FOR RUSSIA - WITH LOVE - A man enters a café, takes a drink and sits smoking. He watches as a woman enters with another man. They order coffee and converse at a table. Her companion says something quietly to her and gets up to leave. Alone, she looks around the café and suddenly sees the first man. For the next six minutes, they look at each other, around each other, through each other. Not a word is exchanged. The woman's companion returns and leads her away. This silent sequence, accompanied only by music, is from Seventeen Moments of Spring, a 1972 Soviet twelve part television series. The scene was resisted by the producers and included only on the insistence of the director Tatyana Lioznova, but it became one of the best-known in Russian film history, and it's piano score one of the best-known pieces of Russian cinematic music. The series tells the story of a Soviet spy (portrayed by the actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov) operating undercover in Nazi Germany as military officer Max Otto von Stierlitz. Stierlitz is on a covert mission to disrupt secret negotiations aimed at forging a pact between Germany and the Western Allies. He is sometimes referred to as 'the Soviet James Bond' and there are some correspondences, despite the World War II setting: both Bond and Stierlitz work for their respective countries' secret service agencies and both, in various ways, reflect their cultures' idealised alpha males. But whilst Bond, is a hard- drinking, hard-loving, wisecracking free agent, Stierlitz is restrained, faithful to his wife, intellectual and modest. He spends much time looking out of windows rather than crashing through them. There is a further link in that Seventeen Moments was made partly in response to the way the KGB was typically portrayed abroad in works such as the Bond series (where it appears as SMERSH). On broadcast, Seventeen Moments was immediately immensely popular with an estimated audience of between 50 and 80 million viewers for each episode. Crime rates dropped significantly during the broadcasts, city streets were empty and power stations had to increase production to cope with a surge in the demand for electricity for TV sets. It is said that Brezhnev moved meetings of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in order not to miss an episode and that Vladimir Putin's decision to join the KGB was influenced by watching the series when young. It became the most successful Soviet espionage thriller ever made. It was rebroadcast annually in the Soviet Union and throughout the Warsaw Pact nations, and is still regularly shown in Russia where it remains one of the most popular television series of all time. Without any doubt, the score by Mikael Tariverdiev contributed to this huge success. He wrote it after some initial reluctance to be involved but it's popularity catapulted him to national fame. 'Somewhere Far Away' and "Moments', remain some of the best-known and well-loved cinematic songs of the era. The main theme and his piano underscore to that famous café scene where Stierlitz and his wife meet-but-don't-meet must have surely captured the haunted longings and romantic poignancy of a generation of Soviet citizens who had suffered their own forced separations, displacements, silences and losses.The score presented here follows the narrative arc of the series' story. It has been re-mastered from transfers made from original tapes in the Tariverdiev apartment in Moscow.
Release date:
November 30, 2018
Label:
Install our app to receive notifications when new upcoming releases are added.

Recommended equipment and accessories
-
Nagaoka MP-110H Cartridge
Features a high-quality elliptical stylus that provides excellent tracking and minimizes distortion, delivering a detailed sound reproduction with an output voltage of 5.0 mV
-
Phono Preamps - Top Picks
A selection of the best phono preamps for your turntable setup
-
HumminGuru: Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner
Advanced ultrasonic technology with customizable cleaning cycles and a large tank capacity to thoroughly remove dust, dirt, and contaminants
-
Pro-Ject Phono Box DC Pre-Amp
Compact, high-performance phono preamplifier for both MM and MC cartridges, delivering a clean, detailed signal with minimal noise.
-
Denon DP-400
Featuring a high-precision, belt-driven mechanism and an adjustable tonearm that ensures optimal tracking and minimal resonance
Featured Upcoming Vinyl
-
Alestorm The Thunderfist Chronicles
Napalm Records
June 20, 2025 -
Xzibit Kingmaker [2xLP]
Diggers Factory
June 20, 2025 -
Forth Wanderers The Longer This Goes on (Milky Clear)
Sub Pop
July 18, 2025 -
Modern Nature The Heat Warps
Bella Union
August 29, 2025 -
Katatonia Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State
Napalm Records
June 6, 2025 -
Jisoo Amortage; Heart Version (Photobook, Sticker + Poster)
Yg Entertainment
June 6, 2025 -
YUNGBLUD Idols ~ Wishing Well (Amazon Exclusive Magenta)
Locomotion Recordings/Capitol
June 20, 2025 -
Wytch Hazel V: Lamentations
Bad Omen Records
July 4, 2025 -
Conan Gray Kid Krow, Decomposed (5 Year Anniversary; Black/White Splatter)
Republic Records
June 13, 2025 -
Stryper When We Were Kings (Purple)
Girder Records
June 27, 2025 -
Grant-Lee Phillips In the Hour of Dust (Signed; Clear Golden Smoke)
Yep Roc Records
September 5, 2025 -
Irvine Welsh Men in Love
Port Sunshine Rec.
July 25, 2025 -
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard King Gizzard (Live In Los Angeles '24; Splatter) [4xLP]
Reverberation Appreciation Soc
June 20, 2025 -
Volbeat God Of Angels Trust
Republic Records
June 6, 2025