Song:Gabriel's Oboe
Album:We All Love Ennio Morricone
There are those who will try to tell you that Italian Ennio Morricone is the greatest film composer of all time. That is not my opinion. But there's no question he is one of the most prolific. he's a living legend of film music. He has scored hundreds of films and TV shows and he's still at it today. Gabriel's Oboe is the theme from the 1986 film The Mission. That score was nominated for an Oscar. He was born Nov. 28, 1924 in Rome, Italy. His father Mario Morricone was a trumpeter and taught Ennio music when he was a child. Morricone arranged and produced music for pop singers, radio and TV in the 50s. He did a few films but his big break was composing the score for Sergio Leone's 1964 spaghetti western A Fistful Of Dollars. That film and the other two parts of the trilogy made Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone stars. He got a big boost when Hugo Montenegro's version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was a hit single. It sold a million copies. This was the start of Morricone becoming a cult figure to film music fans. And of course Hollywood came calling. His score for the 1986 film The Mission is considered to be one of Morricone's finest scores. Director Roland Joffe is a big fan. It was nominated for a 1986 Oscar. The soundtrack CD is available. But for the beginner, I'm going to suggest this 2007 Morricone tribute CD We All Love Ennio Morricone. Morricone conducts a couple of his own songs including Gabriel's Oboe. Also appearing on this CD are Celine Dion, Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock, Bruce Springsteen, Andrea Bocelli, Metallica, Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming, Daniela Mercury with Eumir Deodato, Dulce Pontes, Chris Botti, Vanessa and the O's, Roger Waters, Denyce Graves and Taro Hakase. This should help beginners get into Morricone's music. For the 2010 CD Paradiso, Morricone let New Zealand born soprano Hayley Westenra write lyrics for some of his songs including Gabriel's Oboe. Morricone produced and arranged the CD. Ennio Morricone is still active. His most recent score was for Guiseppe Tornatore's latest film The Best Offer. Morricone has worked a lot with Tornatore. He has signed to compose the score for the animated film The Canterville Ghost scheduled for release Christmas 2014. Unlike a lot of film composers, Morricone likes to go on tour and conduct his music himself. So here's Ennio Morricone conducting a performance of Gabriel's Oboe Munich, Germany 2005.
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