 |
 |
 |
|
original music by Anton Batagov for the film directed by Ivan Dykchovichny excerpts from reviews + + + One might make a special research into this movie soundtrack. Its choral arrangement, its tragic atmosphere, its icy polyphony evoke an apocalyptic feeling of the end of the universe. Ekran i stzena (Screen and stage) weekly, July 24, 1995 + + + “Music for December” is one the first Russian films about the spiritual itch experienced by the world-weary nouveau riche. It is also an attempt to find a dramatic and visual form for a minimalist composition written by composer Anton Batagov. There’s a catch in the name of the film “Music for December” as there is no December in the picture at all, but rather the St Petersburg summer, the season of “White nights”. One of the main heroes recorded the disc with this title: “Music for December”. “But why ‘Music for December’ – you wrote it in summer?”, he’s been asked. He would prefer to say nothing in response. “Music for December” was not written by the hero of the picture, but by minimalist composer Anton Batagov and preceded the film. It was written for its own sake, with no knowledge of its future cinematographic namesake. From it came the original soundtrack. According to director Dykhovichny, the scenario emerged from Batagov’s musical score. The attempt to find verbal and visual equivalents for the minimalist musical dramaturgy was an adventurous undertaking. It was a unique experience for both Russian and international cinema. By Sergei Anashkin. The newest history or Russian cinema 1986 – 2000. Volume VI, St.Petersburg, 2004. + + + Batagov’s soundtrack: Through just the music Dikhovichy’s film can enter the register otherwise dominated by the tandem Greenway–Nyman. By Maria Kuvshinova, Seans magazine + + + Music for December – a composition by Anton Batagov for Ivan Dykhovichny’s eponymous film – is really one of the strongest dramatic elements of this movie. It sounds from the very beginning to the very end, accompanying the final episode with overpowering walls of sound. This incomprehensible triumphant music with powerful pulsations of the brass instruments plunges into a rarefied atmosphere of crystalline purity, a space of unknown origins. Salvation from the hell of earthly existence is clearly projected onto the sphere of the pure spirit and finds in the music a particular expression. by Elena Ponomareva, Sevodnya Newspaper, November 1995 |
 |
 |