One wouldn't really expect to find Ennio Morricone scoring a Japanese tv series about a legendary warrior, but that's exactly where he was to be found early in 2003. He does get around a bit. Anyway, some of his finest works have come for television, most notably Nostromo for the BBC series, which features probably my favourite Morricone theme of all time.

Musashi is at times not too dissimilar to Nostromo, perhaps crossed with a smoothed-over version of Casualties of War and elements of Desert of the Tartars. It opens, in "Brivido di Guerra", with a sweeping theme as one may expect, with a wonderful section for three piccolo trumpets. The melody doesn't stick in the memory as many of the composer's do, but it's fine nonetheless. "La Sua Donna" seems to be some sort of love theme, again not as striking as many by Morricone, but still good. "Musashi e l'Amicizia" is one of my favourite cues, with excellent sections for pan flutes (real and synthesised) accompanied by percussion.

A really great theme for oboe emerges in "Musashi e il Tradimento", nostalgic and very beautiful yet tinged with a hint of tragedy. Another knockout theme comes in "Tre Volte Amore", performed by Morricone's instrument du jour, the viola. "L'Avventura come Guerra" comes closest to Nostromo or U-Turn; not quite as effective, though. "Musashi Lotta" presents the first action music, a dissonant barrage of brass and violins. Not exactly easy listening, but effective. The six-minute "Musashi Attacca" is considerably more listenable; perhaps comparable with Morricone's popular score to Red Sonja.

It takes until the twelfth track, "Musashi e la Vendetta", before any music that even vaguely conjures up Japanese images appears. Then it's only done with exotic percussion accompanying another action cue; but still, it's appropriately evocative and very exciting indeed, certainly the standout action cue. Following this is a track of suspense, and then the album closes with a reprise of the beautiful main theme in "Reazione Riflessiva".

Musashi is not classic Morricone; even his less interesting albums usually contain at least one or two breathtaking tracks, but that's not true here. The album is very well put together and it makes for a fine listen, but it's not to be placed alongside his best works. The very beginning and end of the album have a really epic sweep, but the rest seems curiously withdrawn and somewhat generic for a film of this type. This is not to say it's not good music - it is - but probably just not quite what one might have expected.

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