Customer Reviews

Best of the Red Army Choir

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you listen to this album, voices ring true and clear with the gusto of "WE ARE THE RED CAVALRY" and "SONG OF THE VOLGA BOATMEN" seem to jump out at you. These recordings are priceless and have brought the years to the forefront, when this male choir took first place at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1937.

Silva Classics has taken the reins to bring the "ultimate" of full choir sounds, including classical hymns and traditional songs. If you love superb vocals with rich and vibrant styles ~ 32 selections guaranteed to take your breath away ~ this album has it all.

My highlight pick is the "CIVIL WAR SONGS", a medley of traditional tunes with outstanding arrangements and excellent performances within each members sections, a must have for your music collection.

Total Time: Disc One 57:24 on 16 Tracks & Disc Two 58:58 on 16 Tracks ~
Silva Classics SILKD-6034 ~ (2002)

Both the compositions and the performance are remarkable, above expectations.
The music in this CD has a great emotiveness that can be shared no matter ideological questions. You can perceive a very intense feeling of comradeship and of belonging to a group that is essential in human nature from tribal times. Also some of the exaggeration and grandiloquence that was characteristic of the Soviet regime can be found sometimes, but in this case it sounds sincere. However, anybody who likes classic music would enjoy it.
The performance is very appropriate for this kind of music. It has nothing to do with the meaningless, empty and mechanical interpretation quite usual in military music. The Choir transmits a broad variety of feelings.

Even though I cannot speak Russian, the quality of this choral group is beyond excellent. Many of these pieces are extremely moving and stirring. The rendering of the Soviet anthem and the song "Let's Go" (V'put) come to my mind. "Let's Go" became a huge hit in Russia when it was featured in a movie about the Great Patriotic War, and indeed, hearing it - you can well imagine ranks upon ranks of hard-eyed, grim-faced Soviet soldiers striding into battle against the Wehrmacht.

There couldn't be a better Cd to show the world of the essance of Russian music.Its Rich harmonies and the amalgamation of the voices makes the music eternal.Its presentation is on the level of high achievement.... among the best choirs of the world.

"The red Army Choir" is one of those ensembles that simply can not be forgotten and much less ignored of our minds once you listen them.

This golden compilation encloses an essential chapter of the most gleaming and emotive Russian sentiment expressed through famous musical scores filled of vitality, candidness, sadness and cheerfulness.

For the Russian citizen, the music meant not only a vehicle to display his joys and sorrows, but to transmit unsaid feelings of gelid loneliness, nostalgic hopeless and enraptured lyricism.

On the road, Moscow nights, Partisan's song, My country, Troika Galop, Echelon' s song, Oh fields, my fields, dark eyes, The road song or The birch tree reflect the wide spectre of livings and memories of this nation, extraordinarily interpreted by this widely known ensemble around the world.

The sound edition was simply breathtaking as well as the selected tracks, that surely will overflow your feelings once you listen it.

A collector item, neither more nor less.

Excellent performance by the choir and the orchestra. The grandeur, the charm, and the romance! Great collection of songs, sure to bring back memories!

During more than a century we Europeans have turned our backs to a culture east of "The Iron Curtain". I think that by this, we disregard a tradition of the outmost quality in the word. As a Norwegian myself, I am very proud of the culture of my own country. May be that is why it is so easy for me to be enriched so much, by learning from cultures from other countries. For thousands of years people have presented their culture to each other when they were travelled around trading ect. And we learned to respect, value and sometime copy what earlier was more or less unknown to us. Russian music is more than Pjotr Tsjajkovskij, Igor Stravinskij, Aleksandr Skrjabin, Dmitrij Sjostakovitsj and other famous composers. I think their works to some degree is founded on a rock the of old tradition of old folk songs and liturgy from synagoges and the Eastern Church. When I listen to the CD whit the best of the Red Army Choir, it is as looking through a window into a heritage of another rich culture than my own. Together with the choir there is a scilful and competent orchestra and very clever soloists. The songs may flow like a calm river, or they may rice within seconds from a mild ppp in crescendo up to fff fore later on go like the breeze a summer day. When I play this record, my wife and my grown up children shake their heads, but my grandchildren and myself, we are dancing! Self-confident, I dear to challenge you, take a try!
Daniel

I had heard a few songs by the Red Army Choir in the past and happened upon this CD set a while back, I found it to be far better than I had hoped and would reccoment it to anyone who enjoys Russian folk music, choir in general, and cultural items from when Russia was still the Soviet Union.

I'm so glad I stumbled onto this.

Spirited, committed, manly singing. Soul-shaking stuff! The ensemble is incisive; soloists are marvelous. The folk melodies are enchanting. The songs--and the singers--are bound up in the cultural fabric of the Cossacks, Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Trotsky... This music conveys the great romantic, boisterous soul of Russia. (Loosely speaking. Some members of the chorus were presumably of other nationalities once part of the Soviet Union. And some of the songs are not Russian).

I don't speak Russian, but listening to this makes me wish I did. What a beautiful-sounding language it is.

Once again the Alexandrov Red Army Choir have excelled.
The DVD I also have is a joy.
Having seen the Choir in The Royal Albert Hall in the 1960's I wondered whether they could be as good as their predecessors...They were!!, if not better than I remember. Vasili Chtevoutsa is brilliant as he was on the DVD. Sadly, Vadim Ananiev does not appear on this CD as he did on the DVD. He too has the most amazing voice. Really my most prized possesion.
It was good to see that Yevegeni Belaiev appears on the disc. Saw him at the concert in the '60's. Good luck to them all. Hope to see them in the UK as soon as possible.