Aleksander Sergeyevich Griboyedov

Aleksander Sergeyevich Griboyedov  (January 15, 1795 – February 11, 1829) was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His fame rests on the verse comedy Woe from Wit (or The Woes of Wit). He was Russia's ambassador to Qajar Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob.

Born in Moscow, Griboyedov studied at Moscow University from 1810 to 1812. He then obtained a commission in a hussar regiment, which he resigned in 1816. The next year, he entered the civil service. In 1818 he was appointed secretary of the Russian legation in Persia, and transferred to Georgia.
His verse comedy The Young Spouses (Молодые супруги), which he staged in St.Petersburg in 1816, was followed by other similar works. Neither these nor his essays and poetry would have been long remembered but for the success of his verse comedy Woe from Wit (Горе от ума, or Gore ot uma), a satire on Russian aristocratic society.
As a high official in the play puts it, this work is "a pasquinade on Moscow". The play depicts certain social and official stereotypes in the characters of Famusov, who hates reform; his secretary, Molchalin, who fawns over officials; and the aristocratic young liberal and Anglomaniac, Repetilov. By contrast the hero of the piece, Chatsky, an ironic satirist just returned from western Europe, exposes and ridicules the weaknesses of the rest. His words echo the outcry of the young generation in the lead-up to the armed insurrection of 1825.
In Russia for the summer of 1823, Griboyedov completed the play and took it to St. Petersburg. It was rejected by the censors. Many copies were made and privately circulated, but Griboyedov never saw it published. The first edition was printed in 1833, four years after his death. Only once did he see it on the stage, when it was performed by the officers of the garrison at Yerevan. Soured by disappointment, he returned to Georgia. He put his linguistic expertise at the service of general Ivan Paskevich, a relative, during the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, after which he was sent to St. Petersburg at the time of the Treaty of Turkmenchay. There, thinking to devote himself to literature, he started work on a romantic drama, A Georgian Night (Грузинская ночь, or Gruzinskaya noch').
Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953. War and peace; highlights Libretto by Mira Mendelson-Prokofieva. Melodiya/Angel [1968] Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano, and other soloists, chorus, and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater; Alexander Melik- Pashayev, conductor; sung in Russian.
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. Recorded Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 1945, and Jan. 28, 1946.
Romberg, Sigmund, 1887-1951. The new moon music by Sigmund Romberg ; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein 2nd. Capitol, 1963 Gordon MacRae, Dorothy Kirsten ; with chorus and orchestra, Van Alexander, conductor.
 Ballet music from the operas Angel Records [1961] Khovantschina: Dance of the Persian slaves, act 4, by Moussorgsky, orch. by Rimsky-Korsakov. Philharmonia Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan, conductor.
Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953. Alexander Nevsky; cantata, op. 78. [Based on music for the Eisenstein film, with words by Lugovskoi & Prokofiev.] Angel, 1972. Anna Reynolds, mezzo-soprano; London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; André Previn, conductor.

Death

Several months after his wedding to Nino, the 16-year-old daughter of his friend Prince Chavchavadze, Griboyedov was suddenly sent to Persia as Minister Plenipotentiary. In the aftermath of the war and the humiliating Treaty of Turkmenchay, there was strong anti-Russian sentiment in Persia. Soon after Griboyedov's arrival in Tehran, a mob stormed the Russian embassy.
The incident began when an Armenian eunuch escaped from the harem of Persian shah Fath Ali Shah, and two Armenian girls escaped from that of his son-in-law. All three sought refuge at the Russian legation. As agreed in the Treaty of Turkmenchay, Armenians living in Persia were permitted to return to Eastern Armenia The Shah demanded that Griboyedov return the three. Griboyedov refused. This caused an uproar throughout the city and several thousand Persians encircled the Russian compound demanding their release.
Griboyedov then decided to offer to return the Armenians. But it was too late. Moments later, urged on by the mullahs, the mob stormed the building." A high ranking Muslim scholar with the title of Mojtahed, Mirza Masih Astarabadi known as Mirza Masih Mojtahed, issued a fatwa saying freeing Muslim women from the claws of unbelievers is allowed.
Griboyedov and other members of his mission had prepared for a siege and sealed all the windows and doors. Armed and in full uniform, they were resolved to defend to the last drop of blood. Although small in number, the Cossack detachment assigned to protect the legation held off the mob for over an hour until finally being driven back to Griboyedov's office. There, Griboyedov and the Cossacks resisted until the mob broke through the roof of the building, and then through the ceiling, to slaughter them. The escaped eunuch and Griboyedov, who fought with his sword, were among the first to be shot to death; the fate of the two Armenian girls remains unknown. Second secretary of the mission Karl Adelung and, in particular, a young doctor whose name is not known, fought hard, but soon the scene was one of butchered, decapitated corpses.
Griboyedov's body, thrown from a window, was decapitated by a kebab vendor who displayed the head on his stall. The mob dragged the uniformed corpse through the city's streets and bazaars, to cries of celebration. It was eventually abandoned on a garbage heap after three days of ill-treatment by the mob, such that in the end it could be identified only by a duelling injury to a finger. The following June, Griboyedov's friend Alexander Pushkin, travelling through the southern Caucasus, encountered some men from Teheran leading an oxcart. The men told Pushkin they were conveying the ambassador's remains to Tiflis (now Tbilisi). Griboyedov was buried there, in the monastery of St David (Mtatsminda Pantheon).
When Nino, Griboyedov's widow, received news of his death she gave premature birth to a child who died a few hours later. Nino lived another thirty years, rejecting all suitors and winning universal admiration for her fidelity to her husband's memory.
In a move to placate Russia for the attack and the death of its ambassador, the Shah sent his grandson Khosrow Mirza to St Petersburg to apologize to Tsar Nicholas I, and to present him with a large diamond, now known as the Shah Diamond.

Joseph Brodsky

From high atop the beautiful campus of the University of California at Berkeley, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Czeslaw Milosz . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by  Lenka and Donna Iroda. The role of Ken Moss is being played by William Saroyan.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by W. H. Auden.  Our featured great Russian writer today is
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad in 1940, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, settling in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan. Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity." He was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991.

Jongen, Joseph, 1873-1953.  Symphonie concertante, organ, orchestra, op. 81 Angel, [1974]  Virgil Fox playing the organ of the Palais de Chaillot; Paris Opera Orchestra; George Prêtre, conductor.

