Roland Joffé’s 1986 film The Mission tells a tragic story about the conflicts between 18th-century Jesuit missionaries, brutal colonials, and the South American indigenous Guarani people both parties are attempting to shape the destiny of. But Ennio Morricone’s score tells that story even more compellingly, with the Spanish-guitar melodies he’d developed in his Leone Western scores interweaving with liturgical choirs and Latin-indigenous percussion to an effect that could only be called spiritually revelatory. And while it’s long since transcended the religious film it scored — “Gabriel’s Oboe” in particular remains remarkably enduring, and “On Earth As It Is In Heaven” became a showstopping performance piece in Morricone’s concerts — it still holds to the sense that music itself can be holy.

In the greatest body of work by any film composer, The Mission might stand out as Ennio Morricone’s most moving score. Morricone combined native drumming, pan pipes, Spanish guitar and religious liturgical chorales to mirror the clash of cultures depicted in the film in which Jeremy Irons sets up a Jesuit Mission in 18th Century South America. The stirring, spiritual intensity of the music here far transcends the source material, however. Interestingly, Morricone composed the music after filming had begun and came up with the familiar, renaissance-styled theme of Gabriel’s Oboe from watching what Irons — who couldn’t play the instrument — was miming on screen.