 1989) directed by Giuliano Montaldo, managed in Italy by Sony ATV Music Publishing. One of Morricone’s last works, The Correspondence (2016), was the music for Giuseppe Tornatore’s film with the same name, as well as his previous film, The Best Offer (La migliore offerta - 2013), edited and published by Warner Chappell Musica Italiana. Other works of the great Maestro can also be found in other cata-
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logues, from Radiofilmusica (The Sicilian Checkmate, 1972, by Florestano Vancini; Matchless, 1967, directed by Alberto Lattuada) to Carosello Records, one of the cornerstones of Italian music industry, part of an historical publishing group, Edizioni Curci, with whom Maestro Morricone began working in the 1960s. «I was born in 1959 – said Alfredo Gramitto Ricci, current CEO and managing director of Edizioni Curci – it was my father that made them (Giuseppe Gramitto Ricci). Unfortunately he passed away in 2009 and I know very little. There were certain
tracks that were published for Morricone or with Morricone, but these were brief, sporadic collaborations». The catalogue does contain a film directed by Pasolini in 1968, Teorema, and a few films made the year later, La stagione dei sensi directed by Massimo Franciosa and Vergogna schifosi by Mauro Severino. Sugar Music, instead, had a special relationship with Maestro Morricone having bought C.A.M., Creazioni Artistiche Musicali, among the global leaders of soundtracks, and having obtained artistic works produced over a period of
Above: Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo). In the box: the LP cover of the film’s soundtrack. To the side: the LP cover of The Hateful Eight. Below: Ennio Morricone conducting the orchestra
50 years. «In early 2011, we bought Cam’s entire catalogue, the best on the market in soundtracks
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To the side: the Maestro conducting in the studio. Below: the LP covers of Time to Kill (Tempo di uccidere) and Cinema Paradiso
and more – said Filippo Sugar, President and CEO of Sugar Music, as well as SIAE President, in an interview with Agi – Nearly 3,000 tracks signed by over 500 artists including Oscar winner Ennio Morricone. C.A.M.’s founder, Giuseppe Campi, and my grandfather Ladislao collaborated since the 1950’s and I am convinced that they would be just as enthusiastic as we are about this new venture». The Sugar Group has all of Morricone’s filmography, starting from the first work composed for the film industry. The film score of The Fascist (Il federale) directed by Luciano Salce, dating back to 1961, marked Morricone’s entrance into the film world. A universe in which for over 50 years Morricone affirmed himself as one of the greatest composers of all times. If not the greatest. !!! 30
Left: the LP covers of The Correspondence (La corrispondenza) and of The Best Offer (La migliore offerta). Right: LP covers of Matchless and The Sicilian Checkmate (Violenza: Quinto potere)
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