The research project "Tarkovsky's Soundtracks: The Significance of Music and Sound in Andrei Tarkovsky's Cinema" (RJ Sabbatical 2018) has, on an overall level, contributed two important results to the international research front in Tarkovsky studies. Firstly, the function and significance of music and sound in Tarkovsky's films have been analysed in detail and thus a large knowledge gap in the research on Tarkovsky has been remedied. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the project has resulted in pioneering new interpretations of these films, which in turn has led to a partly revised view as well as an increased understanding of Tarkovsky's film language and film aesthetics. This re-interpretation of Tarkovsky’s cinema is largely due to a critical approach in which the films have been consistently interpreted through the lens of their soundtracks, and music in particular. More specifically, the project has shown: (1) how the music in Tarkovsky's films relates to and participates in the construction of the complex diegeses (or fictional worlds) that are a distinctive feature of these films; (2) how the combination of different musical genres (classical music, electronic music, traditional music) and the relation between music, sound and film image contribute to create a variety of representational patterns and meanings within and across the films; and (3) that music in Tarkovsky's films plays a central role in the construction of the distinctive utopian aesthetics expressed in these films.

The project has resulted in a book titled "Andrei Tarkovsky's Sounding Cinema: Music and Meaning from Solaris to The Sacrifice". The book, which consists of seven chapters, is finalized and a full manuscript exists. A decision from Routledge regarding publishing is expected in April 2019.

The publication of the book will make a central and decisive contribution to Tarkovsky studies, a vibrant and international research field that has been growing steadily over the past decade. But the publication will also make an important contribution to another rapidly growing research area, film music studies, which until recently has been strongly focused on American Hollywood film and where the study of music in European art cinema (to which Tarkovsky undoubtedly belongs) has been largely ignored.

In addition to the forthcoming book, the project has resulted in two renowned American film music scholars being invited as guest researchers to the Department of Cultural Sciences at the University of Gothenburg (where I am employed). From May 15 to May 20, 2019, Michael Baumgartner (Cleveland State University) and Ewelina Boczkowska (Youngstown State University) will visit our depratment to present their research on French and Polish cinema respectively. They will also participate as "main discussants" in a seminar where my completed book on music and sound in Tarkovsky's cinema will be discussed. During their stay at the University of Gothenburg we will also initiate an international research network focusing on central issues within contemporary film music studies and with regularly recurring international "workshop conferences" (every two or three years and placed at the University of Gothenburg). During my stay as a visiting researcher in the USA (see below) I also discussed my research with Professor Berthold Hoeckner (University of Chicago) and a visiting scholarship for Hoeckner at the Department of Cultural Sciences in the spring term or autumn term 2020 is in the planning. In connection with the completion of my research project I have also initiated discussions with the head of department and the deputy head of education at the Department of Cultural Sciences regarding an undergraduate level course (15hp) on Tarkovsky's films and film-making. The intention is that the course will be given in collaboration with an external cultural institution in Gothenburg (prospective partners: Draken film and Hagabion).

My research on Tarkovsky has also led to new research questions related to the subject of music and utopianism. This is an altogether new research focus which, although generated by the work with the book, no longer focuses on Tarkovsky's films, but instead poses broader questions about the role of music in contemporary utopian thinking and imaginary. Based on these questions, a new research project – aimed at building up an interdisciplinary research environment involving several universities and departments – is now being developed. The project is titled: “Musicalized Utopias: A Research Environment on the Relation between Music and Utopian Imaginary in Contemporary Culture and Society.” Funds for implementing this project will be applied for from the Swedish Research Council in 2020.

The project “Tarkovsky's soundtracks” is strongly connected to on-going international research. The finalized book is in dialogue and takes issue with all the major authorities within Tarkovsky studies and in 2018 the project was presented at two international and one national conference. Of the two international conferences one focused on film music and audio-visual studies (Music and the Moving Image, New York, May 24–27, 2018), while the other was centred around film studies and the philosophy of film (Film-Philosophy, Gothenburg, 3–5 July 2018). The national conference was the annual Swedish Music Research Conference (Uppsala, 13–15 June 2018). In addition, my research on Tarkovsky was presented at several lectures and seminars during my stay as a visiting scholar at Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University (April 13 to May 23, 2018).

There are as yet no publications within the project. As mentioned above, I still await an answer from Routledge regarding the publication of the book “Tarkovsky’s Sounding Cinema: Music and Meaning from Solaris to the Sacrifice.” The completed manuscript for the book includes 85984 words (including footnotes and references) and contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction: Interpreting Tarkovsky’s cinema through its music

Chapter 2: Bach at the space station: Diegetic ambiguities and multiplying gaps in Solaris

Chapter 3: Memories, dreams and mysteries: Music and dimensions of human experience in Mirror

Chapter 4: Beethoven overcome: Romantic transcendence and existentialist utopia in Stalker

Chapter 5: Musical Offerings, Soothing Sounds and Sacrificial Acts: Managing the Nostalgia of Nostalghia

Chapter 6: The voice of truth: Liminal music, spiritual authenticity and gradual awakening in The Sacrifice

Chapter 7: Music, meaning and troubled utopias in Tarkovsky’s cinema

Appendix I: Synopsis Mirror

Funds for making the book open access will be applied for from The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) after the final scientific report has been concluded and as soon as a decision on publication has been issued.