10 instrumental masterpieces of Soviet cinema

1. Overture to the movie ‘The Children of Captain Grant’ (1936)

Composer Isaac Dunayevsky considered the overture to the movie based on the Jules Verne’s novel one of his great successes. It reflected everything that is in the movie: the romance of traveling to uncharted lands, the dangers that lie in wait along the way and the confidence that the adventure will be exciting. Fellow composer Dmitry Shostakovich called it “a symphonic work of great intensity and temperament”.

2. ‘Exit march’ from the movie ‘Circus’ (1936)

To the sound of the march, American artist Marion Dixon, who came to the Soviet Union with the number ‘Journey to the Moon’, appears in the circus arena. The music for the movie starring Lyubov Orlova in the title role was so popular and loved by the audience that, in 1941, composer Isaac Dunayevsky was awarded the ‘Stalin Prize’ for it.

3. Waltz from the movie ‘A Hunting Accident’(‘My Tender and Gentle Beast’), 1978

Director Emil Loteanu wanted 19th century music to be played in the movie. But, nothing was suitable. Composer Eugene Doga wrote a waltz in one night, improvising on the piano. When the film crew heard it, they couldn’t believe that the poignant piece had only appeared just a few hours ago. 

4. Waltz from the film ‘Beware of the car’(1966)

Andrei Petrov’s music was an embellishment of the tragicomic movie about an insurance agent who steals cars from speculators and bribe-takers. The composer himself said that their collaboration with Eldar Ryazanov began “from the wrong note”: the director at first did not like the music at all. But then he asked Petrov to play another of his melodies - from the film «I am walking on Moscow». And it turned out he just didn’t like the way the author’s style of performance.

5. ‘Snow over Leningrad’ from the movie ‘The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!’ (1976)

This melody by Mikael Tarverdiev is played every year on December 31 - it is on this day that TV channels air Eldar Ryazanov’s movie about how a Moscow surgeon named Zhenya Lukashin mistakenly flies to Leningrad and meets his love there, at the same address as his, back in the capital. 

6. ‘At the skating rink’ from the movie ‘Tale of the Star Boy’ (1983)

Director Leonid Nechayev combined two sad stories by Oscar Wilde - ‘The Star Boy’ and ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’. And the music for the movie was written by Alexey Rybnikov, author of ‘Juno and Avos’, considered one of the most famous Soviet and Russian rock operas.

7. The theme from the movie ‘Sibiriade’ (1979)

The music of Eduard Artemyev seems to be born out of the grinding of metal and the groaning of the Earth - at the same time, a drilling rig engulfed in flames collapses on the screen. Andrei Konchalovsky's epic movie about several generations of two Siberian families won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1979.

8. ‘Date with Martha’ from the movie ‘The Very Same Munchausen’ (1980)

Composer Alexey Rybnikov said that he and Mark Zakharov wrote the movie script at the piano. He improvised and the director read the text, pausing as he went along. This is how music became a full-fledged character in the movie.

9. ‘Meeting’ from the movie ‘The Return of Budulay’ (1985)

Movies based on Anatoly Kalinin’s novel about the gypsy Budulay were the first works in cinema of composer Valery Zubkov. And the most famous.

10. Music from the movie ‘At Home Among Strangers’ (1974)

The music by Eduard Artemyev for the most famous Soviet ‘Eastern’ is as grandiose as the scope of Nikita Mikhalkov’s movie. Epic, poignant and dramatic at the same time.

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