Vladimir Nabokov

From high atop the beautiful town of Siverskaya  in the lovely St. Peterburg oblast, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by James Mason . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Shelly Winters and Suzanne Summers . The role of Ken Moss is being played by Stanley Kubrick.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Thomas Pynchon.  Our featured great Russian writer today is
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov  22 April 1899 – 2 July 1977 He  was a Russian-born novelist. Nabokov's first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international prominence as a writer of English prose. He also made serious contributions as a lepidopterist and chess composer.
Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is his most famous novel, and often considered his finest work in English. It exhibits the love of intricate word play and synesthetic detail that characterized all his works Pale Fire (1962) and his memoir, Speak, Memory.  He was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times, but never won it.

Artists named Vladimir
Vladimir Ashkenazy : Chopin, Scherzo no. 4, op. 54. Nocturne, op. 62, no. 1; Debussy, L'isle joyeuse;  Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit. London, 1965.
Vladimir Horowitz in his first recordings of Beethoven Pathétique sonata Debussy Three preludes. Chopin Two études [and] Scherzo no. 1, in B minor. Columbia, [1964]   Vladimir Horowitz, piano.
The Sound of Vladimir Horowitz Columbia [1963]  Scenes from childhood, op. 15. Toccata, op. 7. By Schumann.--Sonatas, L. 430, 483, and 209, by D. Scarlatti. --Impromptu, op. 90, no. 3, by Schubert.--Poem, op. 32, no. 1. Étude, op. 2, no. 1. Étude, op. 8, no. 12. By Scriabin.  Vladimir Horowitz, piano. 
Music for the domra  Melodiya/Angel, 1972.  Budashkin--Concert fantasy ; Concerto no. 4 / Barchunov--Fantasy / Petrenko. Vladimir Yakovlev, domra; Osipov Balalaika Orchestra; Viktor Dubrovsky, conductor.


Famous Lolitas
Ennio Morricone OST Lolita (1997) Theme
ROSSINI OPERA FESTIVAL - Pesaro 1986 Luciano Pavarotti Orchestra da Camera Per Musica
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia
Richard Tucker sings Buzzi-Peccia's "Lolita." This was recorded in 1950 with Alfredo Antonini conducting the Columbia Concert Orchestra.

Famous butterflies

After the great financial success of Lolita, Nabokov was able to return to Europe and devote himself exclusively to writing. His son had obtained a position as an operatic bass at Reggio Emilia. On 1 October 1961, he and Véra moved to the Montreux Palace Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland; he stayed there until the end of his life. From his sixth-floor quarters he conducted his business and took tours to the Alps, Corsica, and Sicily to hunt butterflies. In 1976 he was hospitalized with an undiagnosed fever. He was rehospitalised in Lausanne in 1977 suffering from severe bronchial congestion. He died on 2 July in Montreux surrounded by his family and, according to his son, Dmitri, "with a triple moan of descending pitch". His remains were cremated and are buried at the Clarens cemetery in Montreux

Maxim Gorky

From high atop the beautiful town of  Nizhny Novgorod  in the lovely  Nizhny Novgorod oblast, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Jehudiel Khlamida. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by  Savva and Slava Morozova. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Anatoly Lunacharsky.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Makar Chudra.  Our featured great Russian writer today is Maxim Gorky. Alexei Maximovich Peshkov  (28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), primarily known as Maxim (Maksim) Gorky was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.

Composers  and Conductors named Max
Bruch, Max,1838-1920. Fantasie unter freier Benutzung schottischer Volksmelodien, violin, harp, orchestra,op.46 Scottish fantasy RCA Victor [1962] Jascha Heifetz,
violin; New Symphony Orchestra of London; Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor.
Haydn, Joseph,1732-1809. Symphony no. 91, in E-flat major Decca [1970] Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Max Rudolf, conductor.
Bruch, Max, 1838-1920 Concerto no. 1 in G minor, op. 26 Angel [1973]. Itzhak Perlman, violin; London Symphony Orchestra; André Previn, conductor.

Bitter Songs
Great Wedding Songs – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Gordon Lightfoot – Bitter Green
Curtis Mayfield – The Makings Of You - Live @ Bitter End, NYC
Benjamin Britten, The Bitter Withy, folk song for tenor, boys' chorus and piano (unfinished) Christopher Barnett Conductor Wenhaston Boys' Choir Naxos David Owen Norris Piano, Philip Langridge Tenor
Johannes Brahms, 4 ernste Gesänge, Op.121  O Tod, wie bitter bist du Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Baritone Profil
Mikhail Glinka Bitter, bitter it is for me (Gor'kom gor'ko mne), G.x28 Natalia Gerasimova Vocals
Russian Compact Disc Igor Mikhailovich Zhukov Piano
Noel Coward, Bitter Sweet (operetta) Dame Joan Sutherland Soprano Decca
John Leach Cimbalom, John Wakefield Tenor, Orchestra, Richard Bonynge Conductor
Act 1 - I'll see you again
Thomas Fielding, Behold the Dark and Bitter Night, for harp & chorus Sigrid Johnson Conductor
VocalEssence Ensemble Clarion Lynne Aspnes Harp, Philip Brunelle Conductor, VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
Gladys Knight & The Pips – Taste of Bitter Love  – The Best Of Gladys Knight & The Pips

