Guest blog by Ruddy Adam.
Show Tune from “Once Upon a Time in the West”
We’re going to be sending out some show tunes among our music selections. This is a good one to get started with.
Audibly, the music gives us an exquisite electric guitar (both lead and bass), a beautiful whistler, a fine string movement moving into a horn solo, a banjo playing along with a galloping horse, a striking harmonica (for which the film is famous) combined with that exquisite electric guitar, all the while a full orchestra begins a build as a vocal chorus and an astonishing soloist joins in to a slightly cut off finish. Nevertheless, it is magnificent.
Visually, the video gives you excerpts from the film, which is one of the best westerns ever made, and finishes with a famous shootout scene with Charles Bronson, Jack Elam, and Woody Strode. Which actually took place at the beginning of the film.
The above is a collage of various scenes and sounds. This one is the theme itself. You get to see everything going on, and the singer is a Middle Soprano who stays strictly within her comfort area. You will hear from her a perfect 10 on the intone scale. It’s not often that you hear an operatic voice stay within their central area. Don’t miss this!
This is the central harmonica piece from “Once Upon a Time in the West.” It is a fabulous piece, conducted by its author, and performed by a fabulous orchestra. It’s goosebump material.
“Man with a Harmonica,” by Composer, Conductor, Orchestrator, and Trumpeter, Ennio Morricone
