A fascinating cross-section of Soviet political- and popular songs from the Stalin era, presented in archival recordings.
This NINETEEN-track compilation presents a fascinating cross section of the most important political and popular songs from twenty-five years of Soviet history, from the years of "high" Stalinism to the post-Stalin thaw of the mid 'fifties. Included are such propaganda pieces as the militant "If War Comes Tomorrow," which warned the potential enemies of Stalin's Russia in the 1930's that they would be "cruelly smashed" on their own soil if they dared to encroach on Soviet territory; the wartime hit "Dark Night," which was popular among soldiers and civilians in the early years of the "Great Patriotic War;" a "Lullaby" performed by unnamed vocalists that conveys the beauty of Russian folk art and the timeless quality of Russian village life, even as Russian society was being torn to pieces by man-made famine, the "Great Terror" and, eventually, war; and a rare recording of the 1944 version of the Soviet National Anthem, which prominently featured lyrics proclaiming the greatness of Josef Stalin, and which were later removed by order of Nikita Khrushchev. Complied by a German producer from period Soviet recordings in private and public collections, this CD has been expertly engineered for full audio fidelity. Complete contents include:
Our Machine Gun Cart (Listov, Rudermann)
Farewell Song of the Komsomol (Fradkin, Safronov)
Sing, Soldier, Sing (Doluchanian, Nekrasov)
If War Comes Tomorrow (Pokrass, Lebedev-Kumach)
Cossack Song (Dzerzhinskii, Churkhin)
Sing to us, ye winds (Dunayevskii, Lebedev-Kumach)
Far Beyond the River (Trad.) / Chubchik (Trad.)
Lullaby (Trad.) / A Beautiful Boy is Born (Trad.)
Through Mountains and Steppe (Alexandrov, Parfenov)
Soldiers are Going (Trad.)
The Sacred War (Alexandrov, Lebedev-Kumach)
Dark Night (Trad.)
Meadowland (Knipper, Gusev)
Three Tankmen (Pokrass, Laskin)
On the Way (Solovyev-Sedoi, Lebedev-Kumach)
Song of the Fatherland (Dunayevskii, Lebedev-Kumach)
Hymn of the Soviet Union (Alexandrov-Mikhalkov).
Featured performers include the Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army, Mark Bernes, Igor Shmelyov, Paul Robeson (!), Dimitri Pokrass and many other artists who performed in the years when the "Father of the Peoples" cast his shadow across Russian history.
Total Time: 56:24
