• Karma – Review by Film Score Monthly

    September 10, 2017

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    Full album available at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/karma-atonement/id1211759271

    Karma follows a group of young boys whose past behavior catches up with them as they are tested and punished by an embodiment of evil. The film’s horrific score comes
    courtesy of Kristian Sensini (Rocks in My Pocket, La Sorpresa). Karma’s opening title track features an enticing arpeggiated idea and a long, lyrical line with a gothic feel. “Staircase” pushes forward with an intriguing melody that again references the arpeggiating figure before becoming more disjointed as it slowly moves upward over a menacing undertow. By contrast, the “Woods Theme” features a soaring
    high string idea over rich low strings and a breathy vocalise.
    The score overall does a fine job of establishing subtle textures that become creepier as various motivic components float through them, evidenced in tracks like “Tensive
    Dialogue” and “Dirty Secrets.” Similarly, many cues feature low pedals and slow builds that add tension, which occasionally releases, as in “The Attic.” The arpeggiated idea
    also recurs throughout the album as connective tissue.
    “The Cellar” moves us most firmly into horror territory, with close intervals and sudden hits set against a high string drone. After a passage for a music-box melody and crescendoing vocals, the cue moves into a quasi- rock-based section reminiscent of a Richard Band score.
    “Abductions” offers more macabre sounds intermingled with low strings, including a cello line that lends an emotional pull to the proceedings. The “Trailer” music wraps up the playlist nicely, providing one last burst of intense horror music.

    Karma FSM ONLINE

  • “La Sorpresa” Review on BuySoundtrax

    April 14, 2016

    Soundtrax: Episode 2016-3
    April 11th, 2016

    By Randall D. Larson

    http://www.buysoundtrax.com/larsons_soundtrax-4-11-16.html

    LA SORPRESA/Kristian Sensini/KeyeStudios – ltd ed cd + digital
    Italian composer Kristian Sensini has released his latest score on his own, digitally. Be thankful. Directed by Ivan Polidoro, LA SORPRESA (The Surprise) is a family drama that focuses on the awkward relationship between a father and his estranged daughter, compounded when he suddenly grows ill and she must take care of him; in the process she grows more distant when a male nurse is brought in who provides the kind of loving care she cannot. Sensini (HYDE’S SECRET NIGHTMARE – see my review in my Nov. 2012 column; ROCKS IN MY POCKETS – see my review from the Oct. 2014 column) has provided an intimate score performed by a small string ensemble (violin, viola, cello), supplemented by guitar, flute, keyboard, and voice. The score begins with “Attese” (Expectations), a deeply morose intonation of cello chords that resonates with the sad disaffection between the woman and her father. Sensini’s title theme, with its highly reverberated keyboard underpinning, carries a poignant weight that is less harsh; its melody will drift throughout later cues to paint the family in colors of sympathy and sorrow (In “La Sorpresa 1,” the melody is taken by a synth-violin, while in “La Sorpresa 2,” Sensini gives the melody line to a toy piano, which, in referring to happier and younger days of the family, is quite touching). The awkwardness between father and daughter is adroitly summed up in the colorless measures of “Figlia del Padre,” while the close-miked cello melody evoked in “Padre” paints the father in a much more empathetic light. The voice of Laura Bruno is heard in several cues, including a recurring, hymnlike a capella motif titled “Ana Yelena” whose lyric repeats the titular name in beautiful, double-tracked harmony. The film’s turning point and score’s apotheosis is found in “Ragnatela,” an uplifting harmonic treatment for all three strings over an interplay of muted drums and electric guitar which offers a serene resolution to the distance inflicted upon father and daughter. A drum kit is added for “Un Tango,” adding a nice contemporary pop rhythm to the tango’s string melody and harmony; the drums are also present for the second reprise of “La Sorpresa,” where the melody is presented in a more positive tempo and much brighter harmony, the family’s journey from alienation is finding its reunion and redemption. “Surprise Me” is a pretty pop-styled melody played on keyboards with digital handclaps and drum-kit. LA SORPRESA is a thoroughly engaging and beautiful score, deeply honest and moving in its sensitivity and treatment of its subject matter.
    The digital album is available on Italian iTunes and Amazon and elsewhere in the US.  A signed CD edition is available in limited quantities (100/c) from CDBaby.

