I was not a fan of Morricone until very recently. Wolf and City of Joy are my first CDs of his. Although I like City of Joy very much, I did not really look into his works. In the summer of 99, I bought a Morricone compilation CD and my friends rented Cinema Paradiso in a same week coincidentally! I was deeply moved by his score for Cinema Paradiso and found myself loving the compilation very much. Since then, I have been trying out many of his scores.

Despite his prolific career, there has not been a re-recording compilation album in which Morricone conducts. This album should be the first one. Cinema Concerto features a 1998 live performance in Rome, where the composer was born. The album runs about 62 minutes. There is no doubt that the concert lasted much longer than that. I don't have the program so I don't know which songs did not make to the album. However, I can assure you that the selections are all excellent. They include some of his lesser known works, with Cinema Paradiso and The Mission, two of the most gorgeous and moving themes ever composed for cinema, bookends the album. You may not know, but Morricone is also famous for writing songs for movies. "Ricordare," "Fistful of Dynamite," and "A Brisa Do Coraç-ão" are the examples of them. I don't know if they are everyone's taste but I like all of them. Also, since most of his music depend heavily on vocals and solo instruments, you probably can imagine they may sound very different from the originals. The selections from Cinema Paradiso are probably the ones that sound the closest to the originals. "Fistful of Dynamite" and "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (The Ecstasy of Gold) " sound very different. However, the vibrant voice of Gemma Bertagnolli provides a great new flavor. I don't know if any one can ever play "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Titles)" exactly the same as the Four Caravels, the group who also contributed in other Morricone's western score. However, I enjoy this new rendition either. The selections from The Mission are the only tracks that I prefer the original a little bit more. The tempo of the original is the most perfect and the oboe solo is more sensational.