For Hayley Westenra, working with legendary composer

Ennio Morricone on her new album, Paradiso, was a life-changing experience

Cover Story

Photography by Peter Searle, styling by Marina Olivati with dresses by Medici and make-up by Angela

Davis-Deacon from Naked Artists

By James McCarthy

believe I’ve made

an album withEnnio Morricone!’

‘I can’t

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‘He’s still so passionate about his work and so very dedicated’

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s Ennio Morricone accepted his honorary Oscar in 2007 he said, ‘this Oscar is not an arrival, but a starting point’. Four years on, that starting point has led him to Paradiso, and a rejuvenating collaboration with Hayley Westenra. And Westenra, too, confides that working with the legendary composer has affected her more deeply than she ever expected. ‘A change has happened inside of me, it’s exciting to feel like I’m developing, and it wouldn’t have happened without Ennio.’

On the face of it, Westenra and Morricone are an unlikely partnership. Westenra is the 24-year-old soprano from New Zealand whose international debut album, Pure, is the best selling classical album of the 21st century, while Morricone is an 83-year-old Italian composer best known for his 1960s film scores for Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. But, in fact, the two are kindred spirits. One of the hallmarks of Morricone’s music throughout his long career has been the prominent role for haunting, wordless female vocal lines in his scores. In other words, the kind of music that Westenra was born to sing. It seems that Morricone has finally found the singer he has had in his mind’s eye from the very beginning.

Perhaps this is the reason why Morricone has invested so much of his time in Paradiso. He has re-orchestrated every song on the album as well as conducting the recording sessions. Westenra says, ‘He’s 83, so you’d think he’d want to put his feet up! But he’s still so passionate about his work and so very dedicated. He would turn up to the recording sessions an hour earlier than necessary so that he could prepare his music properly. He was working from 8.30am to 8.30pm every day in the studio.’

MUSIC AND LYRICSMorricone has also composed new songs for Westenra and, significantly, allowed Westenra to write her own lyrics to some of his most famous melodies. I wondered if she found that an intimidating prospect? ‘Well, I was keen to have a go at writing lyrics for “Malena”, so I did, then I submitted them and held my breath! It turned out that he was really happy with them and so he asked me to write some more. We also had Don Black and Tim Rice contributing lyrics so that added a bit more pressure too.’

So where did she begin? ‘My lyrics are in keeping with the original sentiment of the music. With “Whispers in a Dream” I had The Mission in the back of my head all the time I was writing the lyrics. When I first started out in my career I was happy to be just a vessel for other people’s songs. But as you get older you have stronger opinions and more life experience to draw upon. The lyrics just flowed.’

What was their working relationship like? ‘When I first met Ennio, he was quite an intimidating presence. But

Hayley in the studio with Ennio Morricone

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Howard Goodall, Classic FM presenter

to our third annual chart of the nation’s favourite movie music soundtracks, as voted for by Classic FM listeners. For a lot of people, film music is often their first experience of an orchestral or instrumental sound – of acoustic (rather

than electronic) music that has the power to make you laugh or cry, and elevate a film moment to a great piece of art. Movie music is a wonderful door into classical music but, done well by masters such as Bernard Herrmann and John Williams, it’s also great music in its own right. By now, you can probably tell I like film music – a lot.

My personal favourite soundtrack is Danny Elfman’s score for Batman (1989) – it’s incredibly brooding, powerful and evocative. Alas, it doesn’t quite make the cut in this year’s

chart. But no matter – it’s up against some very stiff competition, not least from this year’s number one. But you’ll have to read on to find out what that is…

Welcome

99To Kill a Mockingbird Elmer BernsteinHarper Lee’s classic story of small-town racism is perfectly evoked by Bernstein’s simple piano theme. RELEASE DATE 1962

98The Adventures of Robin Hood Erich Wolfgang KorngoldHollywood Golden Age magic from Korngold, hailed as a genius by Mahler and Strauss. RELEASE DATE 1938

97Interview with the Vampire Elliot GoldenthalBefore Twilight, Pitt and Cruise were cinema’s hunkiest vampires. A dark and romantic soundtrack. RELEASE DATE 1994

96The Guns of Navarone Dimitri TiomkinA stirring score for this story about crack commandos trying to destroy a German fortress. RELEASE DATE 1961

94The Dam Busters Eric CoatesCoates wrote his famous march just days before producers contacted him to score the whole movie. RELEASE DATE 1955

95Fantasia Various composersDisney used eight classical composers but Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice endures. RELEASE DATE 1940

100The Road to Perdition Thomas NewmanA drop of 22 places for Newman’s menacing soundtrack to this Tom Hanks/Paul Newman vehicle. RELEASE DATE 2002

No music could be more appropriate than when Barber’s Adagio for Strings surges and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe) collapses in a hail of Vietnamese bullets.