Brahms, Johannes, 1833-1897.  Ein deutsches Requien. Variationen über ein Thema von Joseph Haydn, op. 56a.   Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft 1965]   Gundula Janowitz, soprano; Eberhard Waechter, baritone; Wiener Singverein; Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan, conductor.

Concertos for two guitars and orchestra by Franz Joseph Haydn, Antonio Vivaldi, and Alessandro Marcello. Mercury, [1964]   Ida Presti, Alexandre Lagoya, guitars ; Pro Arte Orchestra of Munich ; Kurt Redel, conductor.

Bock, Jerry.   Fiddler on the roof. Selections  Book by Joseph Stein, based on Sholom Aleichem's stories. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.  RCA Victor, [1964]  "The original Broadway cast recording," starring Zero Mostel.   Tradition.--Matchmaker, matchmaker.--If I were a rich man. --Sabbath prayer.--To life.--Miracle of miracles.--Tevye's dream.--Sunrise, sunset.--Now I have everything.--Do you love me?--Far from the home I love.--Anatevka.

Brodsky died of a heart attack aged 55, in his New York City apartment on January 28, 1996. He had had open-heart surgery in 1979 and later two bypass operations, remaining in frail health since that time. He was buried in the Episcopalian section at Isola di San Michele cemetery in Venice, Italy.

Mikhail Sholokhov

From high atop the beautiful hamlet of  Kruzhilin in the lovely Administrative Region of the Don Cossack Army., it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Vassily Kudashov . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by  Felicia and Philippa Ingold. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Herman Ermolayev.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by  Fyodor Kryukov.  Our featured great Russian writer today is Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov   (May 24  1905 – February 21, 1984) was a Soviet/Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for writing about life and fate of Don Cossacks during Russian revolution, Civil War and collectivization, primarily the famous And Quiet Flows the Don.
Don Cossack Chorus.  Cossack folk songs| the Don Cossacks of Rostov.  Melodiya/Angel,   Bylina : epic (3:22) -- Melt, you snowdrifts, it's time (1 :54) -- Oh, you oak grove ; Oh, you frost, you bitter frost (2:30) -- A garland of six wedding songs. Do you hear ; You, Yagorushka ; I planted vines ; Mist in the ravine ; My Vanyushka ; A birch-tree on the hill (8:24) -- In the meadow (1:52) -- Be merry, Don Cossacks (1:39) -- My meadow, my greensward (1:41) -- Fellow Cossacks! (1:23) -- By the forest (3:17) -- A Cossack left for a far land (3:19) -- Oh, don't awaken me (1:20) -- Dawn (1:32) -- Oak grove (1:07) -- Oh, in the garden (1:13) -- Golden bee (1: 42) -- My native land (3:45) -- One who truly loves his motherland (2:09)   Don Cossacks of Rostov ; Anatoly Kvasov, conductor.
Don Cossack Chorus.  On the River Don Decca, [1965?].   Across the Danube--Cossack lullaby--Borodino--The Red Sarafan--Golden age--Barinya--Siberian vagabond song-- Comical village song--On the River Don--Round dance-- Sakura.   Don Cossacks Chorus ; Serge Jaroff, conductor
Don Cossack Chorus.  Christmas music and carols A pre- Easter service. Concert Hall Society, [19-]   Christmas music and carols: Hymn to Christmas -- Hymn for the Virgin Mary -- Glory be to the birth of Jesus Christ - - Stikh -- Hymn to the Virgin -- First Irmos from the Christmas canon -- Carols -- A pre-Easter service: Great canon of Andre Kritsky -- Svetilen -- Stikh -- Symbolic burial of Christ -- Tropar-The noble Joseph -- Prayer before the receiving of the Holy Communion -- Canon.  Don Cossack Chorus; Serge Jaroff, conductor.

Mikhail Bulgakov

From high atop the beautiful town of Kiev  in the lovely Ukraine, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Professor Persikov . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Anna and Tatiana Lappa . The role of Ken Moss is being played by Lesley Milne.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Salman Rushdie.  Our featured great Russian writer today is
Mikhaíl Afanasyevich Bulgakov May 15  1891 – March 10, 1940) was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

Composers names Michael
Tippett, Michael, 1905-1998. Child of our time Philips, 1975. Jessye Norman, soprano ; Janet Baker, contralto ; Richard Cassilly, tenor ; John Shirley-Quirk, bass ; BBC Singers ; BBC Choral Society ;
BBC Symphony Orchestra ; Colin Davis, conductor.
Various Artists – Master i Margarita: po prochtenii Bulgakova (The Master and Margarita: on Reading Bulgakov)
Kirill Radzig – Chapter 01 – Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Praetorius, Michael, 1571-1621. Music of Praetorius:
dances from Terpsichore (1612);motets from Muses of Zion (1605-10) and other collections. Angel [1974] Dances: Passameze. Spagnoletta. La bourée. Pavane de Spaigne. Courante M. M. Wüstrow. Suite de ballets. (Galliard) Reprinse secundam inferiorem. La sarabande. Suite de voltes.--Motets: Resonet in laudibus (from Eulogodia Sionia). Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort (from Polyhymnia caduceatrix). Gott der Vater wohn uns bei. Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (from Musae Sioniae I). Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (from Musae Sioniae II). Christus, der uns selig macht (from Musae Sioniae IV). Early Music Consort of London; boys of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban (in the 2d, 3d, and 6th motets); David Munrow, conductor.
Tippett, Michael, 1905-1998. Symphony no. 2. / The weeping babe. / Sonata for four horns. Argo[1968]London Symphony Orchestra, with Colin Davis, conductor (in 1st work); April Cantelo, soprano, with John Alldis Choir (in 2d work); Barry Tuckwell Horn Quartet (in 3rd work)
In poor health, Bulgakov devoted his last years to what he called his "sunset" novel. 1937-1939 for Bulgakov were stressful years as he veered from glimpses of optimism, believing the publication of his masterpiece could still be possible, to bouts of depression, when he felt as if there were no hope. On June 15, 1938, when the manuscript was nearly finished, Bulgakov wrote in a letter to his wife:

"In front of me 327 pages of the manuscript (about 22 chapters). The most important remains - editing, and it's going to be hard, I will have to pay close attention to details. Maybe even re-write some things... 'What's its future?' you ask? I don't know. Possibly, you will store the manuscript in one of the drawers, next to my 'killed' plays, and occasionally it will be in your thoughts. Then again, you don't know the future. My own judgement of the book is already made and I think it truly deserves being hidden away in the darkness of some chest..."^[6]

In 1939 Mikhail Bulgakov organized a private reading of The Master and Margarita to his close circle of friends. Yelena Bulgakova remembered 30 years later, "When he finally finished reading that night, he said: 'Well, tomorrow I am taking the novel to the publisher!' and everyone was silent", "...Everyone sat paralyzed. Everything scared them. P. (P. A. Markov, in charge of the literature division of MAT) later at the door fearfully tried to explain to me that trying to publish the novel would cause terrible things", she wrote in her diary (May 14, 1939)
Mikhail Bulgakov died from nephrosclerosis (an inherited kidney disorder) on March 10, 1940. He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. His father had died of the same disease, and from his youth Bulgakov had guessed his future mortal diagnosis.

