Album

There was a time where the Don Cossack Chorus, led by Serge Yarov (usually anglicized to "Jaroff" in the 1920s and '30s) was one of the best-known professional choral groups in the world. Founded in a Turkish prison camp in 1921, the Don Cossack Chorus swiftly became recognized as representative of the old spiritual soul of the Russian people that wasn't wiped out by the rising tide of communism. Touring internationally, the records they made in New York in the late '20s sold in high numbers throughout the world and remained in the Columbia catalog for decades, popular through their virtuosic use of extremely high and low voices and flexible arrangements. About the only place where the Don Cossack Chorus wasn't listened to was Soviet Russia, but by the 1930s it was well established enough abroad that it didn't need to return to its homeland, making its name as Russia's top émigré chorus. Stranded in New York in 1939, the Don Cossack Chorus remained based in the United States for several years before it could safely return to Europe. For most of its 64 years as a chorus, it was based in Germany.

The recordings featured on Profil's Abendglocken: Songs from Old Russia were made at a time when the Cold War was in full force, and the Don Cossack Chorus was touring extensively in nations not under Soviet bloc control. Most of these tracks were recorded for West German Deutsche Grammophon in 1953; others were made at the time they appeared in a German film Das Donkosakenlied (1956) and released on the tiny, short-lived American subscription label Musical Masterpiece Society. These recordings capture the Chorus in full cry and were of excellent quality for the period, quality that has been compromised to some extent by Profil's heavy-handed transfers. Artificial reverberation is stacked on top of what was natural reverberation; there is an artificial stereo spread employed throughout. Most of it is listenable, though there are moments that are irritating, such as a superb bass solo sung by Boris Morosoff in which he is the least audible element, sounding miles away in a public lavatory somewhere.

Nevertheless, it isn't as though there has been a veritable flood of Don Cossack Chorus on CD. Anyone who admires Eastern Orthodox sacred singing or Bulgarian choruses will find a lot to love here; the Don Cossack Chorus only ever sang traditional folk songs from Russia, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, and it was never forced to sing agitprop songs, nor included in some state-sponsored pageant. Nor was it primarily a folk group; the Don Cossack Chorus was a professional outfit, and it shows. It was once popular with both the lefties who embraced the Soviet state and the right-wingers who celebrated it as a bulwark against communism; the appeal of the Don Cossack Chorus was universal. Moreover, as this Profil CD demonstrates, it still is.

© Uncle Dave Lewis , Rovi

CD 1
Russian Traditional Composer Abendglocken (Evening Bells) Work A. Stanislawitsch Vocals, Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
1	Abendglocken (Evening Bells)	2:42			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Dark eyes ("Ochi chornye," "Black Eyes"), folk song Work I. Seifert Vocals, Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, M. Bajanoff Vocals, Serge Jaroff Conductor
2	Dark eyes ("Ochi chornye," "Black Eyes"), folk song	4:27			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Lezginka, folk song Work W. Magnuschevsky Vocals, Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
3	Lezginka, folk song	3:44			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Rowanberry and Raspberry, folksong (khorovodnaya) Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor, A. Jarovitzky Vocals, W. Kiriranovsky Vocals
4	Rowanberry and Raspberry, folksong (khorovodnaya)	2:37			$0.99
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky Composer Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe, for male chorus Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
5	Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe, for male chorus	3:05			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Kalinka (Little Snowfall), folk song Work W. Magnuschevsky Vocals, I. Seifert Vocals, Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
6	Kalinka (Little Snowfall), folk song	3:46			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Odnozvuchno gremit kolokolchik (Monotonously Rings the Little Bell), Russian folk song Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor, B. Bolotine Vocals
7	Odnozvuchno gremit kolokolchik (Monotonously Rings the Little Bell), Russian folk song	3:55			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Cavalry March, folksong Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
8	Cavalry March, folksong	2:07			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Two Cossack songs Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor, B. Bolotine Vocals, I. Beresoff Vocals
9	Two Cossack songs	2:05			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer The Red Sarafan (Krasny sarafan) Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor, B. Bolotine Vocals
10	The Red Sarafan (Krasny sarafan)	3:53			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Work(s) Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor, G. Keikuatow Vocals
11	Es wird im Walde gesagt	3:31			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Ej uchnjem (Let's tow together) Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
12	Ej uchnjem (Let's tow together)	3:15			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Kak, za Donom za rejoj (At the river Don) Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
13	Kak, za Donom za rejoj (At the river Don)	3:52			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Dve gitary za stenoj (Two Guitars Are Sadly Playing), folk song Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, A. Levchenko Vocals, Serge Jaroff Conductor, B. Bolotine Vocals
14	Dve gitary za stenoj (Two Guitars Are Sadly Playing), folk song	4:48			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Stjenka razin (Those Were the Days), folk song Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, A. Levchenko Vocals, Serge Jaroff Conductor, A. Struve Vocals, M. Olchowij Vocals, B. Piekalnitis-Morosoff Vocals, I. Beresoff Vocals
15	Stjenka razin (Those Were the Days), folk song	3:57			$0.99
Russian Traditional Composer Work(s) Work B. Morosoff Vocals, Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
16	Rette, o Gott, dein Volk	3:50			$0.99
Traditional, Ukrainian Composer The Cossack Prisoner, folk song Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
17	The Cossack Prisoner, folk song	3:21			$0.99
Sakharov Composer Adieu (Farewell), folk song Work Don Cossack Choir Chorus/Choir, Serge Jaroff Conductor
18	Adieu (Farewell), folk song	3:13			$0.99