The first collaboration between Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone, A Fistful of Dollars, surprises for all its originality: for this legendary Western starring Clint Eastwood as “the Stranger” as he stirs up ill-feeling between two rival families in a little Mexican town, the Italian composer distanced himself for Hollywood convention with the soundtrack to this film. Morricone’s style remains imprinted on the collective memory: the principle theme is a folk tune on a whistle, a recorder, acoustic guitar and choirs alongside bell chimes as well as whiplashes and anvil strikes. To top it all off, Morricone had the anachronistic idea of weaving in an electric guitar - the famous Fender Stratocaster, made famous at the time with The Shadows’ Apache. Behind this tour de force, one can nevertheless find some tracks that reflect more the traditional musical aesthetic of a Western, like the stampeding L’Inseguimento (which features the trumpet, an instrument Morricone studied when he was young, the suspenseful Consuelo Baxter, Senza Pieta, Tortura and also the source music Square Dance. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz