Lyadov folk song settings

Lyadov’s arrangements for orchestra of Russian folk songs 

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‘Night on a Bare Mountain’

Mussorgsky’s amazing evocation of a witches’ sabbath, ‘Ночь на Лысом горе’…

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Balakirev overture

Balakirev’s ‘Overture on 3 Russian Themes’ – not what we heard in class (that was ‘Русь’), but similar feel and colours…

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Borodin 2nd quartet

This is the beautiful 3rd movement from Borodin’s second string quartet…

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Kitschy ‘Я вас любил’

Here’s the extremely kitschy balalaika orchestra arrangement of Sheremetiev’s setting of “Я Вас любил” – the singer is Boris Shtokolov…

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Shaliapin sings Glinka

This is the great Russian bass Fedor Shaliapin singing Ivan Susanin’s 4th-act aria from Glinka’s opera (sound very creaky – it’s a historic recording…)

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Руслан и Людмила

Overture to Glinka’s ground-breaking opera setting of Pushkin’s mock-folk tale, “Руслан и Людмила”

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Boris Godunov

Boris Christoff starring as Boris in a clip from Mussorgsky’s opera…

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Khandoshkin

Here’s a link for some violin music by Khandoshkin, Russian violin virtuoso of the late 18C…

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Russia as “Savior”

On music and politics:   “The message is clear,” the commentators Jens F. Laurson and George A. Pieler wrote on Forbes.com. “South Ossetians are innocent victims; the Russian army, their knight in shining armor; and Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili has a metaphorical toothbrush mustache not unlikeAdolf Hitler’s.” In response to similar indictments, the London Symphony issued [...]

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