Very sad to read this. I had literally JUST begun to discover his non-Tarkovsky efforts, which are vastly more interesting to me, musically, than any of his more famed collaborations.
BURNT BY THE SUN, BARBER OF SIBERIA and especially the magnificent AS FAR AS MY FEET WILL CARRY ME are great scores with incredible command of orchestral detail, rife with haunting themes and fascinating extended techniques and dissonances. It's all very characterful work and those unfamiliar with these scores (and likely others I don't know yet) are in for a wonderful surprise.
I hope to discover more and lament that none of it will be, per se, "new". Still, a rich legacy he leaves behind!
R.I.P. His music, and Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's, greatly elevated Tarkovsky's films. I am sad to say that I haven't listened to any of his other scores.
Sorry to hear this. I watched Burnt By The Sun not two weeks ago and was quietly impressed by the score. I wonder if he (or the actor) was responsible for the main character whistling a then-popular Shostakovich song during his travails.
Artemyev had a long and very productive career. I have only heard about 9 or 10 scores of his, but this is among my favorites. The trumpet playing in this score ("Capture") is phenomenal.
Would love to see Quartet or Music Box take on Artemyev, and get some good editions out there.
Lots of albums and compilations on discogs.
I know, I have a few of them, but it's nice to get the specialist label polish, and to see composers potentially brought to the attention of collectors in the states, who might not be in the habit of catching older foreign language films.
A comment from composer Vladimir Horunzhy after I asked him on Facebook if he had worked with Artemyev on HOMER & EDDIE:
Jon Aanensen I certainly have, Jon - not only. My friend David Chackler, who was a music supervisor on a crowd of top Hollywood projects, whom I worked on "Return of the Living Dead Part II" just a few months before, called me up and asked if I can help a fellow Russian composer to do a score for a movie where his childhood friend from Chicago Jim Belushi is one of the leads. No need to doubt - of course. I knew of him, he did not know me. Konchalovsky I've met before at some parties, where he was a star of the moment.
My jazz friend and fellow "gig master" Alexy Zubov, who I think was one of the most phenomenal tenor players of all time, just arranged a recording studio at the Beachwood drive place and was looking for a gig. Needless to say Zubov - a legend in USSR and beyond as a musician needed to be confirmed as a recording engineer, so here was I - "Of course he is perfect".
Long to short - I was there all the time - to translate into English or Russian, into Hollywood from European. Artemiev had no fooking idea how this thing operates, I mean film business - SMPTE, editors, script notes, etc. That's why every late night after they will finish recording I would end up with Alexey (that was his real name) at my place just around the corner on Hillpark drive to give him some advice and etc. with a good quality vodka in between. Before I forget, Lyosha went home to Moscow completely confused about LA and the rest. But a few months later Andron and David called me up in order to do some additional scoring to this movie, Alexey was unreachable and I wrote some cues and recorded them in a span of a few days.
We kept in touch with Artemiev, he gave an interview in a composer's magazine where he was totally lost - "how a guy like Horunzhy can be unknown while having unbelievable chops as a composer and a keyboardist"! I told him later when in Moscow at the "cup of vodka" how sweet it was to read that. We kept in touch as much as we could. A few weeks ago his son Artemiy found me and ask if I want to talk to his dad? - We had a lengthy beautiful conversation with the mutual "you are the best" refrains. I know who he is - mega master of melody upon harmony! Totally forgotten trade! BUT WE LOVE IT!
Even though I know very little about Artemyev, URGA is definitely a favourite score of mine, like First breath also said. I still remember vividly the pure magic of this score on the vast landscapes of Asia and I still play this record on a regular basis. RIP Maestro.
Even though I know very little about Artemyev, URGA is definitely a favourite score of mine, like First breath also said. I still remember vividly the pure magic of this score on the vast landscapes of Asia and I still play this record on a regular basis. RIP Maestro.
I've seen the film when it originally came out, and I tried hard to get into that score at the time but couldn't. So, I've never bought the CD. I've not heard many of his scores apart from those he did for Tarkovsky. The Barber Of Siberia might be the one I like best.
Sehnsuchtshafen, a possible explanation could be that this score is too New Age for your taste. I find it very soothing, especially thanks to the use of what is called 'magic flutes' in the booklet. The track 'The moon' has been used successfully for several years for an ad here in France. Great stuff.
Sehnsuchtshafen, a possible explanation could be that this score is too New Age for your taste. I find it very soothing, especially thanks to the use of what is called 'magic flutes' in the booklet. The track 'The moon' has been used successfully for several years for an ad here in France. Great stuff.
I listened to some scattered pieces from Urga on YT, which not entirely unexpectedly leads me to a complete reassessment. Very lovely, all of it.
It's really hard to find soundtracks by Artemiev online, for streaming first and maybe acquisition later. There are all the obvious ones, of course, and some bits and bobs on YouTube, in various quality and length. And many compilations (hidden behind Russian writing, so hard to decipher sometimes). But so many gems waiting to be properly released. I've been wanting to build my Artemiev collection for a long time, but I find it really difficult. I wonder what hope there is? What label could possibly be interested in releasing his material?
Since it's all a bit bewildering, I would have loved to see a complete Artemiev discograpy that lists ALL of his works, and then has the release underneath (whether whole albums or just short tracks on compilations). I've tried using things like Discogs and Soundtrackcollector, but even combined it doesn't give a great overview (and, again, with all the Russian fonts). The book that FB listed above appears to have a discography section; that could be what I'm looking for.
