Six Folk Songs
00:00 Song of the Volga — Vniz po matushke po Volg’e (solo: P. Kripakov)
02:54 In the Dark Woods — V T'omnom L'ese
04:17 Song of the Volga Bargehaulers — Eih ukh n’em (solo: D. Krot)
08:14 Along the Kazanka — V dol’ da por’ echk’e (solo: С. Neff )
09:23 It is Not the Wind (grief at the loss of a loved one) — То n’e veter (solos: V. Liapunov, C. Neff)
13:08 In the Blacksmith Shop (an arrangement of A bawdy blacksmith song ) — Va kuznitse

Two Composed Songs
14:46 The Little Golden Cloud — Nochevala tuchka zolotaya (Music by Rimsky-Korsakov, poem by Lermontov)
18:32 Winter Evening — Zimn’ij v’echer (Music by Yakovlev, poem by Pushkin)

Two Brigand Songs
22:10 Amidst the Slumbering Woods — Sred’i l’esov dremuchikh
24:09 The Legend of the Twelve Brigands — Zhilo dv’enadtsat’ razboin’ikov (solos: P. Ralph, D. Krot, V. Liapunov, C. Teske)

Three Cossack Songs
29:01 Curling Smoke — V’jotsa, v’jotsa siziy dym
30:33 Marching Song — Oy na gor’e
32:16 A Farewell Song — V put’ dorozhku Dal'nuyu

Four Soldier Songs
33:12 The Black Hussars — Chorniye gusary (solo: Р. Kripakov)
36:26 Song of the Battle of Borodino — Borod’ino
37:48 Meadowlands — Pol’ushko pole
39:55 Bleak Roads — Еkh dorogi (solos: С. Neff, P. Kripakov, V. Liapunov)

Heavy with laughter, with tears and with hope, Russian music rises from the soil of Russia and tells the history of a people. Its breadth of vocal and dynamic range, its unorthodox harmonies, modal lines, pronounced but changing rhythm, and the warmth of sound confront American performers and listeners with a new aesthetic experience.

The content of this record is divided into five groups presenting various sources of Russian folklore: songs sung by soldiers, brigands, peasants, Cossacks and two pieces written by distinctly Russian composers to the text of famous and popular Russian poets.

With the exception of a madrigal-type setting by Rimsky-Korsakoff, all songs have been arranged for the Yale Russian Chorus by Denis Mickiewicz. Clearly, the Cossacks or soldiers never knew any arrangements; the poliphony or harmony of their singing was accidental or improvised. However, certain traditional patterns were formed, and grew to be interdependent with the organized singing done in churches, singing which was thoroughly familiar to all Russians.

Thus, the inevitable artificiality of arrangements seems mildest when coupled with 18th and 19th Century techniques of liturgical settings. At times the introduction of some complexity was necessary in order to compensate for the spontaneity of irrational and unpredictable resolutions and the tremendous intensity achieved by the original performers.

Denis Mickiewicz


Since its creation in 1953, the Yale Russian Chorus has helped to interpret Russian music through formal and informal singing in colleges, churches and concert halls throughout the eastern United States. In recent years this singing has won wide acclaim for the Chorus. New York Times music critic, John Briggs, wrote: The group performed with much spirit and admirable musical polish. It is clear the choristers have spent a good deal of time in rehearsal under a conductor who knows his business. Last night’s audience received the performance with enthusiasm.”

The Chorus traveled to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1958. Since the majority of its members speak Russian and since all were in some way familiar with various aspects of American and Russian thought, the group was admirably qualified to partially bridge the gap separating the two cultures. Informal and impromptu concerts аtracted people throughout Russia and led to conversations, prolonged discussions and ultimately to a broader base of understanding.

A more detailed description of the Yale Russian Chorus’ 1958 trip to the Soviet Union appeared in the May, 1959 READER’S DIGEST, entitled, “То Russia, With Music”.

John Francis tries to answer a difficult question at Yalta, after the singing. “During a 4-week sight-seeing tour of the U.S.S.R., the Russian-speaking American students staged 2 dozen impromptu street-corner and park-bench songfests. After the folk songs were concluded, the Americans were mobbed by the Russians, who kept popping questions at them until the wee hours of the morning. ‘It was tiring, but that way we met many Russian students,’ said Denis Mickiewicz of New Haven, Conn.”

—Newsweek


The Yale students have presented concerts to Russians in streets and squares, and, better than many other tourists, have come into contact with ordinary Soviet people.

—Helsinki Sanomat

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