How was the Morricone concert?

Saturday's second and final night of Ennio Morricone's rare appearances at Hammersmith Apollo Theatre was brilliant! Lots of flare. Plenty of encores. Standing ovations from a full house of appreciative fans (many of whom were Italian and ecstatic).

Although his music is so closely associated with the films he scored (more than 300!), his pieces stood on their own without a cinematic backdrop and allowed this listener's mind to roam a range of moods from solemn circumspection to impending doom to raw courage.

Conducting the ninety-plus member Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra and the seventy-plus Crouch End Festival Chorus, which featured soprano Susanna Rigacci and pianist Gilda Buttà, Morricone was in full command and appeared fit as a fiddle at his 78 years of age.