Tuesday, March 02, 2010

The Ecstasy of Gold

Music is very often an important part of cinema, an important part of the story and the vision of the filmmaker. Whether its the haunting violin piece from 'Requiem for a dream' or the innumerable songs interwoven in the hindi movies, music has an important role of conveying a certain mood, an emotion at that point in the movie. However, rarely is the soundtrack of a movie so outstanding that it develops a life of its own, a work of art complete within itself.

Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for 'The Good The Bad and The ugly' is one of those brilliant achivements in cinematic scores. The eponymous title song, resembling the howling of coyote, is one of the most popular soundtracks, but the rest of the track is just as good, if not better. Ennio Morricone's use of synthesizer, mouth organ, guitar and his slow, sweeping style were instrumental in giving the 'Western' feel to the movie.

Not only do the tracks sound great, but their nomenclature also conveys the true genius of this soundtrack. Whether its the solemn 'The Story of a Soldier' and 'Il Forte' or the soulful 'Il Tramanto (The Sundown)' each soundtrack is simply a beautiful evocation of a mood and almost like a complete musical story in itself. But my favourite is the climactic 'The Ecstasy of Gold', a depiction of the epic showdown between the three characters and a culmination of all the chasing, adventure and the greed. It stands out as one of the best climaxes ever filmed simply because of this powerful and sweeping musical play of emotions.

'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' is one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

P.S. Just a layman's interpretation of some beautiful music.