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.

Mikhail Lermontov

From high atop the beautiful Dagestan region, in the heart of the Caucasus, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Sir Walter Scott. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Lucia and Drusilla Lammermoor. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Rex T. Ivanhoe. In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by William Shatner. Our featured great Russian writer today is Mikhail Lermontov. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov October 15 1814 – July 27  1841), a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel.

Sergei Prokofiev – Waltz Suite, Op. 110: III. Mephisto Waltz, from Lermontov - Live Sergei Prokofiev – Prokofiev: Waltz Suite, Op. 110
Gretchaninov, Alexander – Gretchaninov: Lullaby - Lullaby Various Artists – Glière/Glazunov etc: Harp Concerto/Concerto for Coloratura Soprano etc
Rachmaninov, Sergey Vasil'yevich – Rachmaninov: By The Gates Of The Holy Dwelling (U vrat obiteli svyatoy) - By The Gates Of The Holy Dwelling (U vrat obiteli svyatoy) Elisabeth Söderström & Vladimir Ashkenazy – Rachmaninov: The Songs
Steven Isserlis – Akhmatova Songs (for soprano and cello): Pushkin and Lermontov Various Artists – Tavener - Svyati
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - Alone I Go Out to the Highway – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Lincoln Mayorga – Three Pieces Opus 96, Contradance (from "Lermontov") – Piano Music Of Chopin, Brahms & Prokofiev
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - Angel  – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Anton Rubinstein – A.Rubinstein." Mountain Peaks". Lyrics by Michail Lermontov
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - The Sail – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Sergei Rachmaninov – S.Rachmaninov. "The Pine". Lyrics by Michail Lermontov Victor Popov – Russian Choir School. Victor Popov
Style of Five – Net, Ne Tebia Tak Pilko Ya Liubliu (No, It's Not You I Love So Fervently) - Arr. For Baritone And Orchestra Lev Mey – I Met You, My Love
Natalia Biryukova – 2 Romances, Op. 84: No. 1. Utro an Kavkaze (A Morning In The Caucasus)
Natalia Biryukova – 2 Romances, Op. 84: No. 2. Ballada  – SHOSTAKOVICH: Complete Songs, Vol. 1 - Vocal Cycles Of The Fifties (1950-1956)
Ivari Ilja, piano  – 6 Romances, Op. 38 (text by M. Lermontov): 6 Romances, Op. 38: No. 5. Lyubov' mertvetsa (The love of a dead man) Alexei Tolstoy – Hvorostovsky, Dmitri: Tchaikovsky Romances

The Hero of Our Time:
Schwartz, Abe, musician.  The klezmer king Columbia/Legacy, 2002. Hurra! Far unzer held Levine = Hurray! For our hero Levine (Irving Grossman)

The Princess of the Tide, 1841, ballad:
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich,  1840-1893. The sleeping beauty Princess Aurora. Capitol.   Ballet Theatre Orchestra; Joseph Levine, conductor.
Ravel, Maurice, 1875-1937. Pavane for a dead princess Columbia The Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus; Margaret Hills, director.
 Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay, 1844-1908.   Shekherazada   from "Thousand and one nights"  Pilz, 1988.  The young prince and princess  Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana; Anton Nanut, conductor.
 The Poet:
Mariàn Pivka – Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 - Hark! The Poet Speaks
Kleine stücke grosser meister, vol. 2  Short pieces, great composers, vol. 2.  PMG  [1988]. Aus "Kinderszenen" = From "Scenes of childhood," op. 15:  Hark! The poet speaks / R. Schumann
Halle Orchestra –Overtures : Poet and Peasant – Franz Von Suppe': Overtures
Emmerich Kálmán Capitol Records-- The Czardas princess / Kálmán  Madlon Harder, soprano; Jean Löhe, tenor, with chorus and orchestra of the Berlin State Opera; Hansgeorg Otto, conductor , sung in German.
Death of the Poet:
On July 25, 1841, at Pyatigorsk, fellow army officer Nikolai Martynov, who felt offended by one of Lermontov's jokes, challenged him to a duel. The duel took place two days later at the foot of Mashuk mountain. Lermontov was killed by Martynov's first shot. Several of his verses were discovered posthumously in his notebook. He is buried at Tarkhany.
The Duel between Liszt and Thalberg. Angel 1975 Liszt. Ballade no. 2 in B minor.--Liszt. Funeral march from Donizetti's Dom Sébastien.--Thalberg. Fantasy on Rossini's Moses.--Thalberg. Fantasy on Rossini's Barber of Seville.  Raymond Lewenthal, piano.

The Poet's Dead

The Poet's dead! - a slave to honor -
He fell, by rumor slandered,
Lead in his breast and thirsting for revenge,
Hanging his proud head!...
The Poet's soul could not endure
Petty insult's disgrace.
Against society he rose,
Alone, as always...and was slain!
Slain!...What use is weeping now,
The futile chorus of empty praise
Excuses mumbled full of pathos?
Fate has pronounced its sentence!
Was it not you who spitefully
Rebuffed his free, courageous gift
And for your own amusement fanned
The nearly dying flame?
Well now, enjoy yourselves...he couldn't
Endure the final torture:
Quenched is the marvelous light of genius,
Withered is the triumphal wreath.

