Russkaya Cappella Online Festival of Music

Our next selection, Evening Bells, has been made by George, our committee's Tenor Representative. He writes "This song is a family favourite and, interestingly, our familial love for it can be traced back at least a century. My great-grandfather George used to love it, my grandmother Alla loves it, my mum too and so do I. The lyrics of this song were adapted from a poem written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore, in his collection National Airs ." This version is sung by the Moscow Patriarchal Choir, and is borrowed with our thanks from Norman Fowler Sutton's extensive YouTube channel, where a  transliteration and translation of the lyrics can be found.

Our first piece of the weekend was chosen by our President, Richard, who sings bass and is particularly fond of the musical genre known as Romance (not quite folk songs, but still typically Russian and likely to be sung at social gatherings.) As we haven't sung together for a while we're bringing you a version with the lyrics, karaoke style.  In true Russkaya Cappella fashion we have a transliteration below for those of us who don't (yet) read Russian fluenty, so we can practice at home. Our usual orthography applies: ŏ is the neutral vowel, e sounds more like ye, ' replaces the soft sign etc. E- kha- li na troi- ke s bu- ben- tsa- mi, A vda- li mel’- ka- li ŏ - gon’- ki… Ekh, k ŏ- gda by mne te- per’ za va- mi, Du- shu by ra- zve- yat’ ŏ t t ŏ- sci! Dŏ- ro- gai dlin- nŏ- yu, Pŏ- go- dai lun- nŏ- yu, Da s pe- snei toi, Shto vdal’ le- tit zve- nya, I s toi sta- rin- no- yu, Da c se- mi- strun- nŏ- yu Shto pŏ nŏ- cham Tak mu- chi- la mu- nya. La ...

Selected by Derek, our Bass Rep, who discovered it by accident on Apple Tunes when he downloaded something else, and became hooked.  This version, with orchestral score, is conducted by Kirill Kondrashin, with the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra with the RSFSR Academic Russian Chorus.

This was suggested by Brian, one of our Second Basses. This recording is from a service in January 2019 in memory of Dr. Stuart Campbell, our late musical co-director. Russkaya Cappella's singers were joined by our friends from Glasgow University Chapel Choir, which Stuart had directed before he retired and is now led by Dr. Katy Cooper. It seems appropriate to include a piece to remember Stuart here.  Memory eternal. Вечная память.

This lovely piece was suggested by one of our Second Altos, Moira, who also happens to be a Founder Member of the choir. This version performed by Evgeny Kissin and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Hello! Здравствуйте и добро пожаловать! Like everyone else, Russkaya Cappella, Scotland's Russian Choir, has been unable to meet since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We're missing the music and friendship we bring to our weekly rehearsals very much and are rather sad to postpone concerts and other public appearances. While we're sitting at home we thought we could cheer ourselves up by sharing with each other our favourite pieces of Russian music, to remind us of happy times making music together, and provide encouragement for the future.  The brief is simply to share favourite pieces from any genre: liturgical, opera, folksong, symphonies, romances, ballet, chamber music. We would love to hear your suggestions too. To start at the beginning, an Overture to lift the spirits. Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (Руслан и Людмила) bubbles with joy and energy. We hope you enjoy our suggestions, and look forward to hearing yours too. Ashley (Social Media Adm...