Edward Artemiev - Warmth of Earth (1985 - V 0 bitrate)

Edward Artemiev is a Russian composer of electronic music and film scores. He was born in 1937 and studied music at the Moscow Conservatory. He was around during the early days of electronic music and in the 1970s got accolades for his scores to the films of Andre Tarkovsky, such as Solaris, Stalker, and The Mirror. Over the years he has scored music for over 120 films. He is also the father of electronic artist Artemiy Artemiev.

Earlier in the month I posted the album The Moods by Edward Artemiev at M=R. After that I got to wondering what, if any, other albums were put out by Artemiev in the eighties. That's when I discovered Warmth of Earth. I was completely blown away by this album. It was not what I was expecting at all after listening to The Moods, which apparently features the same group of musicians, Boomerang Ensemble. In fact I'm not sure if I have ever heard anything quite like it. Artemiev brings his avantgarde sensibilities into the world of progressive rock with electronic and occassional pop dance flourishes, but it is performed with such passion that it elevates it above anything else I've heard from the same era that could bear those labels. Maybe it's the Russian synthesizers that makes it sound so unique to me. The back of the albums states that this is a vocal and instrumental suite to the lyrics by Yuri Rytkheu. The songs with vocals are performed by Jeanne Rohzdestvenskaya who in my opinion gives those tracks the extra charge that makes them so memorable, despite the fact that I don't speak Russian. It sounds best with headphones on, so you can catch every nuance of the production. It is clear that a lot of thought went in to this recording. Sometimes the symphonic arrangements are so layered that you'll want to listen to it over and over to absorb it. It is a product that is at once very contemporary for its era, but also totally timeless.

Here is a quote from the back cover of the album:

Though surrounded by numerous colorful cultural
events modern man finds real sources of inspiration
in legends, songs and tales which have reached us.
The man of the old Chukot and Eskimo legends
lived in a magic world animating nature, natural
phenomena and even diseases which purportedly
were transferred from one nomadic camp to
another by little human-like creatures "Rakkans"
on tiny sledge drawn by tiny dogs.
The instrumental music and songs from ancient
legends, born by the talent of the composer
Edward Artemiev and sung by the excellent singer
Jeanne Rohzdestvenskaya are in my
opinion a noble attempt to link
different stages of the development
of human culture, distant in time but close
in meaning - from our ancestor's first cry of
amazement to contemporary poetry and music
in search of eternal beauty.

YURI RYTKHEU

Warmth of Earth was remastered in 1999 and released on CD in France. In 2009 the label Belle Antique remastered it and released an SHM-CD in Japan. This version is highly unavailable to most people in the world, and that is what you will get here today. The sound quality is superb.

Year of Release: 1985 (Remastered 2009)
Label: Belle Antique
Catalog Number: BELLE 91519
Genres: Progressive/Symphonic Rock, Electronic
Bitrate: -V 0
FLAC upgrade available upon request.

Track List:
1. Birth Of Earth (3:01)
2. Who I Am! (6:37)
3. Warmth Of Earth (3:52)
4. On The Bank Of The Milky Way (3:46)
5. Farewell (3:14)
6. Expectation (4:20)
7. Rakkans (5:23)
8. Hope (3:42)
9. Where Are You ? (5:46)
10. Lonely Sail (3:44)
11. Hymn to Man (9:16)
12. Birth Of Earth (LP Ver.) (3:04)
13. Who I Am! (LP Ver.) (6:34)
14. Hope (LP Ver.) (3:44)
15. Hymn To Man (LP Ver.) (9:15)

Download: Edward Artemiev - Warmth of Earth (1985, 2009 Remaster)
Download Size: 146MB