Cold-bloodedly his murderer
Took aim...there was no chance of flight:
His empty heart beat evenly,
The pistol steady in his hand.
No wonder...from far away
The will of fate sent him to us
Like hundreds of his fellow vagrants
In search of luck and rank;
With impudence he mocked and scorned
The tongue and mores of this strange land;
He could not spare our glory,
Nor in that bloody moment know
"gainst what he'd raised his hand!...

He's slain - and taken by the grave
Like that unknown, but happy bard,
Victim of jealousy wild,
Of whom he sang with wondrous power,
Struck down, like him, by an unyielding hand.

Why did he quit the blissful peace of simple fellowship
To enter this society, so envious and stifling
To hearts of free and fiery passion?
Why did he give his hand to worthless slanderers,
How could he have believed their hollow words
And kindness, he, who'd ever understood his fellow man?...

And they removed his wreath, and set upon his head
A crown of thorns entwined in laurel:
The hidden spines were cruel
And pierced his noble brow;
Poisoned were his final moments
By sly insinuations of mockers ignorant,
And thus he died - for vengeance vainly thirsting
Secretly vexed by false hopes deceived.
The wondrous singing's ceased,
T'will never sound again.
His refuge, gloomy and small,
His lips forever sealed.

___
And you, the offspring arrogant
Of fathers known for malice,
Crushing with slavish heels the ruins
Of clans aggrieved by fortune's game!
You, greedy hordes around the throne,
Killers of Freedom, Genius and Glory!
You hide beneath the canopy of law
Fall silent - truth and justice before you...
But justice also comes from God, corruption's friends!
The judge most terrible awaits you:
He's hardened to the clink of gold,
He knows your future thoughts and deeds.
Then will you turn in vain to lies:
They will no longer help.
And your black blood won't wash away
The poet's sacred blood!

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

From high atop the beautiful Pinsk region, not too far from Minsk, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Woody Allen. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Annie and Fannie Hall. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Sandy Semipalatinsk. Our featured great Russian writer today is  Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский; 11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the context of the troubled political, social and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia. He began writing in his 20s, and his first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25. His major works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His output consists of eleven novels, three novellas, seventeen short novels and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in world literature.

The Brothers: 
The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia.
Joan Baez – Satisfied Mind(Duet w/Lilly Brothers) Live at Newport
Woody Allen, Love and Death
Otakar Jeremiás – Bratři Karamazovi. Opera in 3 Acts: Act 1: Darebáku, přijde dnes ona? Otakar Jeremiás – The Brothers Karamazov Antonín Votava, Karel Kala?, Václav Eremiá?, Drahomíra Tikalová, Jarmila Pechová, Antonín Zlesák, Josef Heriban
Bronislaw Kaper – The Brothers Karamazov – Kaper, B.: Film Music played by the composer
The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider – The Best Of The Allman Brothers 20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection
The Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes  – Rhino Hi-Five: The Doobie Brothers [Vol. 2]
The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody  – The Very Best Of The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody


Crime and Punishment: 
Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. 
Alex Jennings – Crime & Punishment: Chapter 1, On The Brink 
Frank Black – Bullet Various Artists – Crime And Punishment In Suburbia
Sleater-Kinney – Burn, Don't Freeze Various Artists – Crime And Punishment In Suburbia
Nigel Anthony – Crime & Punishment: Chapter 2, Murder Is Done  – Dostoyevsky: Crime & Punishment
Meat Puppets – Two Rivers Various Artists – Crime And Punishment In Suburbia
Nigel Anthony – Crime & Punishment: Chapter 8, Admission Of Guilt  – Dostoyevsky: Crime & Punishment

The Idiot:
The 26-year-old Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin returns to Russia after spending several years at a Swiss sanatorium. Scorned by the society of St. Petersburg for his trusting nature and naiveté, he finds himself at the center of a struggle between a beautiful kept woman and a virtuous and pretty young girl, both of whom win his affection. Unfortunately, Myshkin's very goodness precipitates disaster, leaving the impression that, in a world obsessed with money, power, and sexual conquest, a sanatorium may be the only place for a saint
Fyodor Sofronov  Duet for violin and viola Elena Ivanova Violin Olga Kogan Viola.
Chumbawamba – Dance, Idiot, Dance – ABCDEFG
Monty Python – Idiot Song - Live – Live At Drury Lane

Nikolai Myaskovsky Composer Silence, symphonic poem after Poe, Op.9  

Stankovsky, Robert Conductor Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Orchestra

Ivan Turgenev

From high atop the hunter's lodge in the forest primeval, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Dick Cheney. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Holly and Molly Hunter. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Ken Ruger. In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Fortesque B. Pomegranate. Our featured great Russian writer today is Ivan Turgenev. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (November 9, 1818 – September 3, 1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852), was a milestone of Russian Realism. The book is credited with having influenced public opinion in favor of the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction.While he was still in Russia in the early 1850s, Turgenev wrote several novellas (povesti in Russian): "The Diary of a Superfluous Man ("Дневник лишнего человека"), Faust ("Фауст"), The Lull ("Затишье"), expressing the anxieties and hopes of Russians of his generation. In 1854 he moved to Western Europe, and during the following years produced the novel Rudin ("Рудин"), the story of a man in his thirties, who is unable to put his talents and idealism to any use in the Russia of Nicholas I. Rudin is also full of nostalgia for the idealistic student circles of the 1840s.
Waltz from The OPERA Ivan SUSANIN (M.GLINKA) Miguel Del Oro Orchestra – 100 MASTERPIECES OF WORLD Classical MUSIC  PART 2
Max Bollinger – Nobleman's Nest– The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Ivan Rebroff – Patrouille des cosaques  – Best of Ivan Rebroff (18 Hits)
George Frideric Handel – Concerto No. 3 in G Minor for Organ and Orchestra, HWV 291, Op. 4: III. Adagio  – Relax Classics Ivan Sokol, organ
Max Bollinger – A Man of Mystery– The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Ivan Rebroff – Katjuscha, Katjuscha !– Best of Ivan Rebroff (18 Hits)
George Frideric Handel – Concerto No. 4 in F Major for Organ and Orchestra, HWV 292, Op. 4: III. Adagio – Classical Hits for Relaxing Ivan Sokol, organ
Max Bollinger – The Portrait – The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Ivan Rebroff – Boublitschki – Best of Ivan Rebroff (18 Hits)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533 Ivan Sokol, organ  – J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue for Organ Vol. 1 (Digitally Remastered)
Max Bollinger – The Great Hunt – The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Ivan Rebroff – Les Deux Guitares – Best of Ivan Rebroff (18 Hits)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532J – J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue for Organ Vol. 1 (Digitally Remastered) Ivan Sokol, organ
Max Bollinger – The New Nobility – The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Ivan Rebroff – Stenka Rasin – Best of Ivan Rebroff (18 Hits)
Borodin String Quartet – Clarinet Quintet In B Minor, Op. 115: II. Adagio Brahms: Clarinet Quintet / Mozart: String Quartet No. 15
Max Bollinger – My Own Nephew – The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
Vasily Shumov – Turgenev's Women  – Acoustics
Style of Five – Utro Tumannoye (Misty Morning) - Arr. For Baritone And Orchestra Lev Mey – I Met You, My Love
Max Bollinger – A French Affair – The Hunting Sketches by Ivan Turgenev, Audio Book 1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories
 

