From Russia with love

[bluepen115]

I finally have the soundtrack to the Russian adaption of Sherlock Holmes (with Vitaly Solomin).  The score is by Vladimir Dashkevich. (Владимир Дашкевич)
It’s really a wonderful soundtrack, and interesting to listen to. (You can hear a lot of Russian elements in the score)
I have made a small "video" of my favorite pieces as a sample.

Click to view

I’d been looking for this everywhere and finally found it on Ebay. (not a bad price either)

I know I had some trouble finding this music, so I think I might “make it available”…

(If you want the link then ask me)

I also had a hard time information about the composer. (He's still alive, hurrah)


(I Iove Google Translate)

Vladimir Dashkevich
-Born 1934 in Moscow
-Graduated with a degree in Chemical engineering from the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology-

Here are a few points from an interview given by the Russian magazine "Seance".  There are translation errors, but it's pretty understandable.  (I haven't changed the initial translation because it's pretty literal)

~Do you no longer want anything to construct than to write the score? (You only want to write music?)

- The word "composer" and translates as "designer". I score and write - as a designer. It is the nature of thinking, attitude to life. And the talent ... He can not choose his own way. Talent, who says: "sail-ka I better not left and right" - for me suspicious. I swam to where I was told to swim ... I always feel, and the fate dictates.

He also mentions the similarities between his approach to music and chemistry.

EDIT:  world_absurdity has translated the inside of the Cover for me! Here is Dashkevich on composing for the series:

“The music to a serial "Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson" was written by me without any effort. The producer and my friend Igor Mаslennikov often called me up from Leningrad to Moscow during shootings and reminded that I must write music. When he called me up the third time I didn't want to irritate him, therefore I took the phone, put it near to a grand piano and played the first thing that came to mind. So there was the well-known overture to the film about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. When Picasso was accused that he had drawn one of his pictures in 15 minutes, he said that he had drawn the picture in 15 minutes and all of his life. The same I can say. In childhood I loved Conan Doyle's stories, and this music was born in me for a long time and simply waited for the hour. People said that this stylization was in the English style. I think that it is a dream of fine and romantic England, born in Russia.”
-The honored worker of arts, the winner of the state award of the USSR, composer Vladimir Dashkevich

EDIT:  Some interesting info from captivebird
One thing I know about it is that the composer wrote the theme tune to sound as British as he could - based on the hourly music played by the shortwave BBC World Service on the wireless, which was well known at the time.

EDIT:  Wow, she even has the clip.  :0  Thank you!  Here it is.  (and how similar it sounds, my god)

Click to view

I'm also going to add one more pic, because the Russian Series has my favorite moment of all.



Here is a picture of  Dashkevich himself: