Skyla posed a fun question, "Who is your favorite artist and why do you consider him or her as such?"
Well as some of you already found out in class, the italian score composer Ennio Morricone is my favorite artist. He has written the score for almost 500 films and has a very distinctly creative and beautiful style. He can drive you to the edge of your seat with scores like those from "the Untouchables" and "Investigation of a citizen above suspicion" to completely pull-on-your-heart-strings themes like those from "the mission", "Malena" and "the legend of 1900" to completely definitive of genre themes like "the good, the bad, and the ugly". I am a huge lover of films and making films is what i would like to do with my life, so the music in films is extremely important to me because in combination of the angles and various shots on a work, the music directs the audience to how they should be feeling at a particular moment. And for a particular composer to evoke ALL of those emotions in the viewer is somewhat rare. Also, composing for films is different than just ordinary orchestral composing because the whole mood is dependant on it, even if the audience isnt thinking about it. Morricone does not have too much gusto, like Poledoris, and is not too commercial and mass produced like Horner or Zimmer. It has a quality thats just slips unnoticed into your emotions and you are overcome with it. But i am gushing, I could talk about it all day. Score composing is a unique hybrid and is another thing which demonstrates my point of the ever growing definition of art.
So my question is, is there an artform that is a combination of all of the forms of art that we know? (Film is the closest thing i can think of)
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I absolutely agree that Morricone is phenomenal, perhaps my favorite artist as well, and I totally agree with your assessment of Film combining all forms of art. I actually think that Italian cinema, and their composers, most clearly demonstrate that. From their highest cinema, such as Fellini's 8 1/2 (my all time favorite, with phenomenal Nino Rota score), to near pornographic Giallo trash of the 70's, tremendous care was always put into composing each shot as art, from the costuming and set design that filled the screen, to the graceful elegance of the camera movement. Furthermore, I disagree that Morricone lacked gusto, and I suggest listening to the Mondo Morricone set or seeing Giallo films that he scored. In Italian films, the scores REFUSE to sink to the background - they add a rhythm and texture that permeates everything, giving films of all genres almost a musical quality. Where American films love invisible orchestral scores, the Italians love hard rocking, jazzy drum beats, and dirty garage rock fuzz guitar. It's always in support of what's happening on the screen, but it often threatens to take over.
ReplyDeleteOh, and if you're into Morricone, you should check out my Spaghetti Western Concept Rap album, called "Showdown at the BK Corral." It's basically a Spaghetti Western over 9 tracks - very influenced by Morricone. I'd love to hear what you think of it! You can download it for free at sunsetparkriders.com