Sergei Yesenin

The last two years of Yesenin's life he created some of his most famous poems, but he also suffered from alcoholism, experienced a mental breakdown and was hospitalised for a month. Two days after his release, he cut his wrist, wrote a farewell poem in his own blood and hanged himself from the heating pipes on the ceiling of his room in the Hotel Angleterre. He was 30 years old.
Aleksander Wertyński sings Sergei Yesenin - Goodbye, My Friend, Goodbye Odeon 1929 (Polish) It had been inspired by a farewell note, left by Yesenin in his room in Hotel d'Angleterre in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in Russia, after his suicidal death on the 25th December, 1925:

Da svidanya drug moj, da svidanya...
(Goodbye, my friend, goodbye
My love, you are in my heart.
It was preordained we should part
And be reunited by and by.

Goodbye: no handshake to endure.
Let's have no sadness — furrowed brow.
There's nothing new in dying now
Though living is no newer....) -Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin.

Alexander Novikov
 My maple, all leafless, maple frozen over, Why are you bending down under the drifting snow. Maybe you saw  something? Maybe you heard something? Or you left your village just to go out. And as drunken watchman, stepping on a road, In the snow drowned with your foot being frozen. I , myself , somehow had  become unsteady. Couldn't find the road from the friendly kegger. Here I met a pine tree, there noticed a willow, And of summer I sang to them, joined by wind and snow. Seemed to me that I am like this maple lonely, Only not being frozen but still green all over. And by losing shyness, plastered as a sailor, I hugged birch with passion as  the wife of stranger.

Don Juan
It may be late for me or else too soon,
For so many years 't did not occur
That I bear resemblance to Don Juan,
Looking like a real fickle poet.

What's become of me then? What has happened?
Every day I'm at another's feet,
Daily, I refuse to spare myself and
Still defy the venom of deceit.

Never did I want my heart to hover
In the feeling, delicate and simple.
What do I seek in those women's eyes then,
Thoughtless, full of idleness and conceit?

Hold me down, control me, my disdain,
You have always noted me till now.
There is, in my heart, a chilly flame
And of lilacs bluish rustling sound,

In the heart, a sunset's hue of lemon,
But the same is heard like through a gloom:
For the rein of feeling, there's a payment,
Take you up the gauntlet then, Don Juan!

Whereas taking up the gauntlet calmly,
For my future, still the same I see --
To mistake the snows for blue May flowering,
To mistake for love a sensual thrill.

This is what's with me, this is what's happened,
Hence I'm always at so many feet,
And, in order to be lifelong happy,
I defy the venom of deceit.


Oleg Pogudin
A golden grove has ceased at last its chatter
In a merry accent of its birches' tongue.
Afar, a flight of cranes, dejected, flutter,
No more lamenting over anyone.

Who to lament for? In this world, we're strangers:
Go by, come in and leave the house anon.
The gone are summoned up by but a hemp-close
And a harvest moon above a bluish pond.

I'm all alone amid a barren flatland.
A gust of wind is carrying cranes away.
It is my joyful youth that I'm intent on,
But nothing in the gone do I bewail.

I don't feel sorry for the years being squandered,
Or for a lilac thriving of my soul.
A fire of rowan berries, in the courtyard,
Is burning red albeit unable to warm.

The rowan berry clusters will not scorch, and
The grass won't perish from the yellow dry.
Like trees are slowly shedding their foliage,
So am I shedding doleful words of mine.

And if the time, when sweeping with an airflow,
Should grab them all in one unwanted lump,
Then say as follows... that a golden birch grove
Has ceased its chatter in a lovely tongue.


The Retuses - Письмо к женщине (Live @ TV Rain)
Jeanne Aguzarova – Touching Yesenin   – Russian album
A. (Aleksandr) Demidov – Homecoming - Sergey Alexandrovich Yesenin  Modern Soviet Poetry and Humor: Read by Alexander Demidov
A. (Aleksandr) Demidov – Flowers - Sergey Alexandrovich Yesenin Modern Soviet Poetry and Humor: Read by Alexander Demidov
Maple Nikolai Massenkoff Sings With Balalaika Orchestra
His first marriage was in 1913 to Anna Izryadnova, a co-worker from the publishing house, with whom he had a son, Yuri.
Rachmaninoff, Sergei,1873-1943. Preludes and transcriptions. Capitol-EMI[1959]  Transcriptions: Scherzo from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Mendelssohn) Colin Horsley, piano.
From 1916 to 1917, Yesenin was drafted into military duty, but soon after the October Revolution of 1917, Russia exited World War I. Believing that the revolution would bring a better life, Yesenin briefly supported it, but soon became disillusioned. He sometimes criticised the Bolshevik rule in such poems as The Stern October Has Deceived Me. In August 1917 Yesenin married for a second time to Zinaida Raikh (later an actress and the wife of Vsevolod Meyerhold). They had two children, a daughter Tatyana and a son Konstantin. The parents quarreled and lived separately for some time prior to their divorce in 1921. 
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix,1809-1847.Die erste Walpurgisnacht. op. 60. Decca [1969] The 1st work sung in German; words by Goethe.  Lili Chookasian, contralto; Ernst Haefliger, tenor; Hermann Prey, baritone; Raymond Michalski, bass; Musica Aeterna Orchestra and Chorus; Frederic Waldman, conductor.

