Ennio Morricone io box DISC 3

zhao

there are no accidents
i know this dude was part of Gruppo Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza in the 60s, and has played with AMM (if I'm not mistaken), and so has real credentials under his belt. but i had put off exploring his daunting body of work, party because a lot, most? of it is the kitschy spaghetti western film stuff that he is known for, which does not interest me that much.

but today. oh my lord. bless my i-pod and its random function.

disc 3 is "Chamber Music" and comprises some criminally gorgeous stuff. entirely outrageous. tones that would make Lucier proud. free flurries of flutes like Evan Parker's circular breathing technique adopted by mythical forest furry creatures. ok before i start applying even more outlandish similes hear for yourself the first track:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/11832346b801a317/

anyone know more about this aspect of his work? the more avant C / contemporary music / improvisation side? i did some googling but couldn't find anything good. and dude has to have a bunch of other styles / periods, right? anyone care to break it down a little bit?

also, the few "new music" and jazz heads on here, where is a good forum to discuss things like this or Scelsi or Takemitsu? where more people are interested and maybe have more knowledge?

cheerios...
 
i know this dude was part of Gruppo Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza in the 60s, and has played with AMM (if I'm not mistaken).

If you mean he has collaborated with or played in AMM you are mistaken. There's an outside possibility GINC shared a bill with them but as far as i know that never happened. Perhaps you're thinking of Frederic Rzewski who was in both MEV and GINC?

Anyways... I'm far from an expert but as i understand it the more experimental period of Morricone's output was relatively brief, between the late 60s and early 70s.
this lp i know to be somewhat sought after tho I've not heard it myself. In terms of where you might look to discuss this kind of stuff...ihatemusic sometimes strays into such territory if you can deal with Jon Abbey's ego. Other than that...if you find somewhere good/ accessible I'd like to know too ;)
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"i had put off exploring his daunting body of work, party because a lot, most? of it is the kitschy spaghetti western film stuff that he is known for, which does not interest me that much."
Think that's a bit unfair, I don't think that the music is kitsch in itself just that it has been used so many times in so many silly ways that it has become associated with kitschness.
I don't think that it necessarily fits in with what you're asking for but I bought the Lizard in a Woman's Skin soundtrack the other day and I love this track and I don't think it's at all kitsch


From my experience a lot of his scores have moments like this mixed in with more backgroundy type stuff so I don't know if there is a way to collect all the good ones without picking up loads of less interesting/more functional music.
Another with a similar sound (from what I remember - heard it yonks ago) is called The Feed-Back. The lp is megarare though.

http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com/2007/02/feed-back-samelp1970italynww-list.html
 

zhao

there are no accidents
thanks for the suggestions! i have already looked into it. will report back after listening.

sad to hear that this phase of his career was short lived...
 

bruno

est malade
i don't think the word experimental or comparisons to scelsi apply to morricone, people who score films have to convey changing moods and expressions, some will sound disjointed and others won't. i think he is best at the lush poignant stuff but if you want disjointed and moody don't be so quick to dismiss entire scores, you will find many gems if you sift through them. i'm also not keen on spaghetti westerns but the scores are perfect, leave your prejudice aside for a moment and picture yourself walking out of a saloon into the hot desert sun, clouded by alcohol and the injustice you are about to right. ok, you will probably like this one

morrioconecold.jpg


and you need this one

morriconecaliffa.jpg


and it would be a crime not to hear this one

morriconeimmoralita.jpg
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I actually waded into this thread without reading the first post, which contextualised Bruno's righteous response. I'm sorry, "kitschy spaghetti western film stuff"?? Have you actually listened to the lush and singular themes from For a Few Dollars More or The Great Silence? If so, then, even just watching the films, you'd be able to pick out some arid and atonal and beautiful stretches of music during (certain) rather tense scenes.

Anyway, indignant and pompous lecture over, I recommend you score a copy of his soundtrack to Argento's giallo 'Cat o Nine Tails', which is full of the kind of sound you're after, and is brilliant.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
i don't think the word experimental or comparisons to scelsi apply to morricone, people who score films have to convey changing moods and expressions, some will sound disjointed and others won't. i think he is best at the lush poignant stuff but if you want disjointed and moody don't be so quick to dismiss entire scores, you will find many gems if you sift through them.

well the word "experimental" or comparisons to Scelsi (which i never made - but rather Lucier and Evan Parker), do certainly apply to the music on the disc that my original post was about. did you check out the track i posted?

but you are right, i have not explored his soundtracks very much at all, which i also mentioned in the original post -- most of what i heard was just not engaging for me, and I'm reluctant to sit through hours of fluff just for a few magical passages hidden between long melo-dramatic strings and whistle sections.

but i will look into the recommendations, as it sound like the magic in those are more concentrated...

cheers
 

bruno

est malade
i suppose what i meant to say is that it's like asking a pear tree to give you oranges, i don't think experimentation in this setting makes sense at all. it's function and style, like shoes, you can make all the holes you want but ultimately you need to walk around in them and they underline what is further up. and you're right about the scelsi bit, sorry.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
well apparently this particular pear tree did in fact grow some oranges... and i wanted to know if there were more of them. but yes you are right, one can not judge film music with the same criteria used to judge music music. (unless of course you are talking about Takemitsu)

like shoes, you can make all the holes you want but ultimately

crocs.jpg
???
 
i suppose what i meant to say is that it's like asking a pear tree to give you oranges, i don't think experimentation in this setting makes sense at all .


?

have you actually read this thread? Morricone did produce some experimental music early in his career, and that is what is under discussion, though as I've said I'm no expert. GINC was an avowedly experimental group, they hold a historical place alongside the Scratch Orchestra, Musica Elettronica Viva and AMM, Morricone was a member and around this time and a little later wrote some pieces which can also be considered experimental, or avant garde at least. I think we're all aware it's not what he's well known for.
 

bruno

est malade
have you actually read this thread?
yes, the thread is about ennio morricone, not the gruppo. several posts pointed to ennio's film music, which is what he mostly did, and qualities closer to his gruppo work, the improvisational drawn-out quality. i suggested the gli occhi freddi score, which incorporates gruppo members and has many of these qualities, the end.

Morricone did produce some experimental music early in his career
no, he made pop arrangements for italian television first. he may have made experimental things at the time but the gruppo work came later, in the mid sixties.
 
I never said or suggested it was his earliest work. Nonetheless...he made some avant garde music. Not a great deal...but some. Therefore "experimentation in this setting" does make some sense. That's all. No one's barking up a non existent tree, to go along with your fruit metaphor.
 
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