Maestro, the Ennio Morricone Online Magazine, Issue #18 - January 2020

18 CDS ANTHOLOGY Interview with Stéphane Lerouge
SERGIO LEONE AND THE COMMERCIALS Illustrated Dossier
CHRISTIAN GION Interview with the Director of One Two Two
RAI HISTORICAL ARCHIVE A Treasure Unveiled
...and more
ISSUE #18 January 2020MAESTRO – THE ENNIO MORRICONE ONLINE MAGAZINE ISSUE #18 JANUARY 2020
Table of Contents
Preface: Life is tough, isn't it?.................................................................................................... 3
In breve....................................... 4
Old News.. 18
Meeting with Stéphane Lerouge: Producer of the Decca 18-CD box set – Part 1 of 2............ 22
A treasure unveiled: Ennio Morricone’s very first years “behind the curtain”........................ 29
Sergio Leone’s Commercial spots: Discoveries, Additional Information and List ................. 31
1963 Festivals at RCA.............................................................................................................. 38
Ennio’s Mid-Life Crisis: The 1978-1985 Transition Period.................... 43
Interview with Christian Gion, director of One Two Two....................... 47
Western? The Hateful Eight and Others – Part 3 of 3.............................................................. 49
Recurrences ................................................................ 58
Scusi, facciamo l’amore: The Ones that Got Away................................. 62
In memoriam Rob Laffra, huge fan of Ennio Morricone and assiduous reader of this
thfanzine, who passed away on November 6 , 2019, aged 72.
License for all articles: CreativeCommons
Cette œuvre est mise à disposition selon les termes de la Licence Creative Commons Attribution
- Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale - Partage dans les Mêmes Conditions 2.0 Belgique
PUBLICATION PÉRIODIQUE D'ÉTUDE ET DE CRITIQUE DANS LE DOMAINE ARTISTIQUE. LES TEXTES
SONT PUBLIÉS SOUS LA RESPONSABILITÉ DE LEURS AUTEURS, QUI EN CONSERVENT LA PROPRIÉTÉ
DES DROITS D'AUTEUR ET INTELLECTUELS.
All the articles are of purely informative nature. We do not own the copyright of the images
included in this document or of the audio clips accessible from it. All the rights on the images
and the music are the property of their respective owners.
Chief editors: Patrick Bouster and Didier Thunus
Front cover design: Valeria Magyar
Front cover inlay: Anne-Catherine Mortiaux
Back cover image: Nikos Bogris, 2019 https://gr.pinterest.com/nikosbogris/
2MAESTRO – THE ENNIO MORRICONE ONLINE MAGAZINE ISSUE #18 JANUARY 2020
P REFACE
Life is tough, isn't it?
by Patrick Bouster
We are back again, after 6 months―this will be our tempo for the near future. A logical
frequency, since there is of course far less news about our composer. And because making
serious researches for dossiers and chronicles takes more and more time, among other personal
centres of interests, including other film music composers, literature and designs. The last issue
#17, published in early July, gathered a little less downloaders than usually expected, a fact
explainable by the summer holiday and maybe the decreasing interest of some people in
Morricone after his retirement, and the absence of films or records released.
This doesn't discourage us, you can believe it. First, we make efforts for the long term, the
future, through our researches, contacts, comments, discoveries (another example in this issue).
Secondly, time is necessary to install and develop something (think about the early issues of
fanzine MSV with about ten pages in A5 format, and for long containing half of our document,
because it was in that format, even with 45-50 pages). Then we have contacts, hypotheses of
work, some drafts, but it doesn't always work out as we would wish. For instance, we contacted
a musician having worked with Morricone in the Seventies, but until now, the work isn't
achieved yet. Besides, we planned to interview Maurizio Baroni, for his book “MorrICONe”
/”Master of the Soundtrack” but he wasn't able to do it, for personal reason, at least not yet. Be
sure that we will get other interesting contacts with other people to continue. A new contributor,
specialist of another composer we adore, is OK to write some article, but it couldn't be ready
on time. I had the luck to contact director Christian Gion, one of the few living French directors
having worked with Morricone. But, in spite of his positive response, his answers were... short
(I am always astonished by the lack of attention from some people about geniuses and important
artists, and even about their own). Another dossier was ready but in order to not reach or go
over the 70 pages, we postponed it and gave of course the priority to other and new contributors.