1. Overture, in A minor for orchestra
2. Es lacht der Mai!
3. Konnt ihr so ver
4. Opfer heut zu bringen
5. Vertheilt euch hier
6. Diese dumpfen Pfaffenchristen
7. Kommt mit Zacken und mit
8. So weit

In the fall of 1921, while visiting the studio of painter Georgi Yakulov, Yesenin met the Paris-based American dancer Isadora Duncan, a woman 18 years his senior. She knew only a dozen words in Russian, and he spoke no foreign languages. They married on 2 May 1922. Yesenin accompanied his celebrity wife on a tour of Europe and the United States. His third marriage to Duncan was brief and in May 1923, he returned to Moscow.
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich,1840-1893. Swan lake ballet (Suite) op. 20. Columbia,[1970]  New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor.
In 1923 Yesenin became romantically involved with the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya to whom he dedicated several poems. The same year he had a son by the poet Nadezhda Volpin. Their son, Alexander Esenin-Volpin grew up to become a poet and a prominent activist in the Soviet dissident movement of the 1960s. He lives in the United States, a famous mathematician and teacher.
In 1925 Yesenin met and married his fourth wife, Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, a granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy.
Ballet music from the operas Angel Records [1961]  Aïda: Ballet music, act 2, by Verdi.--Khovantschina: Dance of the Persian slaves, act 4, by Moussorgsky, orch. by Rimsky-Korsakov.--Prince Igor: Dances of the Polovtsian maidens, act 2, no. 8, and Polovtsian dances, act 2, no. 17, by Borodin, orch. Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazounov.--La Gioconda: Dance of the hours, act. 3, by Ponchielli.-- Tannhäuser: Venusberg music, act 1, by Wagner.  Philharmonia Orchestra; Herbert von Karajan, conductor.

Anna Akhmatova

Anna Akhmatova is the literary pseudonym of Anna Andreevna Gorenko. Her first husband was Gumilev, and she too became one of the leading Acmeist poets. Her second book of poems, Beads (1914), brought her fame. Her earlier manner, intimate and colloquial, gradually gave way to a more classical severity, apparent in her volumes The Whte Flock (1917) and Anno Domini MCMXXI (1922). The growing distaste which the personal and religious elements in her poetry aroused in Soviet officialdom forced her thereafter into long periiods of silence; and the poetic masterpieces of her later years, A Poem without a Hero and Requiem, were published abroad.  
A recital of Russian songs. Philips [1969] 5 poems by Anna Akhmatova, by Profofiev. Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano; Mstislav Rostropovich, piano;  sung in Russian.
1.

Sunshine has filled the room 
with clear golden specks of dust.
I woke up and remembered,
dear, it was your birthday.

But far beyond my windows 
snow has covered the ground, 
And made me forget, so now to atone, 
I sleep without dreams.

2.

True tenderness is silent 
and can't be mistaken for anything else.
In vain with earnest desire 
you cover my shoulders with fur;
In vain you try to persuade me 
of the merits of first love.
But I know too well the meaning 
of your persistent burning glances.

3.
Pamjat' o solnce v serdce slabejet,
Zheltej trava.
Veter snezhinkami rannimi vejet
Jedva-jedva.

Iva na nebe pustom rasplastala
Vejer skvoznoj.
Mozhet byt', luchshe, chto ja ne stala
Vashej zhenoj.

Pamjat' o solnce v serdce slabejet.
Chto `eto? T'ma? 
Mozhet byt'! Za noch' prijti uspejet
Zima.

4.

Greetings! Do you hear the soft rustle 
beside your table?
Don't bother to write 
for I'll come to you.

Is it possible you are angry
with me like the last time?
You say that you don't want to see my hands,
my hands or my eyes.

I am with you in your bright, simple room.
Don't chase me away 
to where the cold, murky water 
flows under the bridge.

5.

Slava tebe, bezyskhodnaja bol'!
Umer vchera seroglazyj korol'.
Vecher osennij byl dushen i al.
Muzh moj, vernuvshis', spokojno skazal:
,,Znajesh', s okhoty jego prinesli,
Telo u starogo duba nashli.
Zhal' korolevu. Takoj molodoj!
Za noch' odnu ona stala sedoj.``

Trubku svoju na kamine nashjol
I na rabotu nochnuju ushjol.
Dochku moju ja sejchas razbuzhu,
V seryje glazki jejo pogljazhu.
A za oknom shelestjat topolja:
,,Net na zemle tvojego korolja.` 

Akhmatova reciting the poem “To the Muse,” from the video the Akhmatova File.

Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750 Notenbuch der Anna Magdalena Bach (1725) Pages from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach Decca, [1966]   Charles Bressler, tenor ; New York Chamber Soloists.
Moffo, Anna.  Arias from Faust, La Bohème, Dinorah, Carmen, Semiramide, Turandot, Lakmé RCA Victor, [c1961]  Sung in Italian and French.  Anna Moffo, soprano; Rome Opera House Orchestra; Tullio Serafin, conductor.
Prokofiev, Sergey,| 1891-1953. Alexander Nevsky (Cantata) op. 78. [Based on music for the Eisenstein film, with words by Lugovskoi & Prokofiev.]  Angel, 1972.  Anna Reynolds, mezzo-soprano; London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; André Previn, conductor.
Montemezzi, Italo, 1875-1952  L'amore dei tre re opera in three acts. Libretto by Sem Benelli, based on his play of the same name] RCA,  1977  Anna Moffo, soprano; Placido Domingo, Ryland Davies, tenors; Pablo Elvira, baritone; Cesare Siepi, bass; supporting soloists; Ambrosian Opera Chorus;
London Symphony Orchestra; Nello Santi, conductor.
Mad scenes from Anna Bolena, Hamlet [and] Il pirata. Angel [1959]   Donizetti, G. Anna Bolena: Plangete voi? Al dolce guidami castel natio. Maria Meneghini Callas, soprano; supporting soloists; Philharmonia Chorus; Philharmonia Orchestra; Nicola Rescigno, conductor.
Shchedrin, Rodion Konstantinovich,1932-  Anna Karenina. complete ballet. Melodiya / Angel [1973]  Bolshoi Theater Orchestra; Yuri Simonov, conductor.

