Secret of the Sahara

Ennio Morricone has of course worked on some fairly high profile films and has written music that has gone down the annals of film music scoring as some of the finest and most inventive ever created. For every famous film he's worked on, there are dozens which have been long since forgotton. I suspect many were forgotton at the time. Exactly what Secret of the Sahara was about or whether it was even a drama or a documentary, I have absolutely no idea. The packaging is singularly unhelpful in relaying any kind of useful information other than the track titles. I suppose it's just as well that this is one of those scores that is such a masterpiece of composition that what it actually all relates to isn't terribly important.

The Secret of the Sahara theme is introduced in the opening track which kind of functions as an overture. However, don't expect a windswept and epic Maurice Jarre type effort; Morricone's is more of a hymn to the desert with a brass theme that reaches heights of lavish nobility rather than epic grandeur. It is not a greatly used theme as many of the tracks have their own motifs, but when it does appear it certainly has the impact that it rightly should. The Mountain, for example, isn't realy built around any theme as such but more of a huge rhapsodic set of orchestral ideas that build to several almost nightmarish climaxes. This is a sustained and lengthy cue of the finest quality and never does the interest waiver from Morricone's inspiring musical ideas.

Those familiar with and hoping for some choral music like The Mission will possibly be disappointed becuase here, Morricone's choral writing is much more inventive and inspiring. It is not joyous chanting, but moves from eerie background murmuring to frightening and quite awe inspiring. Red Ghosts is perhaps the finest choral track which gets progressively more excitable and dramatic until the choir are chanting an ascending motif above the rest of the orchestra. It is the kind of music where no description is liable to do the intricacies of the composition justice. The Golden Door starts with a baritone (I think) solo almost shouting, onto which various other members of the choir start to sing and yell. Quickly this gets totally out of hand until the entire choir and shouting hysterically, but this is then cut through by a vigorous and thrilling brass fanfare that will likely have the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention. In those two minutes, you are liable to go through more more emotions than some entire scores. The fanfare is reiterated slightly less frenetically over a gentle performance of the main theme in The Myth and the Adventure which is another highlight.

It is pointless to discuss every single track as each one has something different to add, but all these ideas are better heard than described. One final mention though, must go to the finale song. By all accounts Edda dell'Orso's gorgeous voice doesn't work so well when the music is set to words. As an alternative, Morricone has employed Amii Stewart, who provides her powerful voice to this impressively mounted finale which isn't really like any other soundtrack related song I've heard. The whole orchestra and choir provide the accompaniment and serves as a great antidote to anyone sick of soppy ballads. Although the lyrics aren't terribly exciting, the whole blend of orchestra, choir and Stewart make an inspired concoction that will make you want to repeat rather than skip it.

Ennio Morricone almost never fails to impress and this is certainly one of his most impressive. He does seem to occasionally be short changed with production standards (sub-par recording quality etc) but this is perfectly acceptable, even if it's not perfect. I should think it would be difficult to find a better score from a television program than this, although Morricone's own, recent score to Nostromo would certianly provide more than ample competition. I suspect this is one of those albums that you might see cheap and decide that it just looks a bit too naff to be any good, however in this case I suggest you take the plunge as you won't be disappointed.