During the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted from 1941 to 1944, Shostakovich was famously photographed in a fireman’s outfit on the burning rooftops. But he also made (in three days!) a musical contribution to the defence of the city, arranging a series of songs – operatic arias, classical numbers and popular Soviet hits – for voices, violin and cello. The musicians then climbed into the back of a truck and were driven to the front, where they performed to the soldiers.

The songs are not of the ‘Defend the Motherland at all costs’ variety – instead, they are cheeky, folky, insouciant, and very Russian, intended to bring a ray of hope and humour to the cold and hungry troops.

The 27 arrangements, recorded here for the first time, fall into three groups: Operatic Standards, Russian Operatic Favourites and Popular Soviet Songs.

This recording features the young Russian singers and instrumentalists of the Russkaya Conservatoria Chamber Capella, a group recently set up in Moscow to perform and record interesting repertoire.

Contents:
Operatic Standards
- Rossini: ‘The Alpine Shepherdess’
- Beethoven: Scottish Drinking Song
- Bizet: Carmen, ‘Habañera’
- Weckerlin: ‘Mother, what is love’
- Leoncavallo: Pagliacci, ‘Arlecchino’s Serenade’

Russian Operatic Favourites
- Mussorgsky: ‘Gopak’
- Mussorgsky: Sorochintsy Fair, ‘Khivrya’s Song’
- Mussorgsky: Sorochintsy Fair, ‘Parasya’s Dumka’
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Sadko, ‘Song of the Varangian Guest’
- Gurilyov: ‘I Shall Tell Mama’
- Gurilyov: ‘The Little Sarafan’
- Ippolitov-Ivanov: ‘I Sit on a Rock’
- Gulak-Artemovsky: A Cossack beyond the Danube, Duet of Karas and Odarka
- Dargomyzhsky: ‘Fever’
- Dargomyzhsky: ‘Grenada Clothed in Mist’
- Dargomyzhsky: Rusalka, Olga’s Song
- Dargomyzhsky: Rogdana, Comic Song

Popular Soviet Songs
- Verstovsky: ‘Gypsy Song’
- Pritzker: ‘Girl’s Song’
- Dunaevsky: The Merry Fellows, ‘Anyuta’s Song’
- Dunaevsky: The Beethoven Concerto, March of the Pioneers
- Dunaevsky: The Children of Captain Grant, ‘Sing for us, wind’
- Dunaevsky: ‘Song of the Sea’
- Dmitry Pokrass: ‘Farewell’
- Daniil/Dmitry Pokrass: Sons of a Working People, ‘Those are not storm clouds’
- Milyutin: Mitka-Lelyuk, ‘Do not touch us’
- Blanter: ‘Shchors’s Song’

First recording.
Total Time 60:40