Never Meet Your Heroes – unless it’s Ennio Morricone

Never meet your heroes, eh? Nothing could have been further from the truth when I was invited to Rome to work with one of my few all-time idols, the late Ennio Morricone. We were to record at Forum Music Village Studios, on what would sadly prove to be one of il maestro’s final projects.

I’ve adored his deeply-felt, highly idiosyncratic music since I was a kid – Once Upon a Time in America, The Mission, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, even The Humanoid – and his immense influence can be heard in so much of my own work. If ever I found myself stuck for an emotional approach, I would ask myself ‘What would Ennio do?’

So as an utter fan-boy to finally encounter the man, it was a thrill to find he was everything that I could expect: completely focussed, a supreme musician and – once he realised I was a fellow composer and not some advertising exec – wonderfully gracious and warm.

Even at the venerable age of 90 and frail, he endured almost four hours on the podium conducting the hand-picked orchestra of Rome’s finest, meticulously crafting the brand-new 60-second piece he had created for MSC Cruises’ campaign.

When it came to the 40, 30 and 20-second cutdown versions, there were no separate arrangements or charts; he simply did the arithmetic in his head and dictated the cuts from the podium.

Back in the UK, my only task was to add additional rhythm and production elements for the final dub.

Riposa in Pace, Maestro. It was an honour.

ENNIO MORRICONE (10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020)