Album: The Mission
Artisit: Ennio Morricone and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Released by:
Virgin Records
Release Date: November 26, 1996
Type of Release: Soundtrack
Track listing:
- On Earth as It is in Heaven
- Falls
- Gabriel's Oboe
- Ave Maria Guarani
- Brothers
- Carlotta
- Vita Nostra
- Climb
- Remorse
- Penance
- The Mission
- River
- Gabriel's Oboe
- Te Deum Guarani
- Refusal
- Asuncion
- Alone
- Guarani
- The Sword
- Misere
This soundtrack is from the film, The Mission. The film came out in 1986, and won Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival that year. It is an incredibly moving film, so if you haven't seen it I suggest you do.
But back to the score. Ennio Morrricone truly shines with this piece of music. He has worked on other films including The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which has a stimulating score, but the music from The Mission stands alone. It is by far the most emotional music that I have heard since I was first graced by Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. It's interesting because I had seen the film loads of times so I could picture the different scenes and was brought back to the emotional moments as well. But it still reached me on a deeper level, inspiring me, moving me, and temporarily filling some of the empty space inside me.
Perhaps that is because I can relate to many of the different emotions that are expressed in the film, but regardless it is beautiful music. It makes me wonder what he was thinking while composing it, and I can only imagine the vaste array of possibilities.
One of the interesting things about this album is the year that it was released. The producers waited ten years before finally making it available to the public. Interesting I suppose in that nowadays it seems like the soundtrack is out before the movie is even released in the theater.
If you like classical music in anyway whatsoever, get this album. It's a keeper.