ENNIO MORRICONE: THE ECSTACY OF GOLD

                                            by

                                Salvatore Scimino

I must admit that the following composition is one of the best in the history of classsical music. Yes, it is classical music. The soprano Susanna Rigacci is  beautiful, out of this world!  The director Ennio Morricone is wonderful! The pianist Gilda Buttâ is fantastic! The same goes for the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.

Do not be misled that this is just music for an OK corral shoot out. Do not go by associations. Do not think this is lowly music just because you associate it with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly spaghetti movie. It is not.

This is classical music at its best! As classical as Mozart or any other classical composer. After all the classical composers are considered to be at the top of the ladder in music by the elitists simply because it was the music that the kings of the Old Regime liked to listen to.

If kings had listened to any other music for their own entertainment be it bongo bongo, hill billies´ banjo, boleros, cumbia, mariachi, jazz, etc.,  this is precisely what the rich people would think of as the classiest of all musics. Any music has its own merit and can never be considered low class. The music that common people play on the streets a lot of times has more heart than the one played at the concert hall.

Most people don´t like this business of kings and monarchies nowadays and yet they imitate them in every detail. Presidents act like them, mayors act like burgmasters and so forth. And the rich listen to the classics, this way they feel kingly, at the top of the world.

Anyhow, here is The Ecstacy of Gold by Ennio Morricone: