In Russia, Music Listen to YOU!

You'd best be on your most attentive behavior when listening today. Otherwise the band director might smack you with his baton. I say, pay attention! Dees moo-zik good time een-vestment!

Music from Russia:

01 - St Petersburg - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

02 - Why Should I Be Sad - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

03 - Dark Night - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

04 - Dorogoj Daineau (The Long Way) - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

05 - Wolga - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

06 - So Many Days - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

07 - Nastassja - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

08 - Dwe Gitary (Two Guitars) - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

09 - Fields - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

10 - Hai-Da Trojka - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

11 - Bandura - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

12 - Tschubtschik - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

13 - Troika - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

14 - The Cossack - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

15 - Our Little Village - Orchestra Vladimir Avramow

16 - Stenka Rasin - Russian Radio Chorus + Orchestra

I saw the LaserLight logo on the cassette, and figured something on here would be interesting.  There’s nothing more rousing than a big, clashing Russian overture, nor as sorrowful as a melancholy Russian dirge -- am I right?  

What a surprise -- I wasn’t expecting vocals.  Inside the flap we’re informed, “Traditional Russian music performed by well known Russian singers and orchestras.”

The voice of the female warbler, Alia Bajanova, reminds me of Ilona Massey’s in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.  Or maybe a young Marlene Dietrich!

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Cossacks!:

01 - They Are Valiant - Boris Alexander- The Red Army Ensemble

02 - Under the Oak Tree - Boris Alexander- The Red Army Ensemble

03 - Procession of the Sardar, from Caucasian Sketches - Siegfried Landau- Music For Westchester Symphony Orchestra

04 - Credo - Sergei Horbenko- The Black Sea Cossacks

05 - Kalinka - Nicolai Tripolitoff- The Cossacks of the Volga

06 - Polovtsian Dances, from Prince Igor - Siegfried Köhler- Philharmonia Hungarica

07 - Meadowland - Boris Alexander- The Red Army Ensemble

08 - Song of the Volta Boatmen - Sergei Horbenko- The Black Sea Cossacks

09 - Cortege, from Mlada - Richard Kapp- Philharmonia Hungarica

10 - Nightingale Song - Boris Alexander- The Red Army Ensemble

11 - Legend of the 12 Robbers - Sergei Horbenko- The Black Sea Cossacks

12 - Nights of Moscow - Nicolai Tripolitoff- The Cossacks of the Volga

13 - Along the Volga - Sergei Horbenko- The Black Sea Cossacks

14 - Sabre Dance, from Gayenne - Sandor Rekai- Bregenz Festival Orchestra

This 1992 release is music only a Cossack could love?!?

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Red Star Red Army Chorus - Kalinka!:

01. Regimental Polka (3:16)

02. Meadowland (2:27)

03. Kalinka (4:38)

04. Volga Boat Song (5:05)

05. The Sun Set Behind a Mountain (3:05)

06. The Swallow (4:05)

07. The Pine Trees Are Rustling (4:38)

08. Kamarinskaya (3:36)

09. The Brave Don Cossacks (2:31)

10. Wait for Your Soldier (4:07)

11. Ochi Chornye - Dark Eyes (3:30)

12. Someone's Horse Is Standing There (4:13)

13. In the Sunny Meadow (3:06)

14. Flight Of The Bumbebee (1:14)

15. The Cliff (5:20)

16. Dark Eyebrows (3:55)

17. Dubinushka (4:41)

18. On the March (3:25)

These seem to be "National Songs of Sadness."  Nobody seems very happy in these Russian songs.  And some guy whistling at his runaway horse is not an addition to several of them.

I noticed that in the booklet, every song is synopsized except for two. One is Track 12, the fascinatingly titled “Someone's Horse Is Standing There.”  I guess that’s what everybody is whistling about?

The other mystery song is “Dark Eyebrows.”  We’ll never know if those eyebrows belong to a cow, a mannish girl, the singer’s dear old dad, or an alien from the planet Qwatloo.

Broaden your musical horizons, and don't let that jumping guy kick your wig off!  See you Monday.