Track Listing

1. Farewell of Slavianka
2. O Field, My Field
3. We Are the Red Calvary
4. There, Far Away, Beyond the River
5. Sacred War
6. There March the Soldiers
7. In the Forest by the Combat-Line
8. Sun Set Beyond the River
9. Chorus of Soldiers [From the Opera DeCembrists]
10. Volga Boatman's Song (Ey Ukhnem)
11. Troika
12. Cliff
13. Hey, There's the Village
14. Volga Burlack's Song
15. Dark Eyes (Ochi Chernye)
16. Brave Don Lads
17. On the Road (A Soldier's Song)
18. Moscow Nights

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22582 in Music
• Released on: 1996-04-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Martial melodies and classic folksongs
You don't need to understand Russian to enjoy the outstanding voices and magnificent melodies of the Red Army Choir. Not all the tracks on this splendid CD are martial, but I especially love the World War ll era songs. My personal favorite -- "Svyaschennaya Voina", or "Sacred War" -- is a stirring call to fight for the Motherland:

"Vstavai, strana ogromnaya! Vstavai na smertniy boi
S fashistskoi ciloi tyomnoyu; S proklyatoyu ordoi!
Poost' yarost' blagorodnaya, Vskipaet kak volna --
Idyot voina narodnaya, Svyaschennaya Voina!"

(Arise, colossal land! Stand for mortal war
With fascist forces sinister; With the accursed horde!
Let avenging anger surge, Our noble anger soar --
This war is a people's war, It is a Sacred War!)

The rousing words were written by Vasiliy Lebedev-Kumach the day following the Nazi invasion. They were set to music by Gen. Aleksandr Aleksandrov, founder of the original Red Army Ensemble. Rushed onto the airwaves, the song created an immediate emotional response. The defiant lyrics are empowered by the melody which ascends and descends majestically in a minor key to a march rhythm in a unique 3/4 time. Listen to Amazon's sample track and see if it doesn't make your heart beat faster! This is the signature song of the Red Army Choir. The rest of the CD is equally wonderful.

In Russian the word for Red also means beautiful - krasnai
This is one of the best collections of the Red army Chorus and World folk and martial music. The songs range from czarist to Soviet times and regardless of the political considerations they all inspire glory and power like no other. After sevarl hewrings, I've decided that Slavianka is my favorite (late 1800') and I also like theri interpretation of Ochi Chornye and Moscow Nights (one of the most beautiful songs of the 20th century anywhere). I find the range and tonality of the chorus captivating and coupled with the orchestration it's really intoxicating. If the Russians were singing thse songs during the Great patriotic War (WWII for the decadent capitalist of the West) against the Nazis I'm not surprised they won gainst all the odds. Try driving while listening to Slavianka without getting a speeding ticket!
Ochin krassivi.

Not for everybody, but...
...if it is for you, you'll like it. If you are into Russian folk music, good choral music, or heavy duty "power" music (some of these tracks truly are songs to invade Czechoslovakia by), then seriously consider adding it to your collection. As I said, this music is not for everyone, but if it is, you could do a lot worse than this CD. There are tracks from czarist times, the period of the Revolution, and the Soviet era that followed (as explained by the liner notes), though it's missing patriotic staples like the Partisan Song and the National Anthem. The hair-raising performance of Volga Boatmen is worth the price alone.