Ennio Morricone

The legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone died this week at the age of 91.

Although he composed many serious, classical, works, it was for his film music that Morricone is most remembered, and the most popular scores were those for Sergio Leone's "spaghetti" westerns.

Morricone's six oscar nomination spanned the period from 1979 to 2016, and he had to wait until 2016 before winning - for Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Despite his Hollywood success Morricone never moved there, preferring to live in Italy.

The influence that Morricone had over film composers in the latter part of the 20th Century and beyond cannot be underestimated, and indeed musicians generally.

Here are three tracks from the 2016 release of Morricone conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra - two from westerns, and the third is from a 1970 film - La Califfa -  about organised labour in Italy; not a promising premise for a film, but the touching theme shows Morricone's ability to produce music better than the film it accompanies.

Cartridge: Miyajima Shilabe MC

Phono amp: Graham Slee Accession MC

Turntable: CTC Classic 301 with SME M2-12R