Some great tunes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWY-9UihgYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPamawxHDE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mvrZayCfgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSTMNBFi2Oo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WpD2Cspn6g
Russian choral music?
Discussion in 'Music Ministry' started by billwald, Oct 12, 2012.
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Squire Robertsson AdministratorAdministrator
What you've posted are either pieces by an Eastern Orthodox (Russian of Serbian) choir or done in that style.
If you like Gregorian chants, okay. I like sacred music sung by blood bought Believers. Russian Evangelical Christian-Baptists among others in the FSU.
As for God Save The Tsar, I prefer the instrumental version by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Tsar Nikolas II was colonel in chief of the Royal Scots Grays at his death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soooLvc0fO8 -
"God Save The Tsar." is one of the most exciting tunes I have heard. Someone should write "Easter" words to it.
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Squire Robertsson AdministratorAdministrator
then you haven't heard the Evangelical Christian-Baptist hymn Vydom na Golgofa moy Brat, Let Us Go To Golgotha My Brother. It is sung during Lord's Supper services.
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Thanks but can't find it on line. Where should I look?
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The Russians have a wonderful tradition of homophonic choral music, including an emphasis on incredibly low bass singing. I have a recording of Mozart's Requiem made by (I think) by a Serbian choir that retains the robustness of the Slavic tradition despite being in a polyphonic form.
The harmonic parts differ markedly from Gregorian chants, which are monophonic, usually consisting of a single melodic line. -
Squire Robertsson AdministratorAdministrator
Yeup, this is it. Though this version sounds a little light on the bass end. This choir has more women than men, I guess. Imagine being sung in full four part harmony by the whole congregation by memory. And they are singing it a tad slower than I'm used to singing and hearing it. But for an into to the hymn it's a good one.
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In a way, this reminds me of a 33.33 LP record album that was probably made sometime back in the 1970's that (among other selections) featured the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy as conductor, and "some choir" (possibly the Mormon Tabernacle Choir [but I'm not 100% positive as to which choir it actually was]) performing the very rarely performed choral introduction of the very famous"1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky with the words of the Russian (Czarist) National Anthem sung in English!
I was simply amazed at the lyrics! More than likely most of the native Russians who might have sung and/or listened to that anthem were probably doing so from a Russian Orthodox religious perspective (as opposed to, let's say, an IFB, "KJV-ONLY[!!!]" perspective), but this anthem's lyrics goes much further than, e.g., the "Star-Spangled Banner," does in its very dependance upon God to preserve "our native land."
For those who may not know, Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose this overture as part of a 1862 national celebration that commerated the 50th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat at the outskirts of Moscow.
Most scholars attribute Nap's defeat more to the fact that he waited a bit too long to start his proposed "conquest" of the Russian Empire such that his supply lines were stretched far too long to be able to effectively re-supply his invading forces w/ badly needed cannons, ammunition & fresher troops than to that of the comparatively grossly outnumbered Russian military might.
All the Russians basically did was to continue to attack from behind w/ relatively minor skirmishes here & there as opposed to any really major man-to-man battles.
As with Adoph Hitler's ill-fated invasion some 128 years later in WW2, when Russia once again proved that their greatest military ally was the dreaded Russian winter climate!! (As the old saying goes, history many times has a way of repeating itself!)
Moreover, just like with Beethoven's "Egmont" or Rossini's "William Tell" (the old TV western classic "Lone Ranger" theme!), etc., here is another case of the overture's music being more popular down through the years than "the 'main thing'" turned out to be. (I guess the same would also apply to, e.g., Beethoven's masterpiece, Symphony #9 in D minor, Op. 125 ["Choral"].) -
Thanks much for the url!