Russian Cossack Music from the Urals

Conductor: Michael Minsky

1990: Delta Music/Laserlight 15 345

1. Prayer Litany
2. The Lord’s Prayer
3. To You We Sing
4. Praise the Name of the Lord
5. In the Mercy
6. To Love’s Might I Pray
7. For Many a Year
8. Oh, You Lanes
9. The Lonely Bell
10. I Met Her
11. The Legend of Ataman Stenka Rasin
12. Song of the River Dnjepr and Song of the Volga Boat Men
13. Kalinka
14. Evening Bells
15. Sledge from Moscow

I didn’t think I’d ever have reason to comment on this CD, but I was just listening to it in mid-2010, probably a decade or so after having bought it, and for the first time I was struck by just how arbitrary this choir’s pitch is. Some of the chords contain off-key notes that make my Western ear wince and my hand jump to skip tracks. But as a “cultural document” and a collection of Russian choral pieces it’ll retain a home in my collection despite that.

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Comments © 2010 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.