Aleksandr Blok

From high atop beautiful St. Petersburg, Russia it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. We continue our great Russian Writers Series with Alexander Blok. Blok was born in Saint Petersburg, into a sophisticated and intellectual family. Some of his relatives were literary men, his father being a law professor in Warsaw, and his maternal grandfather the rector of Saint Petersburg State University. After his parents' separation, Blok lived with aristocratic relatives at the manor Shakhmatovo near Moscow, where he discovered the philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov, and the verse of then-obscure 19th-century poets, Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet. These influences would affect his early publications, later collected in the book Ante Lucem. In 1903 he married Lyubov (Lyuba) Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, daughter of the renowned chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. Later, she would involve him in a complicated love-hate relationship with his fellow Symbolist Andrei Bely. To Lyuba he dedicated a cycle of poetry that made him famous, Stikhi o prekrasnoi Dame (Verses About the Beautiful Lady, 1904).
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote a late song cycle for soprano and piano trio, Seven Romances of Alexander Blok Beaux Arts Trio with Joan Rodgers.

I. Pesnya Ofelii (Ophelia's Song)
II. Gamayun, ptitsa veshchaya (Gamayun, the bird of prophecy)
III. Mï bïli vmeste (We were together)
IV. Gorod spit (The city sleeps)
V. Burya (The storm)
VI. Tayniye znaki (Mysterious signs)
VII. Muzïka (Music)
Bloch, Ernest,1880-1959. Sonata no. 1, for violin and piano. Columbia [1965] Isaac Stern, violin; Alexander Zakin, piano.
Andrei Krylov – Alexander Blok Poet's – Russian and Gypsy Romances, Folk Songs, Ballades. Music for 6 and 7 string guitar and voice.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Complete Songs, Vol. 1 Beyond the Border of Past Days, song cycle for voice & piano, Op.50 Olga Kalugina Soprano Toccata Classics 2008 Dmitry Korostelyov Piano, Svetlana Nikolayeva Mezzo-Soprano
1.Dedication
2.War burns indomitably
3.What for?
4.Much has fallen silent
5.The poor ignoramuses laughed
6.A Spring Evening
7.In the Twilight
8.Someone was sighing at the grave
9.A Voice
10.Memory
Blok – Three Choir Miniatures: Round Dance State Capella Of St. Petersburg, Conductor: Vladislav Tchernushenko – Georgy Sviridov: Hymns To The Motherland
Mikhail Arkadiev and Dmitri Hvorostovsky– Peterburg (St. Petersburg):
No. 1. Flyuger (The Weathercock)
No. 2. Zolotoe veslo (The Golden Oar)
No. 3. Nevesta (The Bride)
No. 4. Golos iz khora (A Voice From the Chorus)
No. 5. Ya prigvozhdyon k traktirnoi stoike (I Am Nailed To a Tavern Counter)
No. 6. Veter prinyos izdalyoka (The Breeze Has Brought From Far Away)
No. 7. Petersburgskaya Pesenka (Petersburg Song, December 7, 1906)
No. 8. Rozhdennye v goda glukhie (Those Born in Obscure Years)
No. 9. Bogomater' v gorode (The Virgin City)
Gyorgy Sviridov – Sviridov, G.: Peterburg / 6 Romances
Gyorgy Sviridov,  The State Moscow Chamber Choir – The Night Clouds, Cantata: The Night Clouds,  By The Green Bank, The Clock's Hand Draws Near Midnight, Love, Balaganchik (The Tent At The Fair)
Gyorgy Sviridov, The State Moscow Chamber Choir – Songs Of Hard Times, Two Choruses Spring And A Wizard