Platoon 1986

MAGIC MOMENTS

30101 Conan the Barbarian Basil PoledourisSchwarzenegger flexed his muscles to Poledouris’s aptly thrilling sword-and-sorcery score. RELEASE DATE 1982

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2011 MOVIE MUSIC CHART: Nos 101-77

Born in Vienna, Max Steiner was a child prodigy who studied with Brahms and Mahler, and had Richard Strauss for a godfather. After working as a conductor and theatre composer, he left Austria for Britain and then the USA, where he worked as an orchestrator and conductor on Broadway. Moving to Hollywood just as the major studios were embracing sound, Steiner wrote the first fully integrated film score, Symphony of Six Million, in 1932. His grand, symphonic score for King Kong (right) set the standard for all that followed. Steiner loved the

leitmotif, in which musical phrases are linked to characters – for example, the three-note theme representing the giant ape. King Kong also introduced the idea of an overture that previewed the main themes, and ‘exit music’, which reprised them. Steiner was nominated for over 20 Oscars and won three.

MAX STEINER: 1888-1971

MOST FAMOUS SCORES■ King Kong (1933) ■ Gone with the Wind (1939)■ Casablanca (1942) ■ Now, Voyager (1942)

John SuchetGone With The WindMax Steiner’s score

instantly evokes a time and a place – the

American Civil War. He didn’t get an Oscar.

Outrageous!

PRESENTER MOVIE CHOICE 93Angels & Demons Hans ZimmerAfter The Da Vinci Code, Zimmer lent atmosphere to a second Dan Brown adaptation, starring Tom Hanks. RELEASE DATE 2009

92Life is Beautiful Nicola PiovaniThe composer won an Oscar for his sentimental music. Roberto Benigni directed, co-wrote and starred. RELEASE DATE 1997

91Jaws John WilliamsA landmark score. Those two menacing notes have become the theme tune for hidden dangers ever since. RELEASE DATE 1975

90Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Patrick DoyleThe excitement surrounding Potter’s final episode hasn’t helped Doyle’s score stay high in the chart. RELEASE DATE 2005

89Alice in Wonderland Danny ElfmanNew in last year, Elfman’s foray into Carroll’s wonderland is among the film’s finest features. RELEASE DATE 2010

88Vertigo Bernard HerrmannBernard Herrmann’s suspenseful, hypnotic music is the perfect foil to Hitchcock’s psychological game-playing. RELEASE DATE 1958

87Atonement Dario Marianelli Marianelli’s soundtrack to a dark, period love-affair drops 27 places, despite its well-deserved Oscar. RELEASE DATE 2007

86A Passage to India Maurice JarreJarre won three Oscars, all for scores for David Lean. This was their last collaboration. RELEASE DATE 1984

85Girl with a Pearl Earring Alexandre DesplatUnderstated, effective music for the story of the Dutch painter Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. RELEASE DATE 2003

84Close Encounters of the Third Kind John WilliamsFive notes are all human beings need to communicate with friendly aliens landing on earth. RELEASE DATE 1977

83The Bridge on the River Kwai Malcolm ArnoldA non-mover for Malcolm Arnold’s clever music, with its use of Alford’s Colonel Bogey march. RELEASE DATE 1957

82A Beautiful Mind James HornerMathematics inspired Horner to compose his score in a minimalist vein. Charlotte Church sang the end credits song. RELEASE DATE 2001

81Star Trek: The Motion Picture Jerry GoldsmithGoldsmith’s barn-storming anthem also became the theme for the Next Generation TV series. RELEASE DATE 1979

80Hannibal Hans Zimmer and Patrick CassidyCassidy contributed the haunting ‘Vide Cor Meum’ for serial killer Hannibal Lecter’s second outing. RELEASE DATE 2001

79Forrest Gump Alan SilvestriA slight drop down the chart for Silvestri’s appealingly simple and touching music – a bit like Forrest Gump himself. RELEASE DATE 1994

78Somewhere in TimeJohn BarryBarry was in soaring, romantic mode for the Christopher Reeve/Jane Seymour time-travelling tale. RELEASE DATE 1980

77Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Michael KamenKamen’s score produced a Bryan Adams hit that topped the UK charts for four months. RELEASE DATE 1991

Only Stanley Kubrick could have superimposed Strauss’s swirling ‘Blue Danube’ waltz over the spectacle of a rotating wagon-wheel space station orbiting the earth.

