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Composed by
ENNIO MORRICONE

Rating
**

Album running time
43:22

Performed by
NUOVA ROMA SINFONIETTA
Conducted by
ENNIO MORRICONE

Orchestrated by
ENNIO MORRICONE

Engineered by
FABIO VENTURI
Produced by
MARIO CANTINI
GIAMPAOLO CANTINI

Released by
CONCERTONE
Serial number
74321934922

Artwork copyright (c) 2002 BMG Ricordi; review copyright (c) 2003 James Southall

SENSO 45

Offbeat WW2 score by Morricone
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Senso 45, some sort of soft-porn WW2 movie from Tinto Brass, who previously blessed the world with Caligula, received a typically offbeat score by Ennio Morricone.  The main theme, "Amore e Guerra" ("Love and War") is a kind of dirge that's quite effective at establishing the setting, if not one of the composer's more attractive themes.  "L'Alba del Tramonto" introduces some romantic material, though the twinkling percussion leading to sweeping strings has been done far, far better on many previous occasions by Morricone.

By far the best theme is heard for the first time in "Violenza d'Amore" ("Violence of Love") - a duet for viola and piano accompanied by strings, it's a really attractive and touching melody.  This contrasts with "Tre Viole Appassionate", an almost unlistenable track of suspense, with dissonant strings throughout.  "Un Pianoforte... alla Finestra" opens with a piano going up and down scales - and goes on and on - eventually joined by typically angular accompaniment from the string section.  And it continues to go on and on.  

In fact, so does the score - essentially the remainder features one of the aforementioned themes in some guise, or suspense music that is so effective, you can't bear to listen to it.  The one exception is the beautiful "Sottilmente Romantico", a Malena-style theme of great beauty.  But despite that, this is one of Morricone's weakest albums for quite a while, and one of his scores that is highly-effective in the film, but not on the album.

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Tracks

  1. Amore e Guerra (3:59)

  2. L'Alba del Tramonto (5:37)

  3. Violenza d'Amore (2:04)

  4. Tre Viole Appassionate (2:28)

  5. Un Pianoforte... Alla Finestra (2:59)

  6. Un Letto e Due Corpi (6:53)

  7. Sottilmente Romantico (3:50)

  8. Disegni Oltre... (3:18)

  9. Pensieri Fuori Campo (2:17)

  10. Sul Lento (2:08)

  11. Amore e Guerra (1:52)

  12. Dolore Come Amore (2:30)

  13. L'Orchestrina del Circolo Ufficiali (3:31)