Leonhard Lechner, O Lieb Wie Süß und Bitter Manfred Cordes Conductor

CPO Weser-Renaissance Ensemble

According to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Gorky's return to the Soviet Union was motivated by material needs. In Sorrento, Gorky found himself without money and without fame. He visited the USSR several times after 1929, and in 1932 Joseph Stalin personally invited him to return for good, an offer he accepted. In June 1929, Gorky visited Solovki and wrote a positive article about that Gulag, which had already gained ill fame in the West.

With the increase of Stalinist repression and especially after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in December 1934, Gorky was placed under unannounced house arrest in his house near Moscow.
The sudden death of Gorky's son Maxim Peshkov in May 1934 was followed by the death of Maxim Gorky himself in June 1936. Speculation has long surrounded the circumstances of his death. Stalin and Molotov were among those who carried Gorky's coffin during the funeral. Later they went out for cocktails. During the Bukharin trial in 1938 (one of the three Moscow Trials), one of the charges was that Gorky was killed by Yagoda's NKVD agents.

 

Marina Tsvetayeva

From high atop the beautiful town of Alexadrov in the lovely Vladimir oblast, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Yaroslav the Wise . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Donna and Wanda Poniatovski . The role of Ken Moss is being played by Jeff Beck. In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Miles Standish. Our featured great Russian writer today is Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva  (8 October 1892 – 31 August 1941) was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature.She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from starvation, she placed her in a state orphanage in 1919, where she died of hunger. Tsvetaeva left Russia in 1922 and lived with her family in increasing poverty in Paris, Berlin and Prague before returning to Moscow in 1939. Her husband Sergei Efron and her daughter Ariadna Efron (Alya) were arrested on espionage charges in 1941; and her husband was executed. Tsvetaeva committed suicide in 1941. As a lyrical poet, her passion and daring linguistic experimentation mark her as a striking chronicler of her times and the depths of the human condition.
MARINA:
Marina and The Diamonds – Primadonna – Electra Heart
Robert Russell Bennett – Victory at Sea - 1992 Remastered, same
John Medeski – Luz Marina – A Different Time
The Original Broadway Cast of By The Beautiful Sea – Overture, The Sea Song, Coney Island Boat, Throw The Anchor Away  – By The Beautiful Sea: Music From The Original Broadway Cast
London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) – Sea Pictures, Op.37: I. Sea Slumber-Song, II. In Haven (Capri),   III. Sabbath Morning at Sea, IV. Where Corals Lie, V. The Swimmer
Violons du Roy, Les – Les illuminations, Op. 18: V. Marine Benjamin Britten – Britten: Les Illuminations
Andre Previn – Four Sea Interludes Op. 33a (from Peter Grimes): I. Dawn (Lento e tranquillo),   II. Sunday Morning (Allegro spiritoso),   III. Moonlight (Andante comodo e rubato),   IV. Storm (Presto con fuoco)
Marina Tsvetayeva – If Fate Threw Us Together, Various Artists – Elena Kalacheva, : If Fate Threw Us Together
TSVETAYEVA:
Dmitri Shostakovich : 6 Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, op. 143a I. My poems Ortrun Wenkel, contralto, Concertgebouw Orchestra

Алиса Фрейндлих: Гори, гори моя звезда

Schnittke Alfred (1934 –1998 ) Three Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva op. 36
http://classical-music-online.net/en/production/34237

Soundtrack/Cast Album – I Enjoy Being A Girl, You are Beautiful – Flower Drum Song - The New Broadway Cast Recording
Gianandrea Noseda – Skaz o kammenom tsvetke (The Tale of the Stone Flower), Op. 118: Prologue 1: The Mistress of the Copper Mountain Prologue 2: Danilo and his work Act I Scene 1: Danilo meets his fellow villagers Act I Scene 1: Scene and duet of Katerina and Danilo– Prokofiev: Tale of the Stone Flower (The)

Tsvetaeva's husband was developing Soviet sympathies and was homesick for the Soviet Union. Eventually, he began working for the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB. Alya shared his views, and increasingly turned against her mother. In 1937, she returned to the Soviet Union. Later that year, Efron too had to return to USSR. The French police had implicated him in the murder of the former Soviet defector Ignaty Reyss in September 1937, on a country lane near Lausanne, Switzerland. After Efron's escape, the police interrogated Tsvetaeva, but she seemed confused by their questions and ended up reading them some French translations of her poetry. The police concluded that she was deranged and knew nothing of the murder. Later it was learned that Efron possibly had also taken part in the assassination of Trotsky's son in 1936. Tsvetaeva does not seem to have known that her husband was a spy, nor the extent to which he was compromised. However, she was held responsible for his actions and was ostracised in Paris because of the implication that he was involved with the NKVD. World War II had made Europe as unsafe and hostile as USSR. In 1939, she became lonely and alarmed by the rise of fascism, which she attacked in Stikhi k Chekhii ("Verses to the Czechia" 1938–39).

