Russian Film Music III

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Cat No: BAM2048

Release Date: 25 August 2014

Label: Bel Air

Packaging Type: Digipak

No of Units: 2

Barcode: 5705604020601

Genres: Soundtracks Classical

Release Date: 15 July 2013

Label: Bel Air

Packaging Type: Digipak

No of Units: 2

Barcode: 5705604020489

Genres: Soundtracks Classical

Description
The albums Russian Film Music I and II, performed by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under the batons of Konstantin Krimets and Sergei Skripta respectively, were released in 2000 and 2003, and became two of Bel Air's best selling - and most acclaimed - recordings. Now a selection of the best tracks from those two CDs have been compiled for this set, which also contains a DVD of clips from the films for which the music was composed.

Some of the composers and music are well-known - Shostakovich's scores for Hamlet and The Gadfly, and Prokofiev's for Lieutenant Kijé, for instance - usually because suites were later also made for the concert hall. But how many of those who know this highly attractive music have ever seen the original movies? Many of the composers are still largely unknown to western ears, but one only has to listen to the irresistible melodies of Georgy Sviridov, Valery Gavrilin, Gennady Gladkov, Viktor Lebedev or Mikael Tariverdiev to be swept up in the thrilling and often moving world of Russian cinema.

The films featured range throughout much of the Soviet period - the earliest music heard is from the 1930s while the latest was composed in 1987. The DVD shows original film clips (with English subtitles) but synchronised with the digital quality sound tracks recorded by Bel Air Music (for Russian Film Music I & II) rather than the original film soundtracks. A few extracts of 1930s films were not produced because of inferior quality, so there are 19 film clips on the DVD (playing for over 2½ hours) but 24 tracks on the 79-minute CD. The DVD has one remarkable bonus track, the famous Adagio from the ballet 'Spartacus' by Khachaturian, filmed in 1968.

Description
Bel Air's discs of Russian Film Music have been among the label's bestsellers - no surprise given the instantly memorable themes by Soviet composers heard on these CDs. Now comes the equally captivating Russian Film Music III, featuring film scores from 1932-2004, but with one unique difference: in addition to the CD there is a DVD of film clips putting the music by Tariverdiev, Shostakovich, Schwartz, Petrov, Sviradov, Artemiev and others into its intended context.

The long-awaited Russian Film Music III brings together 26 tracks of music, mostly from the 1970s and 1980s. Exceptions include Shostakovich's scores for the films Oncoming (1932), Michurin (1948) and Near as Life (1966) and the most recent piece, Anatoly Kroll's 'Anxious' from 2004's The Cavalier Announced Dead. Though very popular in Russia, many of the scores are little known internationally. However some have gained cult status around the world, among them the music created by Edward Artemiev for Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpieces Solaris and Stalker.

The Soviet period saw a vast production of mainly propaganda films, but in between there were films released without political overtones, some on historical themes. The soundtracks, for which some scores no longer exist, were usually recorded by unnamed studio ensembles and the sound quality (though not the performances) was not always the best. However, since most of this music is not well known beyond Russia, producer Ole Jorgensen made this a secondary consideration, putting the emphasis instead on the hugely enjoyable selection of music and the track sequence.

The absorbing DVD contains 24 movie clips from the majority of the films for which the music on the CD was originally composed. As there is more than one extract from some of the films, the 87-minute DVD features them in a different order referring to the track order on the CD at the start of each excerpt. The original music soundtracks are enhanced in these extracts, and the Russian dialogue is translated for English subtitles.
Tracklisting
Tracklisting