This week on “Picture Perfect,” peek behind the Curtain for music by notable composers for Soviet cinema.

Alfred Schnittke, a name usually associated with the avant-garde, actually composed over 60 film scores. One of these was for “Agony” (1974), about Rasputin, his influence over the Tsar, and the conspiracy to murder him.

Georgy Sviridov, a pupil of Shostakovich, wrote the music for “Time, Forward!” (1962), based on the novel of Valentin Kataev. Set in the 1930s, the film describes a day of construction work at the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. Some of the music was used during the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Dmitri Shostakovich, of course, is celebrated for his symphonies and string quartets, which are regarded as some of the most important of the 20th century. He also happened to write some 30 film scores, beginning all the way back in the silent era. Far and away his greatest hit composed for film, at least in the West, is the Romance from “The Gadfly” (1955), based on the novel of Ethel Lillian Voynich. The music gained broader exposure as the theme to “Reilly, Ace of Spies.”

Sergei Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” (1938) invariably turns up on lists of the greatest films ever made. Nevsky, the 13th century Russian prince, military leader, and saint, thwarts the attempted invasion of Novgorod by Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire.

Sergei Prokofiev arranged his masterful score into a concert piece, a cantata. However, these days, orchestras seem to be performing it more and more often as it was originally heard, with the film. The synthesis of music and visuals for the climactic Battle on the Ice is one of its indelible highlights.

Say “da” to classic music for Soviet cinema, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.