Inside the Rain
July 21, 2007 at 9:51 am
Still from Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Andrei Rublev’ (1969)
Probably one of my favourite scenes in a motion picture comes from Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Andrei Rublev’. The film – a true masterpiece in itself – ends with a shot of several horses in the rain, a beautiful symbolic image. This is what Andrei Tarkovsky himself had to say about this scene:
I’d like to point out the film ends with an image of horses in rain. It is a symbolic image as horse for me is a synonym of life. When I’m looking at a horse I have a feeling I’m in direct contact with the essence of life itself. Perhaps it’s because horse is a very beautiful animal, friendly to man, and is moreover so characteristic of the Russian landscape. There are many scenes with horses in Rublev. Take the scene in which a man dies after an unsuccessful attempt to fly. A sad-looking horse is a silent witness to the scene. The presence of horses in the last, final scene means that life itself was the source of all of Rublev’s art.
Interview L’artiste dans l’ancienne Russe et dans l’URSS nouvelle (Entretien avec Andrei Tarkovsky) with Michel Ciment and Luda & Jean Schnitzer in Positif Oct. 1969 (109), pp. 1–13 [Pol. trans. Zygmunt Kwiatkowski and Adam Horoszczak].
The first track of the playlist below comes from the beautiful album ‘Nostalghia’ by pianist Francois Couturier which is dedicated to Andrei Tarkovsky and his groundbreaking art. Tarkovsky once defined the meaning of Nostalghia for his similar titled movie as `a global yearning for the wholeness of existence’, which seems very fitting for Couturier’s compositions on this album. Accompanying him are Jean-Louis Matinier on accordion, Jean-Marc Larché on soprano saxophone and Anja Lechner on cello.
With this, I decided to make a modest mix that deals with rain and the mysterious ambiance that’s captured in this particular scene. And to me, the most beautiful and thoughtfully written song about rain has to be ‘Rambunctious Cloud’ by Vic Chesnutt. It’s hard not to love a song with lyrics like these:
The same water that the dinosaurs drank
Is the same water that the Persian fleets sank in
The very water that moistened the primordial ooze
Is now hammering on my metal porch roof
~ Vic Chesnutt / Rambunctious Cloud ~
- Francois Couturier - Andrei
Nostalghia - Song For Tarkovsky (ECM, 2006) - Mountains - Hundred Acre
Sewn (Apestaartje, 2006) - Dirty Three - Rain On
Cinder (Touch & Go, 2005) - Vic Chesnutt - Rambunctious Cloud
Ghetto Bells (New West, 2005) - Steffen Basho-Junghans - Inside the Rain
Waters in Azure (Strange Attractors, 2002) - Slowdive - Country Rain
5 EP (Creation, 1993) - Mark Lanegan - Kingdoms of Rain
Whiskey For The Holy Ghost (Sub Pop, 1994) - Akron/Family - How Do I Know
Akron/Family (Young God, 2005) - Andrey Dergatchev - Rain
The Return (ECM, 2005)
The list ends with a track that consists only of the sound of rain and comes from the soundtrack of another great Russian film, called Vozvrashcheniye (The Return). Please see this post for more information about that film.
Return to Sea: As the Waves Will Always Roll
Further reading
Andrei Tarkovsky on Andrei Rublev at Nostalghia.com
I would like to add this online track, as I feel it uses rain in a beautiful way also, it is from Scott Taylor’s winter sunday ep.
http://www.archive.org/download/cnv04/cnv04_-_scott_taylor_-_05_-_a_dawn_frost_on_cathedral_spire.mp3
That vic chesnutt song is one of my favorites of his next to “fortright”. Have you heard the new album already? His sound has been clearly affected by hanging out with the montreal post rock rooster, so now he sounds more rusty and less atmospheric since he has ASMZ taking music and production duties but i have to say it fits his lyrics amazingly.
What a gorgeous mix…Thank you so much! I “break into blossom”:
A Blessing
by James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more, they begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.
Silmonia: the photographs on your homepage are very beautiful. Do you mind if I use one of them for a future post?
Wow, thanks Silmonia, that track is really excellent! If it was up to me, then the track would have lasted much longer, haha.
I like your website btw, very beautiful photography. :-)
@ Moka: I haven’t heard the new album yet. But of course I’m looking forward to it very much! I’m not sure whether I like the “more rusty and less atmospheric” part though, but we’ll see. Constellation always has nice vinyl releases so I’ll probably pre-order it soon.
@ Betty: Thanks, I’m glad you like the mix. And thank you so much for sharing that stunning poem. I’m afraid I know very little of poetry, one day I’ll have to change that, but this one is really beautiful. :-)
Great post and great songs with great accompanying image. which made me remember a beautiful poem by ted hughes called ‘the horses,’ wherein a scene of predawn beauty and a field of horses meditating the night out for the rest of us, sleeping, is portrayed. it goes great with the ’still’ now that i think of it.
thanks again for making all the arts converge.
best,
duggan
Thanks for the kind words Duggan. Your description of ‘The Horses’ sounded very interesting so I looked it up through Google, it’s very beautiful indeed, thanks.
Like the still from Andrei Rublev it also reminds me of the view that I have from my bedroom over a grass-land with horses. Maybe that’s why I liked that scene in the first place.
Moka: Sure, I would be honored, let me know if you have a hard time getting them of the site
Gracias por subir esta musica, esperaba algo como esto…