In 1939, she and her son returned to Moscow, unaware of the reception she would receive.  In Stalin's USSR, anyone who had lived abroad was suspect, as was anyone who had been among the intelligentsia before the Revolution. Tsvetaeva's sister had been arrested before Tsvetaeva's return; although Anastasia survived the Stalin years, the sisters never saw each other again. Tsvetaeva found that all doors had closed to her. She got bits of work translating poetry, but otherwise the established Soviet writers refused to help her, and chose to ignore her plight; Nikolai Aseev, who she had hoped would assist, shied away, fearful for his life and position.
Efron and Alya were arrested for espionage. Alya's fiancé, was actually an NKVD agent who had been assigned to spy on the family. Efron was shot in 1941; Alya served over eight years in prison. Both were exonerated after Stalin's death. In 1941, Tsvetaeva and her son were evacuated to Yelabuga, while most families of the Union of Soviet writers were evacuated to Chistopol. Tsvetaeva had no means of support in Yelabuga, and on 24 August 1941 she left for Chistopol desperately seeking a job. On 26 August, Marina Tsvetaeva and poet Valentin Parnakh applied to the Soviet of Literature Fund asking for a job at the LitFund's canteen. Valentin Parnakh was accepted as a doorman, while Tsvetaeva's application for a permission to live in Chistopol was turned down and she had to return to Yelabuga on 28 August.
On 31 August 1941, while living in Yelabuga (Elabuga), Tsvetaeva hanged herself. She left a note for her son Mur: "Forgive me, but to go on would be worse. I am gravely ill, this is not me anymore. I love you passionately. Do understand that I could not live anymore. Tell Papa and Alya, if you ever see them, that I loved them to the last moment and explain to them that I found myself in a trap." Many of her friends felt the blame was theirs, Pasternak felt that he had personally failed her. Soviet poets often preferred to blame her desperation on her fellow emigres in Paris and Berlin. Writers further west tended to view Efron's and Alya's arrest as the cause, which may have left Tsvetaeva feeling burdensome to her son. Alya blamed Mur directly. There have always been rumors that Tsvetaeva's death was not suicide. On the day of her death she was home alone and it is alleged that NKVD agents came to her house and forced her to commit suicide. Kudrova in The Death of a Poet: The Last Days of Marina Tsvetaeva posits three causes for Tsvetaeva's death: that her sister Anastasiia insisted that she kill herself to save her son, that she suffered from mental illness, or that she feared recruitment by the local NKVD. Tsvetaeva was buried in Yelabuga cemetery on 2 September 1941, but the exact location of her grave remains unknown.
In the town of Yelabuga, the Tsvetaeva house is now a museum and a monument stands to her. Much of her poetry was republished in the Soviet Union after 1961, and her passionate, articulate and precise work, with its daring linguistic experimentation, brought her increasing recognition as a major poet.

 

