10 September 2016. Some of My Favourite Things… P G Lisitian Sings “Ya Vas Lyublyu” from “Pikovaya Dama”

******

*******

An aria from La Traviata… Joe Green in Russian!

******

Here’s a patriotic song in a more popular vein… Moya rodina (My Motherland)

___________________________________________

P G Lisitian (Peoples Artist of the USSR) came from a humble working-class family… in the money-grubbing West, he would’ve got nowhere. In the USSR, he found an outlet for his talent. That’s something that the righties never talk about… how the Sovs sincerely sought out talent of all sorts (artistic, scientific, and athletic) amongst all classes and how they gave people a chance to develop their skills. Lisitian was a leading soloist at the Bolshoi (officially, the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia (GABT Rossii)) from 1940 to 1966; he taught at conservatoire for many years afterward (he died in 2004, in his 93rd year). Ya vas lyublyu from Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) has to the be the most famous aria in Russian opera… need I mention that Pavel Gerasimovich was a mentor of D A Khvorostovsky? Many believe his interpretation to be the best yet… I agree.

BMD

27 January 2016. Some of My Favourite Things… Dmitri Khovorostovsky… One of the Sexiest Men Alive

******

______________________________

D A Khvorostovsky has to be one of the sexiest men alive today. Here, he sings one of the old standards (with English subs) with A Yu Netrebko at an outdoor concert in the Kremlin.

BMD

27 January 2016. A Blast from the Past… Maya Kristalinskaya Sings “Я тебя подожду” (I’ll Wait for You)

******

__________________________________

Lyrics:

I’ll wait for you; outside the window, in rain and in snow.

You looked at me

You searched for me everywhere.

I used to run, keeping you always in view.

Now, you’re not there.

For some reason, you’re not there.

I just want you to gaze at me.

Chorus: 

Outside the window, in rain and in snow,

it was time to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep.

Always the same yard, always the same laugh,

and I miss you a little bit.

I’m going out,

beyond my familiar haunts.

With Natasha at the cinema, I don’t hurry; I’m not with you.

But the windows of your quiet home

send your greetings

like the old guys still clicking their dominoes.

(Chorus) 

I go over and over

in the darkened courtyard.

You said you’d come, even though it’s night.

This evening to me

Is nothing but a grain of sand.

I’ll wait for you, only you, even if it’s forever.

(Chorus)

15 November 2015. A Colloquy on the Amazing Fr Foty and His Golden Voice

******

******

______________________________

I’m in plain type; my interlocutor is in italics

What about Fr Foty? Would you want him in your choir? He did an impromptu duet with A B Gradsky (one of the judges) at his audition!

He’s amazing and so unassuming. You can even hear it in his voice.

Would you call him a “Monastic Innocent” (I do mean that in all sincerity)? Did you see where G V Leps gave him a list of people to pray for? That wouldn’t happen here!

I guess that you could say that. What he’s doing is truly beautiful, and I (like Dostoevsky) believe that beauty will save the world. Through all this exposure and social media, Fr Foty is doing more good than he could probably imagine.

Would you say that he embodies the revival in the Motherland?

He’s definitely evidence of that.

I think that we’ve had a quiet revival here. Compared to 1980, the Russian Orthodox elements are closer than ever… I believe that we’re on the verge of great things. I’ve lived through the dry years… I know…

It’s definitely an exciting time. I just pray that nothing gets in the way of the revival, be it external forces or internal snakes like the EP.

I hope to live to see a united Russian Orthodox Church here in the diaspora before my earthly death. I pray for that…

I think a lot of people dream and pray for that. I mean, who wouldn’t want that (we all know who, though)?!?

It’s time for the OCA, the ROCOR, and the MP/USA (and MP/Canada) to stop the foolishness. It’s time to form three united metropolias in the North American diaspora… one for Alaska, one for Canada, and one for the rest of the USA. They would function under the legal charter of the ROCOR… but that’d only be a legal formality. To speak frankly, all-Orthodox Unity here is a chimera; it’s not realistic, not at the present, at least. However, we can grasp all-Russian Orthodox Unity… the Serbs did it… the Arabs did it… we can do it, too. Everything comes in its good and proper time. Now is the time to fix up our own house before we go trying to repair someone else’s. I think that all decent and honourable people of good-sense and good will can understand that. I DO want to see Russian Orthodox Unity here before my earthly death… and I DO pray for that mercy…

BMD

My earlier posts on Fr Foty are here and here

click here for a VK vid of Fr Foty singing The Circle of Life from The Lion King (no lie) (you can’t embed VK vids on WordPress)