    Randall Larson - La Sorpresa

  • “La Sorpresa” Ost – Review at Film Music Magazine

    March 23, 2016

    La Sorpresa ‪Ost‬ is one of March ‪Soundtrack‬ Picks at ‪‎FilmMusicMagazine‬ along with Zootopia (Michael Giacchino) , Batman v Superman (Hans Zimmer Junkie XL), London Has Fallen (Trevor Morris )

    You can buy limited edition signed copies of the soundtrack at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kristiansensini3

    http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=15918

    Having quirkily played mental illness with his score for the generational madness of the fest favorite “Rocks in My Pockets” (its soundtrack on Movie Score Media) Italian composer Kristian Sensini creates another memorably individualistic soundtrack for “La Sorpresa” (“The Sunrise”). Here, the musical anguish is subtly inward and far less humorous, if no less enticing, as a daughter finds her father’s male nurse has far more of an emotional connection to the ailing man than she does. Sensini thematically plumbs her pained struggle towards a relationship in an impressively subdued variety of styles. Poignant chamber music mixes with alternative acoustical rhythm, child-like percussion hints of the past, while religious female voices sing a haunting chant. Even mod synthesizers and a tango come into this fraught, family bond. There’s an inventive, often meditative beauty throughout “La Sorpresa” that makes it a transfixing listen and Sensini an individualist talent to watch for, his classical training and studies with Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani evident in one of the rare, interestingly melodic scores that can tenderly capture inner emotion. Having cd signed and hand-numbered by Sensini adds a further nice touch for his unique, enticing score that bridges the classical and alt. family ties of film music.

     

    Film Music Magazine - La Sorpresa

  • “La Sorpresa” OST review by Synchrotones

    March 14, 2016

    https://synchrotones.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/2016-round-up-february-212/

    Cover_LaSorpresa

    “La Sorpresa” (Kristian Sensini, 15 tracks, 37.40, Kristian Sensini 2016). “La Sorpresa” is an Italian drama that revolves around an estranged father-and-daughter relationship. He is dying, she wants answers, but years of lies have made their relationship difficult. The original score is by Kristian Sensini; and it’s performed by a small, chamber-like orchestra. The titular cue “La Sorpresa” is a lovely piece for a small string section and piano. It reminds me of ‘neo-classical’ composers like Arnalds and Richter. It receives three variations – all differently orchestrated. “Ana Yelena” appears three times, in various guises. A female vocal sings the title, in an almost haunting sort of way. “Devotio” and “Padre” are two different cues that both rely heavily on the mournful sound of a solo cello. Elsewhere, “Come Sospesa” features guitar and organ; “Surprise Me” features retro-sounding synths; “Un Tango” is exactly that; and “Ragnatela” combines strings with organ and guitar. It’s a lovely score with a mournful character. The small string section, and they way Sensini utilises it, gives it this ‘neo-classical’ feel. It’s sparsely orchestrated, but it makes for a pleasant album. For more information, visit the composer’s website.

     

    “La Sorpresa” OST Cd is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kristiansensini3 it’s a Limited edition of 100 handsigned copies .

     

    Synchrotones - La Sorpresa

  • “La Sorpresa” Ost Review by Underscores.fr

    February 19, 2016

    http://www.underscores.fr/chroniques/underscorama/2016/02/sorpresa-la-kristian-sensini/

    “Une partition qui fait la part belle à l’épure : cordes lancinantes, synthé planant, voix de femme aux consonances liturgiques, tango… L’album a le mérite d’être assez varié (et assez court), l’écriture est soignée, mais il manque une personnalité plus marquante que celle qu’on découvre ici pour rendre l’écoute autre chose qu’anecdotique.”

    Sorpresa - underscores

  • “Rocks In My Pocket” OST Review by g-pop.net

    February 6, 2016

    http://www.g-pop.net/rockspockets.htm

    Reviewed by Melissa Minners

                In the animated film, Rocks in My Pockets, Latvian artist Signe Baumane tells the story of five separate women in her family (including herself) and their struggles with depression.  Tracing the lines of depression back in her family, Baumane begins with her grandmother, a peasant with eight children and moves through her family line until she arrives at her own bouts with depression and suicidal thoughts. 

    The musical score of Rocks in My Pockets was created by Italian composer, musician and music producer Kristian Sensini.  Studying classical flute and piano as a child, he began experimenting with electronic and computer generated music by the age of twelve.  He began venturing into film scoring in the early 2000s.  Working in several diverse film genres, including drama, animation, comedy, fantasy, thriller, documentary and more, Sensini has composed musical scores for nine feature films, including Hyde’s Secret Nightmare, The Museum of Wonders, The Becoming and more.

