Ennio Morricone:

In His Own Words

The oscillating trill and dampered wahs of Ennio Morricone’s iconic theme to Sergio Leone’s genre-defining spaghetti western

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were enough to solidify the composer as one of his generation’s best, but there’s far more to him than that. In His Own Words offers a vivid portrayal of the icon, presented in what appears to be a single conversation with 34-year-old composer Alessandro De Rosa. Beyond a typical biography, De Rosa spends just as much time dissecting Morricone’s ethos and philosophy as his past, depicting the composer as an uncompromising figure in the face of technological and social change. Instead of simply recounting Morricone’s extensive career chronologically, De Rosa divides his conversation into four main parts, ranging from the historical to the purely theoretical. Condensing Morricone’s 70-year career into a single volume, it’s dense and understandably so.

The beginning is a dizzying stream of names, mostly older Italian filmmakers and composers less known to a North American audience, but the universality of Morricone’s expertise shines through. Though the book risks its appeal to a mainstream audience with its lengthy examinations of the minutiae of tonality, timbre and musical philosophy, it’s at its best when orienting Morricone’s career in the grander scheme of music’s role in pop culture. Though a difficult entry point for those without extensive knowledge of Italian filmmakers, composers and music theory, the book’s natural, conversational rhythm is a guiding force for its massive scope, distilling the legendary composer into a veritable crash course. (Oxford University Press) MATT BOBKIN