Original Review by Alan Rogers
The beauty with the increasing availability of digital media outlets for soundtracks is being able to hear music that you would not normally expect to hear from films you would not normally expect to come across. Il Primo Incarico (The First Assignment) is an Italian movie from 2011 which follows Nena travelling far from home for her first job as a schoolteacher. She’s in love with someone in the village she has to leave but promises she’ll remain faithful. However, the isolated school she goes to teach at has a handsome stubbly handyman who seems to have an eye for the ladies… Director Giogria Cecere has turned to “journalist, musician, arranger and composer” Donatello Pisanello to score this Italian drama.
The short (30 minute) score revolves around 2-3 ideas that appear in a variety of versions, played by a small ensemble of players (acoustic guitar, cello and double bass). The theme for Nena is a beautiful theme that we first hear arranged for acoustic guitar and cello and we hear it in full in the second track, “Tena di Nena”. Most of the tracks found in this release sound more like concert pieces rather than underscore for a film: tracks are self-contained pieces with themes or ideas being restated unchanged or with slightly different arrangements. Read the rest of this entry »
