06 July 2020

Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold"

 
Morricone is perhaps my favorite modern composer.  Even better in my view than the embedded selection above is Jill's Theme in Once Upon a Time in the West, and the musical theme of Cinema Paradiso.

Addendum:  Here's an orchestral version, which I think is better than the film version, where the vocal is so toned down.

 
Reposted from 2012 to substitute an improved wide-screen video. 

Re-reposted to celebrate Ennio Morricone finally being awarded a well-deserved (and long-overdue) Academy Award. And re-re-reposted from 2016 to again replace the orchestral video with an updated one.

Re-re-re-reposted from 2016 in memoriam.

11 comments:

  1. Urban GarlicJanuary 14, 2012 at 9:59 AM

    Awesome, thanks for this. This is far and away my absolutely favorite scene from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", I love the juxtaposition of the Eli Wallach's uncontainable giddiness with the graves, many fresh, and all hastily prepared.

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  2. MinnesotastanJanuary 14, 2012 at 10:25 AM

    Urban Garlic, more re the location of the scene and the filming at this old post -

    http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2010/04/is-this-real-cemetery.html

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  3. LPJJanuary 14, 2012 at 11:46 AM

    Since what we call "classical music" has all but vanished from the public eye, are film composers essentially the new classical composers? Is John Williams the contemporary Beethoven? I hadn't thought enough about this; thanks for the great post!

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  4. Urban GarlicJanuary 14, 2012 at 8:29 PM

    Late getting back to this, but I was going to suggest that there are non-movie classical composers, until Philip Glass's "The Hours" theme came around on my Pandora. I think LPJ has a point...

    Also, the April 2010 post has many nice links, thanks again!

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  5. Acid4BloodJanuary 15, 2012 at 2:26 AM

    Metallica also use it for the intro of all their concerts.

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  6. JMJOctober 22, 2015 at 7:09 AM

    The mission is one of my all time favorite Film scores, especially "Gabriel's Oboe"

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  7. JonoOctober 23, 2015 at 10:44 AM

    Some seriously classic movies and music. I remember being blown away by "Once Upon a Time in the West" back in college, even sober as a judge.

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  8. AnonymousNovember 3, 2015 at 8:23 PM

    I too am a big fan of Ennio. Hayley Westenra (a superb singer) has released a full album of his compositions, which I highly recommend. It includes "Gabriels Oboe" and the theme from "Once upon a Time in the West".

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    Replies
    1. MinnesotastanNovember 3, 2015 at 9:08 PM

      Requested from our library. Thanks for the heads-up.

      Delete
  9. a progressive crankMay 7, 2017 at 10:19 AM

    https://youtu.be/Z57hyZmbE8A?t=2m20s offers another take on this.

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  10. BulletholesJuly 7, 2020 at 9:04 PM

    These days I really love Ectasy of Gold. but back in the day...
    http://srevestories.blogspot.com/2020/07/turn-it-up.html

    ReplyDelete