Fistful of Dollars [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Original score composed by Ennio Morricone.
Originally released as RCA 1135.
Remastered by Elliott Federman at DSW Mastering Studios, New York, New York.
Ennio Morricone's first collaboration with director Sergio Leone was on 1964's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. In no small part due to the musical score, the film made names of both men plus its star, Clint Eastwood. Sparse in dialogue, FISTFUL saw Morricone's score replace speech in long sections of the movie, and introduced a new, avant-garde but beautifully melodic musical language to cinema.
Its famed title music, featuring the soon-to-be trademark of Alessandro Alessandroni's whistling, over a repeated Spanish guitar phrase, has long assumed classic status. Only the Shadows-esque twanging of a lead guitar can date the piece. Morricone's new approach didn't stop there. The theme's solo mariachi trumpet, reaching crescendo over a dramatic marching beat and subdued string arrangement, has a breathtaking emotional power. Church bells, eccentric percussion, chanting, and discordant string sequences all have place too. His piecing together of such disparate elements redefined the Western soundtrack for many years to come. Available individually and as part of A FISTFUL OF FILM MUSIC compilation.