soundtrack – Page 2 – KRISTIAN SENSINI

“La Sorpresa” OST review by Synchrotones

March 14, 2016

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

“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 .

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“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.

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‘Rocks in My Pockets’ on Rotoscopers.com

January 31, 2016

With a nice mention to my music :

“The score by Kristian Sensini is also very strong and worthy of its message; it fits the tone of the film perfectly.”

http://www.rotoscopers.com/2016/01/27/review-rocks-in-my-pockets/

With Anomalisa premiering in many US markets this month, I thought it might be fun to profile another adult animated film from last year you might have missed. Produced, directed, written, and animated by the artist Signe Baumane, Rocks in My Pockets is a challenging film that is definitely not for everyone, but I’m glad I saw it.

Signe Baumane is a Latvian artist, and Rocks in My Pockets profiles her family’s history with mental illness. Using paper-mache stop-motion and sketchy hand-drawn animation, Signe created over 30,000 drawings to tell the story of her family. Some may find it garish, but as an appreciator of complex art, I thought it was beautiful.

The story of Signe’s family begins with her Grandmother Anna who had eight children and was a severe manic depressive. She attempts to commit suicide at one point in a lake but doesn’t have the rocks in her pockets so her attempt fails. This scene is obviously brutal, but it captures the madness, panic, and strange peace that happen inside the heads of those dealing with mental illness. I have never had a serious incident like Anna, but I could relate to the panic and the way she described her mania.

We then learn about Anna’s eight children, and the Latvian proclivity for passing out pills to the mentally ill, particularly Valium and then putting them in asylums; thereby, either trying to dull or hide the problem rather than addressing it. I believe we are a little more advanced in the US but not as far along as we should be. The pills are helpful but can be over-prescribed, and the hiding and stigma still exist. Signe boldly reminds us of these problems.

Next we are introduced to four of Signe’s cousins, their struggle, and finally Signe shares her own battle with schizophrenia. I was particularly moved by her recounting of the birth of her child. It was a transcendent experience for her but even something as happy as that couldn’t take away her problems including postpartum depression.

Clearly Rocks in My Pockets is not for the faint of heart or those who don’t like something edgy and different. It is definitely vulgar, disturbing, and challenging to watch, but I found it daring and surprising. The animation is gorgeous and inventive. I loved how it moved; it felt like a sketch from inside Signe’s mind. Since all the stories are about women, the female bodies are intentionally drawn in a way so they look nude despite being fully clothed (except for one scene where a back is shown). You get a feeling Signe feels naked while drawing this story and that leads to her striking visuals.

As with any bold artistic film, Rocks in My Pockets is not perfect. Signe decides to narrate the film herself which with her strong Latvian accent comes off as robotic and very off-putting and since there is no other dialogue, that is unfortunate. I also don’t know if we needed to hear about every cousin, Signe, and the Grandma. It may have worked better as a short because as it is you leave the experience exhausted. You are stimulated and maybe even inspired but exhausted.

But all that said, probably my favorite part of the film is the ending. It does not give us any easy answers but says that sharing our stories is part of the solution. Signe says “Maybe it’s good to tell everybody so that they know what’s in their genes…It’s in the genes. You were designed to be crazy”. Maybe it is? Maybe we need to tell our stories and the stories of where we came from, so we get a better idea of how we are all ‘designed’. We can work together to overcome, even embrace these challenges whether it be in our mental or physical health. How great would that be?

The score by Kristian Sensini is also very strong and worthy of its message; it fits the tone of the film perfectly.

So if you are looking for something different and enjoy artistic, adult animation, then check out Rocks in My Pockets. I think you will really be moved by it and be glad you did. Let me know what you think in the comments section. It’s a film that should incite discussion so I will be curious to hear your response if any of you see it.

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“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 on MUSICA DE CINE BLOG

January 13, 2016

http://musicadecineblog.com/2016/01/12/kristian-sensini-la-sorpresa/

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

La Sorpresa. Comentario.

Por Javier Pelegrín Parra.

Ya en los primeros compases que nos conducen a través del film del también italiano Ivan Polidoro, observamos el auténtico motivo emocional de todo el score, que no es otro que el intimismo del triángulo de los personajes del padre, la hija y un enfermero. Toda la historia es un continuo drama opresivo, que nace con la pieza “Attesse” que marca el inicio mediante la lógica expectativa como se traduce de su título, la desazón de las cuerdas y un estado casi opresivo en su totalidad.
El score salta con el tema “La sorpresa 1” hacia un vacío que se recoge mediante los sintetizadores y que complementa su melodía con el tintineo que acompaña a “La sorpresa 2”; luego procede a jugar con el tic-tac del paso del tiempo y las notas discordantes del piano como en “Figlia del padre”, el pop new age de “Come sopesa” y la interpolación de la cuerda con el synth de percusión de “Ragnatela”.
Pero donde el score gana y crece con más fuerza es en el instante en que más clásico se torna: el solo dramático de “Padre” con una cuerda que roza la oscuridad y la pena, o la mejor pieza de la banda sonora que es la esperanzadora “La sorpresa”, un tema optimista, palpable a los ojos detrás de nuestros oídos que finaliza entre las olas de un mar totalmente chillout. Este tema se debe entender junto a la versión de piano del mismo título que cierra la partitura y que destaca desde el intimismo que se nos es narrada.
Hay que subrayar el uso de la voz que se nos muestra en las tres partes de “Ana Yalena”, que, por así decirlo, parecen seguir un guión coral de principio a fin mejorándose las unas a las otras. Son resoplidos minimalistas que cuajan en la mente de quien las escucha pero que a la vez dan la sensación de ser más sintéticas e irreales que puros susurros vocales, lo que nos deja una sensación agridulce.

