Sunday, October 10, 2010

Russian Chamber Chorus of New York

For other things that are cool, here's the RCCNY Bandcamp page. They recorded this album long before I became associated with them. The music is beautiful.

Russian music seemed to take a very different course than the rest of Western music in the 20th Century. You'll note that most of the composers whose names you actually know -- or are willing to listen to more than once -- (if you're not a music student) after, say, 1940, are almost exclusively Russian -- Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch, etc.

Is it because Stalin hated Schoenberg? Is it because the Schoenberg became too powerful in the West? I dunno. But you'll want to listen to the music at the link above.

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