Alexander Pushkin

When Pushkin Comes to Shove
From high atop the beautiful town of Mikhailovskoe (near Pskov), it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Vladimir Nabokov. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Olga and Helga Kalashnikova. The role of Ken Moss is being played by King Zog of Albania. In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Our featured great Russian writer today is
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin  (6 June 1799 – 10 February 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow and had some remarkable familial ancestry. His great-grandfather from his mother's side – Abram Gannibal – was brought over as a slave from Africa and had risen to become an aristocrat. Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
While under the strict surveillance of the Tsar's political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama Boris Godunov. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832.
Section 1:
Combustible Edison – Mr. Pushkin Came To Shore  – The Impossible World
Large Symphony orchestra – G. Sviridov: Walts From Musical Illustration To The Novel By Pushkin "The Storm" Various Artists – Russian Masterpieces-Popular Classical Music Melodies
Irina Arkhipova – Alexander Dargomyzhsky: A Youth And A Girl (Yunosha i Deva) 1844  – Romances Based On The Poems By Alexander Pushkin
Large Symphony orchestra – G. Sviridov: Romance From Musical Illustration To The Novel By Pushkin "The Storm" Various Artists – Russian Masterpieces-Popular Classical Music Melodies
Seattle Symphony Orchestra – Pushkin Waltzes, Op. 120: Pushkin Waltzes, Op. 120: No. 2. Waltz in C sharp minor: Allegro meditativo   – Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suites Nos. 1 and 2 - Pushkin Waltz No. 2
Vladimir Minin – Pushkinskiy venok (A Pushkin Wreath): No. 7. Zorju bjut (Reveille is Sounded) Alexei Tolstoy – Russian Choir School: Vladimir Minin
Russian Symphony Orchestra – A. Lyadov: Polonaise In Memorium To Pushkin, Op.49 Various Artists – Russian Masterpieces-Popular Classical Music Melodies
Moscow New Choir – "Pushkin's Garland" - Winter Morning  – Russian Acapella Choral Music
Boris Midney – Pushkin's Theme  – Black Russian - The Boris Midney Masters
Vladimir Markov – Alexander Pushkin - The Queen of Spades – Russian Poetry and Prose: Read in Russian by Vladimir Markov
Larissa Gatova – Alexander Pushkin - The Bronze Horseman  – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
The Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra – The Romance from the music to the "Snow Storm" by A. Pushkin (arr. By V. Gorodovskaya) The Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra & Nikolai Kalinin – The Ossipov Balalaika Orchestra, Vol I: Russian Classical Music
Section II: Selections from operas inspired by Pushkin
Pushkin's works also provided fertile ground for Russian composers.
1. Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila is the earliest important Pushkin-inspired opera, and a landmark in the tradition of Russian music. – Ruslan And Lyudmila, Op. 5: I. Finn´s Ballad: Act II – Glinka: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1 Victor Rybachikov, piano.
2. Tchaikovsky's operas Eugene Onegin (1879)
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, 1840-1893. Musical Heritage Society, [1980] "Lyric scenes in three acts"; Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano; Tamara Sinyavskaya, alto; Vladimir Atlantov, tenor; Yuri Mazurok, baritone; other soloists; Bolshoi Theater Orchestra and Chorus; Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor.
and The Queen of Spades (1890) St. Petersburg Zazerkalie Theater Orchestra – The Queen of Spades: Duet - Lisa and Polina – A Classical Encyclopedia: T as in Tchaikovsky became perhaps better known outside of Russia than Pushkin's own works of the same name.
3. Mussorgsky's monumental Boris Godunov (two versions, 1868-9 and 1871-2)
Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich,1839-1881. Alexander Kipnis in Moussorgsky's Boris Godounov. RCA Victrola [1969] Alexander Kipnis, with supporting soloists; Victor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Nicolai Berezowsky, conductor; sung in Russian.
ranks as one of the very finest and most original of Russian operas.
4. Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka A. Dargomyzhsky – The Miller's Aria from the opera Rusalka  Feodor Chaliapin: the Complete Recordings 1907-1936 Volume 12. British and American Recordings
and The Stone Guest Soloists And Orchestra Of The Bolshoy Theatre, Conductor: Andrey Chistyakov – Introduction;
5. Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri,  Vladimir Bogachov – Mozart and Salieri, Op. 48: Scene 1: O Mozart, Mozart! (Salieri, Mozart) Vladimir Bogachov – Rimsky-Korsakov: Mozart and Salieri / Songs / Glinka: Songs
Tale of Tsar Saltan, Canadian Brass – Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57: Flight of the Bumblebee (arr. B. Ridenour) Canadian Brass Takes Flight
Well, now, my bumblebee, go on a spree,
catch up with the ship on the sea,
go down secretly,
get deep into a crack.
Good luck, Gvidon, fly,
only do not stay long!

and The Golden Cockerel;  Prague Symphony Orchestra – The Golden Cockerel: Bridal Procession and Lamentable End of King Dodon  – Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel Suite & Kitezh Suite
6. Cui's Prisoner of the Caucasus, Ivan Grizounov – Prisoner of the Caucasus: "The sun was brightly shining" Various Artists – The World of Singing Vol. 2 - Singers of Imperial Russia

By 1837, Pushkin was falling into greater and greater debt and faced scandalous rumors that his wife had embarked on a love affair. In response, the poet challenged Natalya's alleged lover, her brother in-law Georges d'Anthès, to a duel which left both men injured. Shot through the spleen, Pushkin died two days later. His last home is now a museum.
The Tsarist administration, fearing a political demonstration at his funeral, had it moved to a smaller location and restricted attendance to close relatives and friends. The poet's body was taken secretly at midnight and buried on his mother's estate.
Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953.  Alexander Nevsky (Cantata) op. 78 "The Field of the Dead" Text by V. Lugovskoi and S. Prokofiev.  Melodiya/Angel [1967]  Larissa Avdeyeva, mezzo-soprano; RFSFR Russian Chorus, Alexander Yurlov, conductor; U. S. S. R. Symphony Orchestra; Yevgeny Svetlanov, conductor.