Biography
Eduard Artemyev has achieved parallel distinction as a film composer and as a force in electronic music. In the electronic domain he ranks among its earliest trailblazers and most influential voices inside the former Soviet Union, producing some of the country’s first such works and attracting listeners outside academic concert environments.
Eduard Nikolaevich Artemyev entered the world on November 30, 1937, in Novosibirsk, the Siberian city then belonging to the Soviet Union; his surname has appeared under several transliterations. He completed composition studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Yuri Shaporin and received his diploma in 1960. After graduation the ANS synthesizer—the Soviet Union’s first, invented by engineer Yevgeny Murzin—drew his focus. Pieces such as Mosaic (1967) and Twelve Glimpses on the World of Sound (1969) helped establish Moscow as an early outpost of the electronic avant-garde. In the 1970s he began writing for cinema, delivering the score for the landmark 1972 Soviet science-fiction film Solaris. He has since supplied music for more than forty films in both electronic and acoustic styles, among them two further Tarkovsky projects, The Mirror (1975) and Stalker (1979).
Once Russian titles such as Burnt by the Sun (1994) reached Western viewers, Artemyev’s reputation spread accordingly. His electronic music found listeners beyond scholarly and classical circles; Space Melody, for example, appeared on the 2002 anthology Hard NRG: The Album, Vol. 3. He maintained work in traditional forms, producing the opera Crime and Punishment and the works writer Margarita Katunyan called “quasi-symphonies.” His composition Campaign or Death of the Hero opened the 2014 Winter Olympics ceremonies in Sochi, Russia. At least a dozen of his film scores have been released in the West, chiefly by the smaller labels Travelling, Revolver USA, and Modern Silence.
Eduard Nikolaevich Artemyev entered the world on November 30, 1937, in Novosibirsk, the Siberian city then belonging to the Soviet Union; his surname has appeared under several transliterations. He completed composition studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Yuri Shaporin and received his diploma in 1960. After graduation the ANS synthesizer—the Soviet Union’s first, invented by engineer Yevgeny Murzin—drew his focus. Pieces such as Mosaic (1967) and Twelve Glimpses on the World of Sound (1969) helped establish Moscow as an early outpost of the electronic avant-garde. In the 1970s he began writing for cinema, delivering the score for the landmark 1972 Soviet science-fiction film Solaris. He has since supplied music for more than forty films in both electronic and acoustic styles, among them two further Tarkovsky projects, The Mirror (1975) and Stalker (1979).
Once Russian titles such as Burnt by the Sun (1994) reached Western viewers, Artemyev’s reputation spread accordingly. His electronic music found listeners beyond scholarly and classical circles; Space Melody, for example, appeared on the 2002 anthology Hard NRG: The Album, Vol. 3. He maintained work in traditional forms, producing the opera Crime and Punishment and the works writer Margarita Katunyan called “quasi-symphonies.” His composition Campaign or Death of the Hero opened the 2014 Winter Olympics ceremonies in Sochi, Russia. At least a dozen of his film scores have been released in the West, chiefly by the smaller labels Travelling, Revolver USA, and Modern Silence.