En el sentido general, la obra es buena, llegando a ser notable cuando más intimista se vuelve; cuando el piano es el que balancea y hace avanzar esas cuerdas tan bien hilvanadas en pos de una melodía muy bien construida en su conjunto.
Si bien la parte de los sintetizadores se puede entender, hubiera sido más dramática y profunda aún si cabe, sin tanta presencia de ellos.
Seguiremos la pista a Sensini y sus nuevos aportes en los venideros años que de bien seguro contarán con sus notas cerca de nuestros ávidos oídos sedientos de cine y bandas sonoras.

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Rocks In My Pockets at Sigmund Freud Museum

January 9, 2016

Great news! I’m happy to hear that my music will be heard at Sigmund Freud Museum in Wien

Can Unconscious be seen? Tricky Women Animation Festival presentsRocks In My Pockets at Sigmund Freud Museum as part of the Animation And The Unconscious series. January 12 at 7 PM. FREE.

http://trickywomen.at/en/kept-picture-%E2%80%93-animation-and-unconscious-2

ANIMATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS

PART 4: BIOGRAPHIES

Filmstill aus Rocks in my Pockets (Signe Baumane, US 2014)

We will show two movies, one is short, the other one a feature:

Facing Shadows (Lizzy Hobbs, UK 2015)

In April 2015, seven young people who had been to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for help with their depression came together, with the aim of making a short, animated film about what it is like to suffer from depression as a teenager.

Rocks in my Pockets (Signe Baumane, US 2014)

A main feature of Signe Baumane’s movies is the pointedly handling of difficult and controversial subjects. She speaks frankly about issues a lot of people try to avoid, her biographical series Teat Beat of Sex (2007) is an impressive example for her creative cutoff of an inner and social censorship.Rocks in my Pockets – A crazy Quest for Sanity tells the story of a family. Starting in a not further specified present the narrative leads to Latvia in the 1920s where Anna, Baumane’s grandmother, faces a thoughtful future for she’s well educated and smart. Things become different when Anna marries an adventurous entrepreneur. From now on Anna is facing a life full of suppression. A suicide attempt follows and is kept silent in Baumane’s family for years.

Sounds terrible. But still Rocks in my Pockets is an optimistic movie. For it tells not only the personal tragedies within one family that stands for a gazillion families. It also focuses on the process of an emancipation from a disease. Baumane’s voice-over tells the story of her family throughout the whole movie, the filmmaker appears as a protagonist in a crucial position for she is the one that breaks with the female family tradition of a desperate fate. Being conscious about her own depression the fear from a genetic loading is kept under control for Baumane becomes aware of her life as an artist in New York, full of opportunities and creative choices.

KEPT IN THE PICTURE – ANIMATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS

Part 4: Biographies

Date: January 12th, 2016

Where: Sigmund Freud Museum, Berggasse 19, 1090 Wien

Start: 7 pm

Free entrance!

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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.

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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

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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.

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La Sorpresa

December 7, 2015

Premiere 10 December 2015 (Italy)

Scroll Down to listen to samples and for English Translation

È la storia di un rapporto a tre, non voluto ma necessario. Protagonisti: il padre, la figlia, e l’infermiere. Teatro dell’azione: Potenza.
Costretto da un improvviso malore del padre Antonio, Adriana, la figlia ventenne si trova a dover fare i conti con la realtà. Da subito si rende conto di non essere capace ad assistere il genitore, un imbarazzo innaturale li circonda. Troppi anni sono trascorsi e troppe bugie sono state dette. Il loro è un dialogo sterile fatto di domande apparentemente senza senso.
Tra i due, Rocco, infermiere solitario e misterioso, che fa del suo lavoro l’unica ragione di vita. Il suo modo ossessivo e maniacale, l’amore che ci mette nell’accudire Antonio, quasi fosse lui il figlio, è la dimostrazione di come un estraneo riesca là dove la famiglia fallisce. Alla giovane Adriana non rimane che assistere impotente e cercare le ragioni di tutto questo, come padre e figlia possano essere così distanti.
La morte della madre, il segreto che nasconde, è uno dei motivi. Il padre è ormai stanco, vuole solo morire. La sua è una richiesta, assurda – come assurdo è il saggio di Camus (Il diritto e il rovescio) che Adriana studia all’università.
“La sorpresa” è nella storia e nel suo svolgimento, nelle microtrame al suo interno. E ad una richiesta di libertà.

__________________________________

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.
They live on meaningless dialogues, and apparently insignificant questions.
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.

The young Adriana watches helplessly while she tries to look for some answers as to why a father and a daughter can be so distant.
Her mother’s death, the secret she’s hiding, is one of the reasons.
His father is tired, he just wants to die. He has got a request as irrational as Camus’ essay (The Wrong Side and The Right Side) which Adriana is studying at University.
“The surprise” is in the story and in its unfolding, in the inner micro-plots. It’s a call for freedom.

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ANIMATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS

PART 4: BIOGRAPHIES

KEPT IN THE PICTURE – ANIMATION AND THE UNCONSCIOUS