    The music of Rocks in My Pockets begins with a rather humorous undertone.  Orchestral in nature with pianos and guitars adding flavor to the score.  The opening track, How Not to Commit, has a calliope-like sound with shots of tuba inserted to offer up that comedic flavor.  Without knowing what the film is about, the listener thinks that perhaps the score is created for a comedy, until they listen further.  Coming upon the track Back Home, which offers a much slower version of the theme in the first track on the album, one wonders if something has occurred to cause the main character to pause and reflect.  An exotic flare, complete with chanting military voices, accompanies the military march sound in Russians, Germans, Partisans. 

    From that moment, there is a noticeable turn to the music.  It becomes less elaborate and more melancholy in Jealousyand Helpless Creatures and, though there is a bit of a pick up in the clarinet-led sound of Forest, the score never quite reaches that happy-go-lucky style of the first track on the album, becoming especially melancholy during Miranda’s Theme and The Bride.

    The score perfectly reflects the artist’s walk through depression, particularly the ups and downs of manic depression during which the individual experiences great highs and lows.  The upbeat moments are weighted down by the more morose parts of the soundtrack, yet the entire album is quite an enjoyable listen.  If you had no idea what the movie was about, one would still understand the story the music is trying to tell, making the Rocks in My Pockets Soundtrack perfect as the score of a film and as a stand alone album and well worth the listen.

    Gpop RIMP

  • “La Sorpresa” review by Film Score Monthly

    January 21, 2016

    http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/fsmonline/main.cfm?issueID=133

    Soundtrack Available Digitally on Itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/la-sorpresa-original-soundtrack/id1069855608

    Limited Edition (100) Cds available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kristiansensini3

    KRISTIAN SENSINI
    Promo
    15 tracks – 38:08 

    La Sorpresa, directed by Ivan Polidoro, follows a daughter whose increasingly ill father requires more attention than she can provide. Enter Rocco, a male nurse who begins to care for him as the daughter looks for answers as to why her relationship with her father has disintegrated over the years. The score is by Kristian Sensini, who garnered some attention for the recent Rocks in My Pocket.

    Sensini’s intimate opening cue, “Attese,” begins with a string quartet setting of a series of harmonic pulses, and a low flute for contrast. The writing here has an almost chorale-like quality as it begins to reveal a thematic thread. In the first title track, the music takes on a more melancholy tone, with muted keyboard and electric violin. The material can be quite touching, partly due to the small chamber style, as in the beautiful “Devotio.”  

    A jazzier feel comes into play in tracks like “Figlia del Padre,” which features a pained motif against a stark backdrop. The haunting vocal in “Ana Yelena” has an almost medieval quality, a flavor continued via the string ensemble in “Ragnetela.” The hypnotic “Surprise Me” provides a slightly more contemporary vibe, similar to trance music. “Un Tango” is a nice change of pace with more of an emphasis on rhythm, before the disc closes with a piano version of the title theme.

    La Sorpresa is a haunting little score with ideas that unfold slowly in a mesmerizing, quasi-minimalist fashion. There’s a bit too much repetition of material across the album’s brief playing time, but the tracks are well sequenced. —Steven A. Kennedy

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  • “La Sorpresa” OST Review by MundoBSO

    January 4, 2016

    MundoBSO review of La Sorpresa Soundtrack Thank you Conrado Xalabarder !

    http://www.mundobso.com/bso/sorpresa-la

    Banda sonora en la que el compositor transita cómodamente por los estados emocionales del dolor y de la liberación y reconciliación. Lo hace en base en primer lugar a la creación de unas atmósferas de turbación e inseguridad, nebulosas, que son expansivas y que dan un tono de misterio, de ocultación y de secreto, que se aplica sobre los personajes. En ese contexto de oscuridad, empieza a surgir la luz en la forma de temas bellos y plácidos, no exentos de moderada carga de dolor, pero también que exponen una necesidad de reconciliación, pues son músicas optimistas y esperanzadoras, y entre ellas destaca naturalmente un notable tema principal, líder absoluto de esas músicas que son abiertas y positivas. Son las que finalmente se imponen en lo que ha sido un duelo musical de supervivencia personal de los propios personajes.

