The Master and Margarita: Suite

‘With this music, which is Schnittke's first composition for a sound film in ten years, it is noticeable that it draws in large parts on techniques that he had used in his earlier film music and which characterise his style in general. However, this recourse is far less complex and, as with other more recent works, is limited to the essentials. For example, the concert suite, composed from some parts of the film music, begins with the title theme ‘Master and Margarita’, which is reminiscent of Gustav Mahler with its pale mood,’ comments Frank Strobel.
The suite includes a foxtrot, a tango and a funeral march, which support and exaggerate the individual encounters and situations in a satirical form. The film music to ‘Master and Margarita’ plays with a variety of musical forms in a film in which fable and legend, fantasy and the grotesque are interwoven into a unity.