Ennio Morricone - interview

INTERVIEW

The following is a transcript of an interview I had the pleasure to conduct of Ennio Morricone, the late great Italian film composer, author of scores to films such as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was published by Limelight Magazine in 2011.

In all probability, you will be remembered by generations to come as a composer of film scores, rather than a composer of so-called “serious” music. Does that bother you in any way?

It does bother me slightly, but I really don’t think it’s quite the case. Those who will want to study Morricone the composer, will have to take into consideration both aspects of my work.

But you can’t deny that your film scores will always be the more readily available to the general public.

Absolutely. But musicologists who will want to explore my work will obviously have to give equal weighting to both these activities. Naturally, film music is a fundamental musical and creative exploit of our time, of this last century. It’s a part of our daily lives. It’s a medium where all the arts coalesce in an ideal that I often like to define “Wagnerian”. And so historians will have to study film music in conjunction with all other arts that make up the cinematic medium in order to make sense culturally of this age. 

Your work in the area of ‘Spaghetti Westerns’, or ‘Italian Westerns’ as you prefer to call them…

You know, when I hear the term ‘Spaghetti Western’, I stop talking. Because it’s an insult to the work of Sergio Leone. Spaghetti are something you eat, but the work of Leone is certainly not something you eat.

 (Laughs) I have to agree with you there…

So, yes, calling them ‘Italian Westerns’ is more appropriate.

Well, your work here is crucial to the development of the genre, and characterised first and foremost by your work with the great Sergio Leone. Many believe that your greatest contribution to humanity lies in this field. Do you agree?

No, not at all. These people don’t know my work at all. Of the 500 plus films I’ve worked on, no more than 30 to 33 are Westerns, so that’s quite a small percentage – only about 7 to 8 percent of the total, in fact. So these people should go and get their facts straight!

Were you already a fan of Westerns before you composed your scores for Leone, or did you come to like them with time?

Not at all. I was interested in Westerns at all. In fact, I wasn’t even aware they existed.

You’ve worked with many famous film directors, from Bernardo Bertolucci to Dario Argento, Brian de Palma and Giuseppe Tornatore. Who, among the directors you’ve worked with, stands out as having a particularly keen musical ear?

I’d have to say, for example, that Leone had an excellent grasp of the musical necessities of his films, even though he had no formal music education at all. And I find Tornatore has come a long way in this sense, compared to the first few times we worked together - we’ve been working together for 25 years now.  And I am very pleased to say I helped him along in this respect. So, even though Tornatore was no great music expert, in the sense that he never studied music formally, I find him quite quick in his ability to perceive and understand certain things that would appear to be difficult.

Once you said that film music is “rightly undervalued because it isn’t the primary art of a film”. Have you ever felt humbled in your role as creator of a subordinate art?

No, this has never been problem for me, because film music is a fundamental art form of our time.

To what extent is music a subordinate art? Can it have a life of its own beyond the big screen?

The most important thing, in film, is to write autonomous music, because autonomous music better serves a film. There is evidence of that, for example, in films where the music of Bruckner, Mahler, Mozart and other composers was used. It really works, and it works because this music has its own life, its own forms, its own way of expressing itself. So, I believe that, in order to fully serve its purpose within the cinematic medium, film music needs to be autonomous. But it should never be composed in advance. It needs to be composed for the film.

For many, the name ‘Morricone’ is inextricably linked to the sound of whips, the whistles of Alessandro Alessandroni, the voice of Edda dell’ Orso, and other idiosyncratic timbres. How important has it been for you to create your own unique sound?

I am a composer who lives in Rome, and I am fascinated by the talents that are available to me. I’ve never had a trumpeter fly in from the US, for example, or a singer from Russia. And I can name names, because there really aren’t that many: the pianists Arnaldo Graziosi and Gilda Buttà, the violinists Dino Asciolla and Franco Zamponi. Alessandroni and dell’Orso have always played a crucial role in my work, as have other soloists. I was led to make the most of these talents simply because they were the best available to me in my home town. On the other hand, many instruments were, for many years, absent from my music, because I could not find any musicians who were sufficiently gifted. So choices of instrumentation were always made in such a way as to maximise the quality and expressive impact of any performance.

You wrote the music for ‘Nuovo Cinema Paradiso’ with your son Andrea?

Well, Andrea wrote the love theme of ‘Cinema Paradiso’. I did the rest. But because he was very young – this was 25 years ago – I credited him as cowriter of the entire score. And I also orchestrated the love theme.

Is it your first time in Australia?

My very first time.

Is there something in particular you’d like to discover or learn more about in Australia, musically speaking?

Yes of course. I’d like to learn more about what’s happening in Australia, not so much in the field of classical music, but in popular music. In particular, it interests me find out about the cross-fertilisation between Indigenous music and music coming out of the Western tradition.

You’ve been on tour since 2001. What else are you working on at the moment?

The first is a film with Tornatore. I’ll be recording a few pieces on the 9th of January, which explore an idea I feel is very important for cinema, and one which will take me down a new path. He likes the idea, at least in its abstract form. Let’s see if he likes the way it’s executed. It’s a very abstract idea. I’m giving the director and the sound engineer the chance to realise these pieces in different ways. Then there are other films in the works, but they still need to be properly negotiated.

Maestro, good luck for the rest of your tour and you your current engagements, and have a safe trip to Australia.

Thank you, and many greetings to the readers.