     

    FireShot Capture 26 - Conrado Xalabarder

    MundoBSO - Sorpresa

  • La Sorpresa–Review by Soundtrack Geek

    January 1, 2016

    http://www.soundtrackgeek.com/v2/soundtrack-review-la-sorpresa/

    La Sorpresa is a 2015 Italian drama film directed by Ivan Polidoro and starring Adriana Caggiano, Mario Ierace and Rocco Fasano. It’s the story of three people and their relationship, unwanted, but necessary. The protagonists are a father, his daughter, and a male nurse. The setting is a city in the south of Italy: Potenza. Following the sudden illness of his father Antonio, the twenty-year-old Adriana is compelled to face reality. She immediately realizes she’s not able to take care of his father because of an unnatural awkwardness. Too many years have passed and too many lies have been told. The score is composed by Kristian Sensini.

    I had a hard time finding much official info on this film (that wasn’t in Italian), but I succeeded in the end. Looking forward getting into some Italian drama again. The score opens with ‘Attese’ which means ‘Expectations’, a beautiful piece of music of reflection, slow and longing strings gives it a heavy mood. A bit depressive really, but that’s the main characters state of mind as well. I think it will be one of those scores, where the mood is incredibly important. The first title cue ‘La Sorpresa 1’ is a brilliant minimalistic power piece. It feels strong and wilful in it’s presentation because of it’s theme and choice of instruments which sounds like synth violins.

    La Sorpresa is an intimate score. You won’t find a big orchestra here. Usually the music used only a few instruments, but like I always say, it’s not the size, it’s how you use them and Sensini use it well in the beginning. I feel that it gets a bit too simple at times and Im dying for some more, like in the vocal cue ‘Ana Yelena 1’ I need something more. Luckily in ‘Ana Yelena 2’ there’s an underscore and it improves on the original ‘Ana Yelena’ massively. Same thing with ‘Padre’ which features single strokes of cello. Those are not cues that appeal to me. What appealed to me most was the minimalistic main theme. It hit something with me, something that the rest of the music couldn’t match apart from the opening cue ‘Attese’. It’s an enjoyable score overall, but one that also frustrated me a bit because I couldn’t quite get what I wanted, what I hoped for. It’s a score that will probably grow on me though if I am able to play it again at a later time. I hope I do and I bet it will bring back fond memories. What do you think of the score?

    HIGHLIGHTS:
    1. Attese
    2. La Sorpresa 1
    8. La Sorpresa 2

     

    La Sorpresa soundtrackgeek

  • La Sorpresa–SoundtrackDreams Review

    December 22, 2015

    http://www.soundtrackdreams.com/2015/12/soundtrack-review-la-sorpresa-kristian-sensini-2015/

    “La sorpresa” is a 2015 Italian film directed by Ivan Polidoro. It’s the story of three people and their relationship, unwanted, but necessary. The protagonists are a father, his daughter, and a male nurse. The setting is a city in the south of Italy: Potenza. She immediately realizes she’s not able to take care of his father because of an unnatural awkwardness. Too many years have passed and too many lies have been told. Rocco is a nurse, a lonely, mysterious man who lives for his job. He looks after Antonio with obsessive manners and tender affection – almost as a son would do – proving that a stranger can succeed in doing the things a family cannot do. Kristian Sensini wrote the score.

    European dramas have a certain kind of mood and this is almost always reflected in the music. “Attese”, the opening theme from “La sorpresa” does a great job in getting me familiar with the story. The cue is quiet and dominated by a string motif that moves slowly as if to give it time to really sink in and give me time as a listener to feel the weight of the setting and not rush into the story. Now that I am in the right mood to really feel this score the composer continues with the almost atmospheric “La sorpresa 1” which as far as reflective themes go really hits the spot for me. I immediately connect with it and its ambient vibe and I hope we’ll get more pieces like this one. There’s a bit of late 80s, early 90s vibe in it and there’s no sweeter place for me to be in.

    I always love to hear a cue like ”Devotio” in a score. This one almost has nothing to do with any story other than the one the composer wants to tell. It’s a beautiful and tender string theme that makes me feel as if I’m in a chamber watching a very intimate concert. The soloists put all their hearts in playing the notes that Kristian Sensini wrote and the effect is charming. The score evolves naturally so that an almost religious choral piece like “Ana Yelena 1” doesn’t surprise me and feels like it comes at the right time. Each of the two main themes “La sorpresa” and “Ana Yelena” get further explored in a few more subtle variations.

    I love the modern ambient sound of the “La sorpresa” moments just as much as the deep string work the rest of the score brings. Overall the score really is a very nice surprise and I can’t wait to hear more from this composer.

    Soundtrack review_ La sorpresa