2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

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BELFAST, ULSTER HALL028 9023 9900ulsterorchestra.comVisiting star soloists include violinist Tasmin Little, percussionist Colin Currie and pianist Nikolai Demidenko. TOP CHOICE TASMIN LITTLE (VLN), ULSTER ORCHESTRA/JAC VAN STEEN21 OctoberAny opportunity to hear Tasmin Little play Elgar’s Violin Concerto should be seized eagerly – she is the best violinist there is in this repertoire. ALSO SEEA glorious piece of programming sees conductor Paul Watkins lead the Ulster Orchestra in Britten’s ‘Four Sea Interludes’ from Peter Grimes, Mahler’s Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Britten’s arrangement of Mahler’s ‘What the wild flowers tell me’ and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.1 (7 October). And continuing the Russian flavour at the Ulster Hall on 5 November, the Ulster Orchestra is joined by conductor Christopher Wilkins and pianist Nikolai Demidenko for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1, Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. If you prefer your music more Nordic, conductor JoAnn Falletta will lead the Ulster Orchestra in Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Sibelius’s Symphony No.5 (3 February).

SCOTTISH OPERA0141 248 4567scottishopera.org.ukScottish Opera shows ambition and determination to bring opera to Scottish music-lovers in the face of money worries. TOP CHOICE STRAVINSKY’S THE RAKE’S PROGRESSOpens 17 March, Theatre Royal, Glasgow and touringScottish director David McVicar’s productions are always provocative; check out his take on Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. ALSO SEEEngelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, is a dark, disturbing work. Here it is sung in English (in a new translation by Bill Bankes-Jones,

who also directs) and stars Ailish Tynan as Gretel and Kai Ruutel as Hansel. The Scottish Opera Orchestra is conducted by Emmanuel Joel-Hornak (opens 4 February, Theatre Royal Glasgow, then touring). There’s also a revival of Anthony Besch’s 1980 production of Tosca with Susannah Glanville as eponymous heroine, Jose Ferrero as Cavaradossi and Robert Poulton as the evil Scarpia (4 May, Theatre Royal, Glasgow then touring).

GLASGOW, CITY HALLS0141 353 8000glasgowconcerthalls.comThe Scottish Chamber Orchestra dominates this season with surveys of the works of Berlioz and Ligeti alongside several new commissions. TOP CHOICE NICHOLAS ANGELICH (PF), SCO/LEON FLEISHER25 NovemberLegendary pianist Leon Fleisher wields the conductor’s baton for soloist Nicholas Angelich in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.2, Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony No.41 and Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture.ALSO SEERobin Ticciati – a true rising star in the conducting world – leads many of the most interesting concerts at Glasgow’s City Halls this season. There’s a fascinating concert on 27 January which sees him unite with keyboard maestro Pierre-Laurent

Aimard in an eclectic programme of Haydn’s ‘Philosopher’ Symphony No.22, Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto and Brahms’s vast Piano Concerto No.2. And you can hear Ticciati supporting another great pianist, Lars Vogt, in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1, Berlioz’s ‘Love Scene’ from Romeo and Juliet and Brahms’s Serenade No.1 on 24 February.

EDINBURGH, USHER HALL0131 228 1155usherhall.co.ukThe Scottish Chamber Orchestra is in rude health under the exuberant influence of Robin Ticciati. TOP CHOICE SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS/ROBIN TICCIATI6 OctoberExpect highly dramatic readings of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Tristia, as well as Schumann’s Genoveva Overture.ALSO SEEViolinist Viktoria Mullova takes the solo role in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on 13 October. Other works on the programme include Schumann’s Symphony No.4 and a new work from young Scottish composer Martin Suckling. For many people, the New Year is synonymous with the music of one city: Vienna. Vienna arrives in Edinburgh on 1 January in a concert of waltzes by the

Strauss family and Franz Lehar’s Gold and Silver Waltz conducted by Nicholas McGegan. Nicola Benedetti’s Italia album, of works by Italian Baroque composers, recently merited a Disc of the Month; hear what she makes of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on 26 April.

EDINBURGH, QUEEN’S HALL0131 668 2019thequeenshall.netPlenty of Christmas cheer at the Queen’s Hall - and a scholarly exploration of Haydn’s genius by academic Robert Levin. TOP CHOICE PIETER WISPELWEY (VLC), SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/THIERRY FISCHER22 OctoberThe SCO performs Mozart’s First Symphony, Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.2 and Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony No.6.ALSO SEERobert Levin – music academic and concert pianist – leads the SCO from the keyboard in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 and from the rostrum in Mozart’s Divertimento in F and Schubert’s Symphony No.3 (3 November). To get you in the mood for Christmas, Baroque music specialist Richard Egarr directs from the harpsichord in a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. And in ‘Mozart at Christmas’, Alexander Janiczek directs from the violin in a programme including Rossini’s Silken Ladder Overture and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Two Marches in D (17 December).

Catch Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Glasgow

SEASON PREVIEW 2011-2012

Peter Wispelwey plays Haydn on 22 Oct

EDITOR’S

TOP CHOICE

N. IRELAND AND SCOTLAND