[Nicolai P. Zwar]

Jerry Goldsmith & Ennio Morricone

I’ve never thought of Vladimir Cosma, Francis Lai and Pino Donaggio as particularly “versatile” composers, though I like some or a lot or even all of their stuff, and would perfectly agree their music appears in different idioms.

However, the construction of their music itself does not vary as much.

And that’s where there is something about Goldsmith & Morricone, who have not just composed about anything from jazz to folk, from hard-core abstract 12-tone compositions to lyrical romantic ones, for both small or large orchestras, and yet maintained a clear, identifiable musical identity, that is pretty much unmatched. So it’s pretty much these two for me.