• Composed by Ennio Morricone

There have been various vocal compilations of Ennio Morricone songs over the years from a vast range of vocalists; the pick of them, inevitably, is when the Maestro himself was involved and my favourite of all was Focus, a collection sung by the great Portuguese singer Dulce Pontes. In tribute to the late genius is this collection from the trio of Italian tenors known as Il Volo, featuring involvement from the composer’s son Andrea. Eleven of the fourteen songs are based on film themes, mostly with lyrics added after the fact; many of these have been released in different form previously, often with the involvement of Ennio, though a couple are new. You know the type of sound here: the “crossover” classical variety (if you close your eyes while listening you will see Simon Cowell’s face imprinted inside your eyelids) and you get big, big arrangements featuring the trio’s huge voices on top of a gigantic-sounding orchestra. It all begins with “The Ecstasy of Gold”, featuring lyrics by Andrea – and any scepticism about the album is likely to be exacerbated as soon as you hear it. Andrea Morricone is a wonderful composer but it would seem that writing lyrics is not his strong suit (the opening couplet of “I will love you / From now until the end of time” does not inspire confidence that we are about to experience much poetic depth). While there is unlikely to ever come a time when I don’t enjoy listening to any version of one of cinema’s most extraordinary melodies, for a while as I was planning writing these words I couldn’t help but think there was something slightly vulgar about this one.