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

Anton Chekov

From high atop beautiful Czechia and Paris. France , it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. We continue our great Russian Writers Series with Anton Chekhov. Most famous for his plays, such as Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard, he also has a large number of short stories and was a Russian physician, dramaturge and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. We will be alternating the music of various Czech composers with the music of Jacques Offenbach.
Bedřich Smetana. Unable to earn much money from his music (or from his school of music), Smetana´s life was overshadowed by the deaths of three of his four daughters within the space of two years, then the death of his wife three years later. It was not until 1866 when fortune smiled upon 42-year-old Smetana with the enthusiastic response to his opera The Brandenburgers in Bohemia. His next work, The Bartered Bride, was also successful. Smetana is also famous, of course, as the composer of Má Vlast. Like Beethoven, he suffered from deafness later in life, but continued to compose music. He died of syphilis-related complications in 1884, and was buried in the cemetery at Vyšehrad.
Overture to the Bartered Bride Smetana 1824-1884. Epic, [1957].  Orchestra of the Slovenian National Opera ; Dimitri Gebré, conductor. 
Can Can The Infernal Galop from Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld
Fat Boy Slim Because We Can from Moulin Rouge

Antonín Dvořák moved to Prague at the age of 16, where he studied music. He became a member of the National Theatre´s orchestra in 1861, remaining there for ten years (under the occasional leadership of Smetana). His work was admired by none other than Johannes Brahms, leading to a close friendship between the two musicians. Dvořák  went from strength to strength, becoming a professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory, traveling to London to conduct his music, receiving an honorary degree from Cambridge University and serving as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. It was here that he wrote his most famous work, From the New World. After his return to Prague and the Conservatory, he composed the beloved Rusalka. He is also buried in the cemetery at Vyšehrad.
Judi Dench, The Cherry Orchard 1962
Antonin Dvorak, O Silver Moon performed by Renee Fleming. The Art of Renee Fleming
Super Mario Bros, Can Can
Antonín Dvořák – Cypresses, B.152: IV. Poco adagio  – Dvorak: Cypress String Quartet, String Quartet No. 13 Op. 106

Leoš Janáček studied not only in Prague, but in Vienna and Leipzig. He was a native of Moravia, and spent most of his life in Brno, founding a college for organists there in 1881; he ran this college until 1920. Like Smetana, Janáček experienced more than one tragedy. His son Vladimír died at the age of two, and his daughter Olga died shortly after her father completed the score to his opera Jenůfa (which he played for her just four days before her death). His operas premiered in Brno before being performed in Prague; Jenůfa didn´t win wide acclaim until it was shown in Prague in 1915, eleven years after its Brno premiere. Janáček  himself - now in his 50s - became famous as a result. He died in 1928.
Janáček, Leoš, 1854-1928.   Jenůfa  Žárlivost overture London Digital, 1983.  Elisabeth Söderström, Lucia Popp, sopranos ; Eva Randová, alto ; Wiesłav Ochman, Peter Dvorsky, tenors ; Vienna State Opera Chorus  Vienna Philharmonic ; Charles Mackerras, conductor.
Kat'a Kabanová London,  1977. Elisabeth Söderström, Naděžda Kniplová, sopranos; Petr Dvorský, tenor; supporting soloists; Chorus of the Vienna State Opera; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Charles Mackerras, conductor.
Offenbach, Jacques, 1819-1880.  Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Selections. Tales of Hoffmann; highlights Angel [1967]  Gianna d'Angelo, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Victoria de los Angeles, sopranos, and Nicolai Gedda, tenor, in the title role, with supporting soloists; Chœurs René Duclos; Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire; André Cluytens, conductor; sung in French.

Bohuslav Martinů studied music in his hometown of Policka as a child; when he was sixteen, his mother took him to Prague to meet with music experts. Later that year, he entered the Prague Conservatoire. Martinů , however, began failing his exams by the end of his second year and eventually dropped out. He maintained an intense schedule of attending concerts, studying, and composing, with his works being performed in Prague. After World War I, he joined the Czech Philharmonic as second violinist, composing a piece titled Czech Rhapsody that was performed by the orchestra in 1919. Martinů then took the opportunity to study with composer Albert Roussel in Paris; during this period (1935) he was awarded a Czechoslovak State Prize for his opera Hry o Marií. When World War II exploded, Martinů went first to Switzerland, then the United States, arriving in 1941. Eventually returning to Switzerland, he died there in 1959.
Martinů – Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, Adagio Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra Various Artists – 50 Classics for Relaxation
Offenbach, Jacques,1819-1880. La Périchole.[An opéra bouffe in three acts] RCA Victor1957  Patrice Munsel, Theodor Uppman, and Cyril Ritchard, with supporting soloists; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra; Jean Morel, conductor.
Jan Jakub Ryba was born in Přeštice, near Pilsen, the son of an organist and composer. In 1780, he came to Prague to study music; an admirer of Mozart´s, he conducted a performance of The Marriage of Figaro here. In 1784, he took a job as a teacher in Nepomuk. He was soon fired from this position, and spent some time wandering from place to place, eventually taking another teaching job in Rožmitál pod Třenšínem. It was here that he met his wife, Anna; the couple had nine children. Though the school flourished under his guidance, he was frequently in conflict with the town pastor and council. 1796 was the year in which he wrote his most famous work, Hej, mistr, still often played at Christmas. In 1815, Ryba´s body was found in the woods; he had cut his throat with a razor. He was buried in a plague cemetery near Rožmitál pod Třenšínem.
Ryba, Jakub Jan – Ryba: Ceska Mse Vanocni: Agnus Dei 
Offenbach, Jacques,1819-1880.   Gaîte parisienne, as presented by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Arr. by Manuel Rosenthal.  Angel,  [1975]   Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra; Felix Slatkin, conductor.

Leo Tolstoy

From high atop beautiful Yasnaya Polyana, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. We continue our great Russian Writers Series with Leo Tolstoy. Most famous for his massive novel, War and Peace, he also has a musical connection in his short story (almost a novel) The Kreutzer Sonata.

