A FILM MUSIC LOVER IN ANY LANGUAGE

Anyone with a passing interest in the Western--particularly those of the spaghetti variety--can tell you that Italian composer Ennio Morricone is the unrivaled music man of the genre.

One of the most respected and consistently inventive composers of film music, Morricone counts among the 100-plus films that he’s scored six Sergio Leone Westerns, Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven,” Bertolucci’s “1900” and a handful of films by Pier Pasolini. A longtime favorite of film cultists, Morricone reached a considerably wider audience this year with his Academy Award-nominated score for “The Mission.”

Set in 1750, the film recounts the lives of two men, one a missionary, the other a mercenary, and their quest for redemption in the depths of the Brazilian jungle. The period and differing cultures involved in the story created an unusual set of parameters for Morricone, who feels it resulted in one of his finest scores.

Speaking through an interpreter in his Beverly Hills hotel room recently, Morricone’s Italian blood was immediately apparent. A warm and witty man, he seemed surprisingly relaxed considering that this was his first visit to Los Angeles.”I’m particularly proud to have been nominated for ‘The Mission’ because I feel that this music is more representative of me than any other score I’ve written,” he commented. “I’m told that I’m a spiritual man and I feel that this music conveys spirituality, but in a broad rather than a limited way. Beyond that, I succeeded in employing a complicated technique in a score that’s easily accessible to anybody. So the music represents me both emotionally and intellectually.”

Born and reared in Rome, where he continues to live, Morricone grew up listening to opera and began his career in music with trumpet lessons. The son of a trombonist, he had formal training in music that led to work arranging and producing popular records.

“At that point it was essential that the records I worked on made lots of money,” he recalled. “So as I was gaining a technical understanding of various aspects of music, I was also learning about popular taste--what sorts of things most people enjoy listening to. All these things finally led me to film, which is something I doubt I’ll ever tire of because each film presents a different set of problems.”

One of the problems Morricone tackled with “The Mission” was how to combine the Baroque church music of 1750 with the comparatively primitive music of the Guarani Indians who inhabit the area of Brazil where the story takes place.

Said Morricone, “I didn’t do extensive research in preparing to write this score, although I did solicit advice from the producer of the film because he visited the region where the story takes place and saw the instruments that the natives used.

“But it wasn’t my intention to reproduce the local folk music; rather, I was attempting to unify elements of Indian music with Western music. Towards that end, the score is interwoven with musical patterns common to this particular tribe of Indians, as well as one of their linguistic patterns known as syllabic chant.”

Though Academy members will remember Morricone for the “The Mission” (which lost to Herbie Hancock’s score for “Round Midnight”), baby-boom pop fans probably recall Hugo Montenegro’s version of Morricone’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and Booker T & the MGs’ “Hang ‘Em High,” both of which made the Top 10 in 1968.

“I was surprised when those records were pop hits,” Morricone said. “But then, I’m always surprised when my things are successful because I never think about things like commercial potential when I’m writing.

“Of course, it’s always gratifying when people respond to your music, regardless of whether they hear it in a movie theater or on the radio. I’m told that many new-wave bands mention my music as having been an inspiration for them and that’s something I’m very proud of.”

The discussion of pop music continued with a question concerning the current trend toward film scores consisting of already existing music, yielding sound-track LPs packed with recycled pop hits as well as accompanying videos.

“This could have a bad long-range effect,” Morricone speculated. “First of all because it would standardize musical production. For obvious reasons that would have a negative impact on composers. It certainly wouldn’t encourage them to bring much imagination to their work. If a film uses rock music, that should be one of the director’s objectives from the start; the music shouldn’t be tacked on as a money-making afterthought. I don’t like the idea of using a film to promote a record.”

Though Morricone’s reputation in America rests on his work in film, he also plays trumpet with an improvisatory avant-garde group and composes chamber and concert music that is frequently performed in Europe.

“American audiences aren’t familiar with my music for orchestra and that’s something I hope will change,” he said. “I can’t say I prefer one form of composing over the other, because they’re very different. I do, however, feel less confined when writing concert music because I needn’t tailor my ideas to a director’s needs. And when composing for film, it is essential that you take the director’s wishes into consideration.

“The degree of collaboration between director and composer varies with each film, but the way it usually works is, I’ll look at the film to get a general idea of what it’s about, then see it a second time with the director and we’ll go over it scene by scene.

“I then develop an idea and propose it to the director, who either agrees or disagrees. Sometimes the director and composer will have irreconcilable ideas about the music. That happened to me on a few occasions and in those cases I chose not to score the film.

“Ultimately, the music must confirm the director’s ideas,” he concluded, “and the real challenge for a composer such as myself is to satisfy myself as a musician while satisfying both the director and the audience. I’ve managed that a few times in the past and I feel I’ve done it with ‘The Mission.’ ”