So you can find varied articles in this issue. First, thanks to Enrico Tichelio we got the great
opportunity to access the RAI archives, and he presents this golden mine of unearthed
compositions and arrangements. Enrico also contributed two more articles in this issue. Steven
Dixon is back, this time with I cannibali and Scusi facciamo l'amore. An interesting paper by
Didier Thunus makes a synthesis on a peculiar period 1978-85, known among us as somehow
a «static» one, even though the adjective isn't true for the whole of it. Randolph Carter concludes
his in-depth and always pertinent dossier “Westerns?”. And at last, after the “year Leone”
(2019), his work for ads is completed, improving the part written for Maestro #5, with expanded
information and discoveries. Leone Film Group received the project of dossier about the
Leone's spots, in order for them to check it out. They didn't reply. But, curiously, some changes
appeared on the video presentations on some sites (see the article).
But the thickest item being the 18-CD box by Decca (Universal), no one but Laurent Perret,
who took a hand to this edition, could have had an exclusive interview with film music expert,
head of the project, Stéphane Lerouge, limited in this issue about the CD box set only, other
matters being postponed for the next issue. Of course we put this big item in cover. Besides,
news are nevertheless present, with here and there homages and events involving the composer,
and even some new compositions.
There is no lack of matter nor material. That is why we continue, for the memory of a composer,
of film music. Thanks to many persons and our patience, tenacity, we accumulated a lot of
precious material. It will be used, in a form or another. Life goes on.
3MAESTRO – THE ENNIO MORRICONE ONLINE MAGAZINE ISSUE #18 JANUARY 2020
N EWS
by Didier Thunus (D.T.) and Patrick Bouster (P.B.)
In breve
Concerts
Final dates
thThe concert in Lucca on June 29 2019 was supposed to be Ennio Morricone’s last one. The
Maestro kept a very good memory of it: "It was an extraordinary concert in front of 20 thousand
people, those present and paying and those at a distance that followed standing, he recalls, with
1a unique amplification offered by the sound engineer Fabio Venturi". A TV evening on RAI
ston September 21 was to be dedicated to this last concert, in the presence of Morricone, but
was cancelled because the Maestro didn’t feel able to cope with the impositions of a television
2broadcast . It is highly probable however that the concert was filmed professionally and may
pop up soon in a form or another.
Senato è Cultura
thOn January 11 , 2020, a concert in homage to Ennio Morricone
was given in the Aula del Senato della Repubblica, with the
Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta. Ennio himself conducted parts of it,
for the first time since June 2019 (first the Italian national anthem,
then Addio Monti and Deborah’s Theme, and finally Se questo è
un uomo), the rest being conducted by Andrea (four pieces of his
father’s film music). Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, President
of the Senate, pronounced a speech of appreciation and bestowed the composer a plaque and
3parchment .
Christmas Concert 2020
The Roman newspaper "Il Messaggero" announced that Morricone will conduct yet another
4concert, for the Pope ! It will be the Christmas Concert 2020 in the Paul VI Hall (also known
as the Aula Nervi from the name of its architect) in the Vatican. “Even if he didn't ask me
personally, I certainly couldn't say no to the Pope", Ennio said. The programme of this concert
is not known yet, but it will probably be an assortment of his sacred music for films and for the
concert hall. His Missa Papa Francisci springs to mind. As for the date, if we are really talking
about a concert for the 2020 Christmas celebration, then it will only be in almost a year from
now.
Morricone, who turned 91 last November, also wanted to insist that he was in good health,
explicitly asking the journalist to report that if his voice was hazy, it was just because of a
seasonal illness.
1 https://www.news1.news/2019/11/ennio-morricone-is-the-order-of-the-rising-sun-japan-pays-tribute-to-the-master.html
2
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.fidelityhouse.eu%2Ftelevisione%2Fthe-last-concertannullato-il-concerto-di-ennio-morricone-in-prima-serata-su-rai-1-429169.html
3
https://video.corriere.it/politica/senato-casellati-premia-morricone-non-parlo-sono-troppo-emozionato/a3f52102-3482-11ea-b847-bfc302fe3f26. Watch the