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Sonata no. 9, in A major, op. 47 (Kreutzer)  Capitol [1961]  Yehudi Menuhin, violin; Hephzibah Menuhin, piano.
War and peace highlights  Prokofiev. Libretto by Mira Mendelson-Prokofieva.  Melodiya/Angel [1968] Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano, and other soloists, chorus, and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater; Alexander Melik- Pashayev, conductor
Rota, Nino,| 1911-1979.War and peace [from the sound track of the Paramount presentation]  Columbia Special Products [1956] 3 For orchestra; conducted by Franco Ferrara.
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.   Wellingtons Sieg. Wellington's victory or The Battle of Vitoria.  Mercury [1961]   London Symphony Orchestra; cannons and muskets of the U. S. Military Academy; Deems Taylor, commentator; Antal Dorati, conductor.
Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886.  Introducing Ivan Davis playing piano works of Liszt. Columbia [1961]  Concert étude no. 3, in D-flat major (Un sospiro)--La Campanella.--Liebestraum.--Mephisto waltz.--Funerailles.-- Concert étude no. 2, in F minor (La leggierezza)-- Hungarian rhapsody no. 6.
Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich, 1804-1857.   Ivan Susanin; or, A life for the tsar. London [1957?]  Soloists and Chorus of the National Opera, Belgrade, with Chorus of the Yugoslav Army; Oscar Danon, conductor.

The World of the balalaika Melodiya/Angel [1971]  Jingle bell.--Glorious sea, the sacred Baikal.--Oh, snow, light snow.--Dance of the little swans, from Swan lake.-- Siberian flax.--Ah, Nastasya!--Over the fields, open fields.--The coachman's song.--Dark eyes spell danger.-- Lost in the tall stand of grain.--Daybreak on the Moskva River, from Khovanshchina.--Oh, my heart.--Why a cloud of dust in the field?--Ah, Vanya.  Ludmila Zykina, soprano; Valentina Levko, mezzo-soprano; Ivan Petrov, bass; Osipov Balalaika Orchestra; Vitaly Gnutov and Viktor Dubrovsky, conductor.

Boris Pasternak

From high atop beautiful downtown Peredelkino, it's time once gain for Sadko's World of Music. Today we begin the great Russian writers series of shows. Our featured writer today is Boris Pasternak.
Regina Spektor – Après Moi – Begin To Hope
Boris Pasternak – Piano Sonata in B minor (1909): Moderato - Allegro moderato Sergei Rachmaninov – Sound of Verse - Piano Music of Pasternak, Ravel & Rachmaninov, Inna Faliks, piano

ПОСЛЕ ГРОЗЫ

Пронесшейся грозою полон воздух.
Все ожило, все дышит, как в раю.
Всем роспуском кистей лиловогроздыx
Сирень вбирает свежести струю.

Все живо переменою погоды.
Дождь заливает кровель желоба,
Но все светлее неба переходы,
И высь за черной тучей голуба.

Рука художника еще всесильней
Со всех вещей смывает грязь и пыль.
Преображенней из его красильни
Выходят жизнь, действительность и быль.

Воспоминание о полувеке
Пронесшейся грозой уходит вспять.
Столетье вышло из его опеки.
Пора дорогу будущему дать.

Не потрясенья и перевороты
Для новой жизни очищают путь,
А откровенья, бури и щедроты
Душе воспламененной чьей-нибудь.

The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.

The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.

An artist's hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his color-bath.

The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.

It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone's soul, inspired and ablaze. 
Russian National orchestra, conductor Mikhail Pletnev. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. 4th movement Allegro 
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, 1840-1893.   The storm, op. 76 Melodiya/Angel, 1975.  Moscow Symphony Orchestra; Veronika Dudarova, conductor.
Berlioz, Hector, 1803-1869.Overtures. RCA Victor [1961] Royal hunt and storm, from The Trojans (10 min., 51 sec.)

My Sister — Life
Сестра моя – жизнь и сегодня в разливе
Расшиблась весенним дождем обо всех,
Но люди в брелоках высоко брюзгливы
И вежливо жалят, как змеи в овсе.
У старших на это свои есть резоны.
Бесспорно, бесспорно смешон твой резон,
Что в грозу лиловы глаза и газоны
И пахнет сырой резедой горизонт.
Что в мае, когда поездов расписанье
Камышинской веткой читаешь в пути,
Оно грандиозней святого писанья
Хотя его сызнова всё перечти.
Что только закат озарит хуторянок,
Толпою теснящихся на нолотне,
Я слышу, что это не тот полустанок,
И солнце, садясь, соболезнует мне.
И в третий плеснув, уплывает звоночек
Сплошным извиненьем: жалею, не здесь.
Под шторку несет обгорающей ночью
И рушится степь со ступенек к звезде.
Мигая, моргая, но спят где-то сладко,
И фата-морганой любимая спит
Тем часом, как сердце, плеща по площадкам,
Вагонными дверцами сыплет в степи.

My sister — life — tonight the spring-rains
burst and flood in all of us, but grumbling
men with monocles and polished manners
snap at me like dragons in the oats.
The old corrode with reason, but I know —
you understand — that reasons are absurd.
Eyes and grass are violet in the thunder,
terror with a scent of unripe flowers —
moist to the horizon, so that, now,
in May, en route by train, the schedule
for the Kamyshin branch I just reread seems
grander than the words of sacred texts.
And here at sunset — village-lights,
as people swarm across the platform —
this is not my station — dying sunlight
gardens and consoles beside me.
And the third bell sails and lapses
with apologies: I’m sorry, I’m a stranger.
Under blinds, night scorches, and the steppe
collapses toward the stars in flights of stairs.
Stars flicker, blinking — somewhere sleep, like
honey — fata-morganas, love, sleep sometimes — my
heart laps the station platform. And the doors of
railway carriages pour open on the steppes.

Sergei Rachmaninov – Op. 38: To Her – Vijtoriya Dodoka: Rachmaninov Songs
Living Voices sing music from the motion picture The Singing Nun RCA Camden, [1966]  Sister Adele
Anita Kerr, arranger-conductor.
Love Me or Leave Me from the sound track of the MGM picture. Columbia Special Products Music by Irving Berlin and others.-- Stay on the Right Side, Sister / Bloom, Koehler Doris Day, with orchestra ; Percy Faith, conductor.
Leonard Cohen, Sisters of Mercy, The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Delius, Frederick, 1862-1934. A Mass of Life [text from Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche]  Angel 1972.  Heather Harper, soprano; Helen Watts, contralto; Robert Tear, tenor; Benjamin Luxon, baritone; London Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra; Charles Groves, conductor.
Balakirev, Miliĭ Alekseevich, 1837-1910. Fantasy on themes from A life for the Tsar. RCA Red Seal,  [1969]  Earl Wild, piano.
Bloch, Ernest, 1880-1959.  Baal Shem.  three pictures of Chassidic life. Columbia  [1965]   Isaac Stern, violin; Alexander Zakin, piano.