Ennio Morricone - The Legend Of 1900: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore billed The Legend of 1900 not as a film, but rather a fable. But crucially, it's also that rare film whose musical score essentially involves one of its lead characters. Here, the great composer Ennio Morricone has concocted a score that's as magical as Cinema Paradiso, the team's previous musical watershed, yet gratifyingly disparate. Though Morricone takes many of his thematic cues from the rich, raucous music of the jazz age (including rags by Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin), he seamlessly fuses them with his own pastoral neoclassicism and distinctly modern sensibilities. The result is a score whose philosophical kinship with The Mission is as alike as their music is wholly different--a masterful fusion of dissimilar elements in a compelling, new whole. While jazz purists may balk, Morricone devotees will be enraptured. Though his career has spanned 40 years and some 400 films, Il Maestro's invention and playful exuberance once again seem both ageless and exhilarating. And if the closing song, "Lost Boys Calling" (with lyrics and vocals by Roger Waters and underwrought guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen), seems something of a loopy, last-minute record-company gambit, simply consider it an early entry for Canto Morricone, Vol. 5. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

The Legend of 1900

The music on the CD is a fair representation of an astounding music albeit I would have prefered more piano renditions and less of the orchestrated background music. This is from a film that is what movies were meant to be...heartwarming, a musical feast for the ears, historically-accurate and detailed sets and costumes, superb acting, and a story-line that completely pulls you into the tale. This movie deserved far more acclaim and awards that initially received and should go down as a must-see CLASSIC for future generations. A great way to introduce students to history & ragtime! May 27, 2008

not enough jazz music of the time

I enjoyed the movie thouroughly. When I saw the cd I had to get it. I was dissappointed at the lack of jazz music on the cd. There is the famous scene (duelling pianos with Jelly Roll Morton) One song from that scene is on the disc. It is the best song. The rest is like mood music or background. Not enough of the emotional piano jazz.
September 27, 2007

Get the Italian Version!!

Be a connoisseur, get the original Italian version "La Leggenda del pianista sull'oceano" by Sony Classical, code SK 60790, 1CD, 29 tracks, length 78' 3" which includes the complete musical score. It's unforgivable not to include "Magic Waltz" (the famous piano ride sequence) and "Enduring Movement" (the contest winning sequence)plus of course the "5 Portraits" in this US version. Otherwise, this magical soundtrack is so mesmerising that you will want to listen to all day long and impossible to get it out of your head. Enjoy. August 19, 2007

A well-kept secret!

This was such a good movie! I can't believe I had never heard of it- it should have won awards. I loved it so much I made everyone I knew see it. The only thing was I didn't notice all the F-bombs until watching it with my mom, then I was uncomfortably aware of them. Some were pretty necessary to the story but not all of them were. Other than that this is now one of my favorite movies of all time. May 20, 2007

Unjustly low rating is not due to the music that's ON the album

That would be the fault of Sony, for not including all the tracks as in the full original Italian version. I've bought that version, and I don't think I missed out on so much. After all, the highlight of this album, worth the price of admission alone, is Morricone's single best work out of many, many film scores: Track 2, "The Legend of the Pianist." Romantic, lush, exhilirating, it's an 8-minute joyride with a narrative development and resolution all unto itself. It goes well beyond any movie that it may have been scored for. For sheer beauty, it goes beyond "Deborah's Theme" (Once Upon a Time in America), "Love in the Morning" (Lolita), the main theme to "Once Upon a Time in the West," "Cinema Paradiso," "Gabriel's Oboe" (The Mission), etc. etc. It's apparently become a staple in Morricone's concert performances, and for good, obvious reason. I'm also plenty delighted with the other richly Romantic tracks on this album: "1900's Theme" (exhiliration in 98 seconds), "The Crisis," "Nocturne with no Moon," the two versions of "Playing Love," "Mozart Reincarnated," and "Ships and Snow." Out of the several major Morricone soundtracks I own or have heard (see above), this is rather easily my favorite.

It's a shame that this score hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves, simply because the movie it was scored for has received little recognition. I hope that I will be pleased to see "The Legend of the Pianist" becoming, in time, widely recognized as the outstanding piece of music that it is. Romanticism in music is still alive, and it's in film scores, and we have composers like Morricone to thank for this.
December 29, 2006

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