Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 730099415422
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: Red Army Choir
Description
Red Army ChoirRussian FavouritesFarewell of SlaviankaO field, my fieldWe are the red cavalryThere, far away, beyond the riverThe Sacred WarThere march the soldiersIn the forest by the combat-lineThe sun set beyond the riverSoldiers' Chorus from The DecembristsSong of the Volga Boatmen (Ey ukhnem)TroikaThe CliffHey, there's the villageThe Volga Burlacks' SongDark Eyes (Ochi chernye)The Brave Lads of the DonOn the Road (A Soldier's Song)Moscow NightsThe songs recorded by the Red Army Choir for this compact disc fall into fourgroups. The first consists of old soldiers' songs (Farewell of Slavianka, TheBrave Lads of the Don, soldiers' Chorus from the opera The Decembrists).The second includes songs of the Civil War (O field, my field, We are the redcavalry and There, far away, beyond the river) and the third songs ofwhat is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, the struggle against NaziGermany (The Sacred War, There marched the soldiers, In the forest by thecombat-line, The sun set beyond the river and On the road). Thefourth group is of popular Russian folk-songs (Song of the Volga Boatmen,Troika, The Cliff and Dark Eyes).Farewell of Slavianka was composedin 1912 by V. Agapkin, a cavalry-manand student of trumpet and composition at the Tambov Music College. The music isbased on events in the Balkan wars of liberation from the five-hundred-year-longpower of the Ottoman Empire and was dedicated to all Slav women and varioustexts have been written to change the work into a song. The present recordinguses words by A. Fedotov. The work has enjoyed enormous popularity and was heardin Red Square on 7th November 1941, when it was played by massed bands as aprelude to the march of the troops to the front line. The same music was used byPolish patriots and in Bulgaria it has served as a standard item in militaryparades in Sofia and in the graduation ceremonies of army schools.O field, my field is a choral episode from a symphony by L. Knipper,described by the writer as a poem about a Comsomol warrior. The first line ofthe text was written by the composer and the rest in 1924 by the poet VictorGusev. The song has become widely popular at home and abroad and was describedby the conductor Leopold Stokowsky as the best song of the twentieth century .In 1919 the authors of The March of Budyonny, D. Pokrass and A.d'Actile (Frenkel), lived in Rostov-on-Don, a city at the time occupied by WhiteRussian forces, working in the local show-group The One-Eyed Jimmy. InJanuary 1920 the city was taken by the First Cavalry and the song commemoratesthat event, later taken into the repertory of the Red Army. Pokrass subsequentlyjoined the Red Army and was composer to the First Cavalry .The song wonimmediate popularity and was soon known throughout the country.1924 brought the first Comsomol song, something that had long been needed bythe young people of the organization. The words were written by a Comsomol poet,N. Kool, who found a melody for it in his favourite Russian
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Zenz:Cathariou:Iacovidou
Zahir Ensemble
Yun-Yi Qin
