Album Notes

Received 2004 Cine Golden Eagle Award
EMMY Award Nomination 2004 Best Documentary Score

"Possibly the best work on TV this week..."
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

"Rich and lusty...riveting..."
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

"superb...engaging..."
THE OREGONIAN

"It provides meat and potatoes in a whipped-cream world..."
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

"clashing armies and regal heroes, not to mention fuzzy hats, Mongol Hordes and palace intrigues."
CITY PAGES

"If it were any better it would be worse."
THE NEW YORK TIMES

When Gary was first asked to score the History Channel film Russia Land of the Tsars, he said, "No."

"They had come to me about a month before the film needed to be finished. This would not have been so bad except the film was going to be four hours long. Which meant they would need over two hours of music. Not two hours of drum loops and sound sfx but two hours of music that needed to form the backdrop to over a thousand years of history. From the year 800 to 1950."

But luckily for us he eventually said, "Yes."

The album is a beautiful mix of small and large ensembles, old and new melodies, telling the history of Russia in music. The album like the film, RUSSIA LAND OF THE TSARS, has the task of representing over 1000 years of Russia's rich history. If you listen to the album from beginning to end you will feel yourself experiencing The Vikings, then the Mongols, then Catherine the Great, then Ivan the Terrible, Then Peter the Great, Then the revolution and then Stalin, and then even the hope of what Russia will now become. The music will remind you of the great Russian Masters Glinka, Tchaikovskly, and Prokofiev. Included in the album is a Russian History Outline showing where the music fits in with the historic events.

When we asked the composer, Gary Pozner, why he thought this soundtrack CD was so special he said it was how vast the music variety is on it, and how special the performances of the musicians are. We even used the Russian Oktava microphones to record the instruments. Just like the filmmaker's, we had to reenact the history of Russia. It wasn't an easy task, but it was truly a labor of love. We also asked Gary were the Russian influences came from, because when you look at his biography and see it mostly consists of working with fridge elements of the music scene--Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Tom Tom Club, David Byrne, Bernie Worrel, Nona Hendryx, UTFO, Mimi Goese, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, he explained that all his grand parents were from Eastern Europe, and he just thought of them and channeled their spirits.

While the album is a soundtrack to the film, RUSSIA LAND OF THE TSARS, it definitely stands on its own. It's Tchaikovsky meets Peter Gabriel. (for a shot of vodka, of course)

The artist is donating 10% of this CD's profits to the Send A Piano to Cuba Campaign go to www.sendapiana.com for more info.