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Eduard Artemiev - Music for the Films of Nikita Mikhalkov
Eduard Artemiev - Music for the Films
of Nikita Mikhalkov
In the 1970s, Artemiev worked at the Moscow Electronic Studio where avant-garde artists from many fields met to listen and discuss music. That led to his work with Tarkovsky, a collaboration that yielded some of his most-celebrated music. One of the first albums to document his music on another support than film was the soundtrack to Sibiriada (Sibériade), released in 1979 by the French ethnomusicological label Le Chant du Monde. By the end of the decade, the composer was moving a few steps away from the avant-garde. Strongly influenced by the electronic developments in rock music (progressive rock, Tangerine Dream), he invented his own personal form of "new simplicity" while trying to appeal to a new audience. The Olympic committee for the 1980 Moscow games commissioned him a piece for the opening ceremony and Artemiev wrote the cantata "Ode to the Herald of Good," which fuses orchestra, choir, rock group, and synthesizers. The piece, along with excerpts from various soundtracks, was released in 1984 on the LP Mood-Pictures by the U.S.S.R. state label Melodia -- Artemiev's only domestic release before the perestroika.
The '80s saw him come back to orchestral music: quasi-symphonies ("The Seven Gates into the World of Satori"), cantatas ("The Warmth of the Earth"), and more film music. When the Communist regime crumbled and the works of the aforementioned filmmakers were reissued on home video cassettes, Artemiev's reputation grew considerably. He stopped composing electro-acoustic music after "I'd Like to Return" (1993) to focus on his opera "Raskolnikov" (from the name of Dostoyevsky's hero in Crime and Punishment), completed almost a decade later, and more film soundtracks (more than 125 by 2001). Since 1997, his son, Artemiy Artemiev, has released many of his works on his label Electroshock. - François Couture
Track List
1. Farewell to Russia (Avtostop) (0:00)
2. Path (Avtostop) (3:37)
3. In Winter’s Woods (Avtostop) (5:58)
4. Fiat-waltz (Avtostop) (8:09)
5. The Fog of the Land (Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano) (9:31)
6. Player Piano (Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano) (13:03)
7. One Day from Childhood (Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano) (15:50)
8. In the Town Square (Slave of Love) (20:12)
9. Picnic (Slave of Love) (23:22)
10. Silent Film Screening (Slave of Love) (26:31)
11. And The Wind Took Her Scarf (Slave of Love) (28:08)
12. Auto-promenade (Slave of Love) (31:01)
13. Suitors (Slave of Love) (33:42)
14. Yearning (Slave of Love) (38:18)
15. Introduction (Oblomov) (43:50)
16. Country Dance (Oblomov) (46:18)
17. Heart’s Longing (Oblomov) (48:11)
18. Visits (Oblomov) (50:56)
19. Letter (Oblomov) (53:45)
20. Summer Day in the Villa (Oblomov) (57:34)
21. Parting With Father (Oblomov) (59:29)
22. Monologue (Quiet Day at the End of the War) (1:02:59)
23. Lacrimosa (Requiem for the Great Victory) (1:08:20)
24. The End (A Friend Among Strangers, A Stranger Among Friends) (1:12:23)
