Raadio Kohila Records' first release: "Don Juan Tallinnas" OST (1971)
THE MUSICAL COMEDY "Don Juan in Tallinn" didn't exactly bring any glory and fame to the film studio Tallinnfilm at the time of its release. In the questionnaire poll of the cinema magazine Sovetski Ekran (1974), "Don Juan in Tallinn" was even voted as one of the "worst films in the entire Union". However, this intriguing work gave Estonian cinema something undeniably valuable — a brand new Estonian film composer.
Tallinn State Conservatory's composition student Olav Ehala hardly realized what he had gotten himself into during his first university summer break, until the desperate Tallinnfilm cinematographers who showed up at the door introduced him to the music composition schedule. "In the middle of the evening, two new lyrics written by Enn Vetemaa were brought," Ehala recalled later. "I said that I would carve with them for a few days, then I would do the orchestrations and in a week we could record the music in the studio. Upon this, the second assisting director said that the sound studio is closed for tomorrow and we are already filming the day after tomorrow.»
To the relief of the film studio, the non-existent spare time did not prove to be a problem for the 21-year-old composer. Not only that, there is a truly playful array of styles ready for the film's soundtrack: "I like the Viennese classical school, I still like it to this day, the style and orchestration of my songs have elements of it," said Ehala himself about the film music of "Don Juan", but the attentive listener can find it on the film's soundtrack for his own pleasure. also dixieland, tango, almost-gospel atmospheres of the band Collage and even light funk. (Oh, and of course also one of the most beautiful home tunes of all time, "Only love", which every film lover is ready to forgive Tallinnfilm for some of its subsequent sins, from "Breekiv" to "The Curse of the Snake Valley"...)
April 28, 2020
eestifilmid.blogspot.com
To the relief of the film studio, the non-existent spare time did not prove to be a problem for the 21-year-old composer. Not only that, there is a truly playful array of styles ready for the film's soundtrack: "I like the Viennese classical school, I still like it to this day, the style and orchestration of my songs have elements of it," said Ehala himself about the film music of "Don Juan", but the attentive listener can find it on the film's soundtrack for his own pleasure. also dixieland, tango, almost-gospel atmospheres of the band Collage and even light funk. (Oh, and of course also one of the most beautiful home tunes of all time, "Only love", which every film lover is ready to forgive Tallinnfilm for some of its subsequent sins, from "Breekiv" to "The Curse of the Snake Valley"...)
April 28, 2020
eestifilmid.blogspot.com