I wanted to take this opportunity today to pay homage to the late and great film soundtrack composer, Ennio Moricone. Whilst having lots of different types of compositions under his belt, he first started making a name for himself once he got inspired to start composing for neorealism in Italian cinema.
He composed a lot for Wild West movies, including The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and Once Upon A Time in the West - lending his understanding of avant garde and surrealist music to the scores.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was when he was asked to score the film which would ignite interest in Italian cinema the world over - 1988’s Cinema Paradiso. This film originally received a lukewarm reception in Italy (ironic) but was awarded ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ at the Academy Awards in 1989.
More recently, he has scored The Hateful Eight for Tarantino and written pop hits for stars such as kd lang. It seems fitting and makes me happy that his final concert was at the Palazzo Madama in Rome in January.
Please join me in remembering this musical legend, and someone who I very much look up to in my daily life.
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