JOCELYN CLARKEreviews SERGEY YEVTUSHENKO's score for the film The Last Station

The Last Station Varese Sarabande *****

Occasional film composer Sergey Yevtushenko's new score for this Leo Tolstoy biopic is an exquisite exercise in enchantment. At once classical and contemporary, The Last Station marries romantic yearning and elegiac nostalgia into a full-blooded score that revels in its vibrant juxtaposition of moods and styles, from waltzing balaika to threnodic piano. Achieving a dynamic tension between the lyrical and the dramatic, Yevtushenko infuses his simple melodies and lush orchestration with a subtle elegance that increases rather than diminishes his score's extraordinary power. An orchestral conductor and an accomplished piano improvisator, Yevtushenko  ( Raja 1918, Russian Ark) is one of a new generation of mostly European film composers whose playful experimentalism challenges mainstream thematic scoring conventions, and delights in being both intellectually satisfying and emotionally rewarding. www.colosseum.de

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