08.09.06 (MusicPortal.com) Universally acclaimed legendary film composer ENNIO MORRICONE -- whose work includes over 450 film scores including "Once Upon A Time In America," "The Mission," "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" and "Cinema Paradiso," is set to perform two intimate, rare UK concert performances at the London Hammersmith Apollo Theatre on December 1st and Decembr 2nd. The first British performances Morricone has played since he last graced the UK's shores at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 10th, 2003, the two unique concerts are part of this year's "Don't Look Back" concert series, which sees artists performing retrospectives of their work in its entirety. Due to the fact that Morricone's repertoire is so vast and covers so many significant film soundtracks, the idea of performing one score in its entirety wouldn't do justice to his remarkable talent. For the two UK concerts, Morricone will perform compositions that appear in many of his most celebrated film soundtracks, most of which have made him one of the most sought after film composers on the planet. Morricone will be accompanied by Hungary's Gyor Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Choir featuring soloists Susanna Rigacci (soprano) and Gilda Butta (piano). Some of the classic compositions performed on the night will include material taken from Morricone's live Warners Records album, "Arena Concerto," recorded in Verona, Napoli, Rome and Siviglia, which includes the following works: 1. Once Upon A Time In America • 2. The Legend Of 1900 • 3. The Mission • 4. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Titles) • 5. Once Upon A Time In The West • 6. A Fistful Of Dynamite • 7. Cinema Paradiso • 8. The Untouchables • 9. Novecento • 10. I Promessi Sposi • 11. The Red Tent • 12. Canone Inverso

08.07.06 (MusicPortal.com) On August 15th, Ryko Filmworks is set to release the soundtrack to the new motion picture "The Illusionist," featuring an original score by acclaimed modern minimalist composer PHILIP GLASS. Glass has had his sophisticated music featured in numerous movies throughout his career, earning him many awards and critical praise, including a Golden Globe award for the soundtrack to "The Truman Show," and Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985 for the film "Mishima." Award-winning writer/director/actor Edward Norton ("Fight Club," "American History X," "The Italian Job") stars as Eisenheim, alongside accomplished actors Jessica Biel and Paul Giamatti. The film's screenplay and direction is by Neil Burger and is produced by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, Austria, Norton plays a magician who falls in love with a woman well above his social status, but he is committed to winning her affection. Stuck between Eisenheim and the Duchess Sophie is Prince Leopold and his evil comrade Chief Inspector Uhl. The movie is based on the short story by Steven Millhauser entitled "Eisenheim The Illusionist." Philip Glass' renowned restrained, yet elegant style has captivated audiences around the world for years. "The soundtrack to The Illusionist is a driving force to the movie," according to director Neil Burger. "There are many scenes and sequences without dialogue, and it falls to the music to tell the story." Glass recorded the original score with a large orchestra, which results in an emotionally driven and epic soundtrack for the movie. The Daily Telegraph calls Glass "the most powerful composer of our time... what Glass is doing is changing the face of music for our time and all time." "The Illusionist" opens nationwide on August 18th.
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08.07.06 (MusicPortal.com) PAUL McCARTNEY releases his new full-length work of Classical music, "Ecce Cor Meum," through EMI Classics on September 25th. The album is McCartney's fourth Classical release since "The Liverpool Oratorio," which was issued in 1991. "Ecce Cor Meum" ("Behold My Heart") has been more than eight years in the making, and its origins follow in the historic tradition of composers that have been commissioned to write music for the world-renowned Magdalen College Oxford. His hope was for "a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel's 'Messiah' is." An oratorio in four movements, "Ecce Cor Meum" is scored for choir and orchestra. The text combines both English and to a lesser degree, Latin. "As Latin is known and sung by choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at times during the piece," he says. In November 2001, the first version of "Ecce Cor Meum" was given its first preview performance by the Magdalen College Choir, which was conducted by Bill Ives at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford - a great learning experience for McCartney. "Eventually I made it all come together through correcting a lot of misapprehensions - a lot was learned before the Sheldonian performance, but a lot of it was learned afterwards. An experienced choral composer knows that children can't be given huge sustained passages; they don't have the energy and the stamina. At the Sheldonian, there was some quite hard stuff that I didn't realize because I'd done it on the synthesizer. But during that first performance, the solo treble couldn't come on for the second half - I think I'd used him up in the first half! Those are things that people either learn because they are taught them immediately at the first lesson or you learn through the years, so it was good to go through the piece a lot of times. We took out huge choral sections and gave them to the orchestra. If it had been a Beatles song I would have known how to do it, but this was a completely different ball game."
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[Classical News: May 2006]