It seems fair to remark that outside of Russia Mikael Tariverdiev is as known by feverish cinephiles as heavy-duty record collectors, though a superb new collection is set to boost awareness of the composer’s work. Culling material from a distinguished career spanning over a quarter century, for those with a deep interest in the crossroads of music and movies it’s a revelation; folks merely curious about international sounds are still likely to find it a highly satisfying listen. Film Music is available on 3LP/3CD from Earth Recordings on November 20.
“Listen up guys, we’re all geniuses here, aren’t we? Let’s make genius films. I’ll help you!”
—Mikael Tariverdiev
Obscurity is of course relative, just as recognition and anonymity are often fleeting and for that matter subject to region. Mikael Tariverdiev is described as famous in his Russian homeland; in addition to extensive film scores he’s composed operas, suites for organ, and vocal cycles pairing poetry and music. Reinforcing his artistic emergence in the mid-20th century (born in 1931, he passed in 1996), Tariverdiev stylistically straddled classical, jazz, and the avant-garde.
But there are differing facets to fame. Upon introduction to the soundtrack to Mikhail Kalik’s 1964 film Goodbye, Boys!, Film Music’s producer Stephen Coates (founder of The Real Tuesday Weld) was simply informed by the Moscow café’s waitress that it was “something from the old times.” For many, Tariverdiev’s compositions for film and television had apparently been absorbed by the culture at large, and yet others surely knew his name and occupation without necessarily being able to associate him with a specific piece or score.
The relativity of obscurity certainly applies to cult film; Goodbye, Boys! has been described in such terms, but in the West cult items like A Clockwork Orange and Blue Velvet (to say nothing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show) tower over it like summer blockbusters. For starters, Kalik’s film is essentially unavailable for viewing.
At home Tariverdiev transcends cult status; Goodbye, Boys! is aptly assessed as just one component in a Russian filmic upsurge related to his country’s temporarily loosened grip on cultural policy. Tied to the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev and influenced by concurrent cinematic movements worldwide, Goodbye, Boys! was a byproduct of the ‘60s, man.
Though they met while studying (the quotation above derives from this period), Goodbye, Boys! (their third film together) helped to cement Tariverdiev’s relationship with Kalik, who contributes notes to Film Music alongside Coates and the composer’s widow, Vera Tariverdieva an indefatigable champion of her husband’s oeuvre as well as the set’s co-producer.
Jumping forward to the next decade, 1973’s Seventeen Moments of Spring, a twelve-part mini-series concerning a Soviet spy operating in Nazi Germany, and ‘76’s The Irony of Fate, a romantic-comedy that’s enduring significance in modern Russia is comparable to It’s a Wonderful Life, are amongst the most successful Soviet television productions ever made.
Selections from those works comprise the entirety of Film Music’s second disc, but the first offers the majority of Tariverdiev’s early activity from a variety of ‘60s flicks, the audio frequently taken directly from their soundtracks. “Boys and Sea Part One” opens with a foghorn giving way to lyrical piano interweaved with sea gulls and a culminating splash; the second part adds human voice to the equation.
The influence of jazz is a recurring motif, placing Tariverdiev in the company of such compositional heavies as Michel Legrand, Krzysztof Komeda, and Henry Mancini. “Dance at the Stadium” begins with stately piano before blossoming into swinging orchestral gusto, though the acoustic guitar, accordion, and acoustic bass of “Waltz” brings an old-world flavor as the tandem vocals of “My Younger Brother” suggest Nino Rota gone Exotica.
But it’s “The Last Romantic”’s combo of melodrama and avant-garde, perhaps reminiscent of a ‘60s soap opera scored by United Artists-era Cecil Taylor, that really commands attention. “Summer Blues” actually opens with a hint of rock-redolent reverb giving way to smoky jazz balladry gradually drifting into outward-bound territory, while “All This Jazz” is a free-bop cooker offering banging keys and a sweet electric guitar tangle.
“Russian Ragtime” unfurls a touch of Mancini amid outstanding piano presence, and “Unfinished Recording” ushers the 88s into a small group post-bop setting. However, the male voice of “Dolphins” plunges into Tariverdiev’s devotion to vocal cycles; across the three discs are adapted texts by Grigory Pozhenyan, Semyon Kirsanov, Boris Pasternak, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Mikhail Lermontov, and others, and as illuminated in his wife’s notes are connected to French Chanson and Russian Bard traditions. “You Have Such Eyes” employs a female vocalist and intertwines jazz elements.
As said, disc two spotlights the composer’s highest profile work. However, it’s safe to assume only a very small portion of Seventeen Moments of Spring’s total music is presented here. And a notable shift is evident; “On Tsvetochnaya Street” features vibes and strings to atmospheric and classical ends, “A Moment” expands to an ensemble of piano, organ, xylophone, bass, and drums, and “Prelude for Ket” scales it all back for an extremely pretty solo piano piece.
“Roads” combines memorable writing with vivid execution and a diverse instrumental arsenal including pleasurable organ strains, and “Couple in a café” starts out in a more impressionistic mode before gracefully transitioning into the tuneful. But “Expectation of the New Year” launches The Irony of Fate’s selections and switches to a robust and catchy orchestral template appropriate for a holiday film. Likewise “Snow over Leningrad,” its lushness mingled with vibes in the course of the festive ambiance.
Another series of vocal tracks arrive, alternating male and female voices with acoustic guitar to cultivate a folky Euro air. Most are contemplative, with “I Asked the Ash Tray” and “I Asked the Mirror” appealingly gentle; “Aria for a Moscow Guest” is an upbeat exception. “Third Stroitelnaya Street” is a swell tune for solo accordion, while the symphonic “Melody from Irony of Fate” and the melodically buoyant “The Last Waltz” deliver vibrantly cinematic themes.
1980’s Shakespeare vocal cycle “I Love” begins Film Music’s third disc and immediately instills a sense of mature confidence, expertly integrating the jazzy and the orchestral, while ‘89’s “Morning Clouds” should please lovers of lush strings. Shifting back to the ‘70s, “Moscow Morning” is a trim piano trio followed by a variation replacing the keyboard with vibes and harpsichord. Baroque environs persist in “Morning in the Mountains” and with an undercurrent of modernity (but not Modernist) during the chamber setting of “Prelude for Cello and Piano.”
Reverting back to the ‘70s, “Nocturne” reinvestigates melodrama, the strings wielding some serious tearjerking potential. It’s followed by a sequence of tracks utilizing the mixed-gender duet, “Over the Fields the Twilight is Indistinct” and “Your Voice” sporting particularly impressive weaves. After the fine self-explanatory instrumental of “Accordion Waltz” the program heads all the way back to ’56 for the swingtime and sturdy femme throat of “It Happens,” the latter facet retained for the jazz-pop sophistication of ‘64’s “Until Tomorrow” and the more Euro flavored “Don’t Be Sad.”
The atmosphere of “I am a Tree,” specifically male voice, piano, and drums, really is like something one might hear while lounging in a bohemian café, and a solo piano variation of “Goodbye, Boys!” sees Film Music’s carefully assembled and oft dazzling portrait of an extremely important musical figure coming full circle. For the time being anyway, Mikael Tariverdiev’s global stature has been deservedly raised.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
