Caldera Records release Tuomas Kantelinen's score for the 2011 movie The Italian Key. The film tells the story of 19-year old Cabella who receives a mysterious key as her only inheritance from her recently deceased uncle. The girl decides to literally unlock the secrets of her past by moving to a run-down villa in Italy. She slowly makes friends with three sisters and also befriends the ghost of a nine-year-old chimney sweeper named Angelo who died in the house long ago. Together with her new friends, Cabella starts to learn more about her mysterious past as she also rediscovers her “joie de vivre”...

The music for The Italian Key was written by Tuomas Kantelinen who is also the producer of the film and the husband of its director. Since the film has a vintage it is meant to be an old-finished film in many respects, Kantelinen decided to pay tribute to that musically by delivering a romantic score for orchestra, filled with several themes and motifs that describe the characters and their surroundings.

There are elements of other composers work that flit in and out of the course of this album's 19 tracks (53 min, 14 sec). There's hints of Danny Elfman's music for Edward Scissorhands in 'Mother's Tears', whilst 'Angelo's Goodbye' reminded me of the work of James Horner. In addition there's the odd occasion where the spirit of John Barry seems to be channeled.

Overall it's a wonderfully enchanting and thematically beautiful score that's well worth adding to your collection.

9

Darren Rea