COLD SPRING 4th September 2026
Five remastered film soundtracks conjure up the atmosphere of legendary director, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Russian masterpieces. Epically shot, pensive, moody films, shifting between black and white, sepia and colour, these hang on mood and atmosphere, lingering decades in the memory. Forget George Clooney’s ‘Solaris’, the original is physically and psychically haunted by texture, feel, pace and the extraordinary music. It’s forty years since I saw ‘Stalker’ and I can still see the images of rain striking a puddle.
Tarkovsky’s classic work is soundtracked by two composers. Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov composes for Ivan’s Childhood and Andrei Roublev while Eduard Artemyev makes the sounds for the mature classics Solaris, Mirror and Stalker. The first two soundtracks, by Ovchinnikov, from the sixties are haunting and spare, with orchestral work, choral pieces, solo vocal, floating and conjuring atmosphere. The fascination for me, starts with ‘Solaris’ and moves on into ‘Mirror’ and ‘Stalker’. Artemyev is a man of the Seventies, bringing electronics and abstract noises to the sonic palette.
The adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s ‘Solaris’ is heavy on the drone, with electronic noises, spooky and menacing. JS Bach’s organ music feature, warming up the proceedings and adding a mathematic formalism to contrast the shifting textures. The complex (aka unfathomable) ‘Mirror’ sees similar blends, with a tenor singing German opera, baroque melody, and electronics, adding up to an unusual blend of enormous scale and jaunty melody. The highlight is probably ‘Stalker’, with wordless choir bringing in the effect Ligeti got in ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’, the drips I remember so well, meandering flute, layers of synthesiser, choir and the Iranian tar, a zither-like sound. The effect is widescreen and hugely atmospheric.
It’s good to hear these extraordinary soundtracks re-released, to be enjoyed alongside other activities, when not locked in a darkened room.
Ross McGibbon