Mikael Tariverdiev composed music for the 1960s Soviet hit Goodbye, Boys! and hundreds more film and TV scores, but he is hardly known outside of Russia and movie-buff circles – this lavish three-disc set is the first anthology ever released in the west. The music is impossibly wistful and full of pastiche (chanson, big band, Piazzolla), but something about it gets under the skin. Seagulls and tinkly pianos segue to forlorn wordless melodies and shuffling rhythm sections. There are plenty of accordions, as well as slow swing from drummers I picture with long-dead cigarettes between their teeth. A hazy waltz from The Long Day twangs like surf-rock Shostakovich. The Last Romantic pairs fistfuls of Rachmaninovian chords with a yearning saxophone elegy. Some tracks stand alone better than others without their visual counterparts, but it’s clear that Tariverdiev was a master conjurer of smoke-filled moods. My favourite is the despondent singer on Dolphins – think a Soviet Gainsbourg whose vowel sounds will convince you that Russian is the only language for singing about love.