Sergey Gives Russian Music Talk in Lenox

For the next in its series of “Conversations With” lectures, Close Encounters with Music presents an intriguing talk on film music of the Soviet and Russian eras.

It’s a gold mine of music of great composers like Prokofiev and Shostakovich, as well as lesser-known but daring musical experimenters.

Presenter Timothy Sergay is a professor of Russian literature and translation at SUNY Albany. Although neither musicologist nor film historian, his passion for, and expertise in, film scores came through in an interview for Compass.

“John Barry’s soundtrack from ‘Thunderball’ was the first music I fell in love with when I was a boy, even before the Beatles. I listened to that disc for hours on end.”

“Some Soviet film music began even before the sound era, as musicians including Shostakovich would compose for the piano accompaniment to silent films. Later came the collaboration between Prokofiev and [the Soviet avant-garde auteur Sergei] Eisenstein, which was comparable to the great partnership of Alfred Hitchcock and [composer] Bernard Herrmann.”

Sergay was quick to point out that the differences in the development of movie music between the United States and Russia wasn’t as pronounced as many people think. “There was much inter-pollination between them,” he said. “They were like fraternal twins.” Russian composers ­­— and moviemakers — were often inspired by their American counterparts, and vice versa.

Sergay traced two major evolutionary streams on the Soviet and Russian side. One he called “the symphonic, which was comparable in its function to American movie scores.” (Just think of John Williams and his many minions.)

A second “tributary” consisted of the use of songs composed and performed by singer-songwriters that stood more outside the action of the movie and commented on it, rather than being embedded in the action as much American music is. “Many of those songs achieved popularity in Russian culture.”

Sergay’s talk will be richly illustrated with musical excerpts and contains a wealth of information to make you think, not only listen. How is film music treated in America and Russia? Does it have a life of its own outside of the movies? Are there unexplored ways music can enhance or even transform the movie-going experience?

Russian and Soviet Film Music: A Tuneful Survey will be presented on Sunday, April 22 at 3:00 pm at The Mount in Lenox, Mass. Go to www.cewm.org for tickets and information, or call (800) 843-0778.