Category: Music

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The album "Orlan Ensemble" was released on vinyl by Firma Melodiya. This record was first released in 1990. "Orlan Ensemble" became the debut and most famous recording of the Ufa group under the direction of Oleg Kireev.

The history of Orlan spans various periods in the country's history. After restrictions on jazz musicians in the mid-20th century, cautious permission for performances and festivals followed. According to jazz historian Alexei Batashev, bands were practically forced to work with folk melodies and weave them into their compositions. Once controls loosened, many ensembles abandoned this practice, and jazz, fused with folk motifs, moved from the central cities to the east. Where, for example, the Orlan ensemble emerged in Ufa.

Its founder, Oleg Kireev, felt no pressure and freely experimented: "Jazz is a close relative of folklore, and so we're interested in folk traditions, what's alive around us, although we certainly don't reject classical jazz." Kireev discovered his primary instrument, the saxophone, almost by accident: in the pre-Perestroika years, there was high competition for all majors at the music school except saxophone. Kireev formed his first band in 1984, and Orlan, which made him famous in the USSR and beyond, followed in 1986.

The idea to settle on jazz fusion, steeped in national melodies, came naturally. "At holidays, there was a tradition that no longer exists: relatives […] would start singing—Bashkir, Tatar, Russian songs, all mixed together. Folk music surrounded us everywhere," the musician later said.

"Bashkir Legends," born from a concert program of the same name, not only sounds unusual—it features, for example, a mix of throat singing and saxophone—but also has a unique history. "Legends" toured festivals, and in Dnepropetrovsk, the ensemble met Alexey Batashev, a jazz historian and popularizer. He invited the musicians to Moscow, where they recorded the entire album in just two days at Melodiya Studios. Kireyev called the process "a mini-performance, an immersion into the history of Bashkiria through jazz-rock," and believed that on the recording they "somehow miraculously managed to recreate the atmosphere of the concerts." This recording became their only studio effort. Almost 35 years later, Melodiya is releasing "Bashkir Legends" on vinyl.

The record was pressed in 2026. The matrices were made from original analog tapes. The sound engineer for the remastering and restoration was Maxim Pilipov. The liner notes were written by Denis Boyarinov.

InterMedia, 03/24/2026

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Instrumental music from the 16th and 17th centuries rarely finds itself in the spotlight among performers and listeners. Recordings of such music are even rarer. This makes Traditerra all the more intriguing—a collective bringing together professional performers of Renaissance and Baroque music: Vladimir Molodtsov and Ksenia Kudryavtseva (wind instruments), Dmitry Cherevko (plucked string instruments), Yuri Posypanov (percussion), and multi-instrumentalist Ekaterina Lozbeneva.

Michael Praetorius made history primarily for his treatise, Syntagma Musicum. His music is known only to a few specialists. Yet, in that same treatise, he listed his works on 28 pages! Of this entire list, only a few sacred works and a collection of French dances, Terpsichore, have survived.

Here, it's important to note an important point: Praetorius didn't compose, but rather copied and arranged the melodies of dances in vogue at the time, as transmitted to him by French dance masters. One cannot help but recall the phrase persistently attributed to Glinka: "The people create music, and we, composers, merely arrange it!" In Praetorius's case, this aphorism should be taken in its most literal sense. The lion's share of this collection consists of courantes—an absolute hit of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. There are far fewer voltes, ballets, galliards, and branles—genres little known today.

Terpsichore's dances are often included in the repertoire of ensembles performing early music, including the renowned The Early Music Consort of London and the New London Consort. Interestingly, different groups have clear favorites: foreign ensembles often choose ballets and voltes from the wealth of Terpsichore's music, while the Traditerra album primarily features branles and courantes. And this, perhaps, is its greatest interest: listeners are introduced to virtually every variety of branle, from the simple to the royal. Another distinctive feature of the Traditerra ensemble is its use of combinatorial play—composing one dance from several, freely alternating knees. All of this was typical of the living performance tradition of the time. The dances recorded by Praetorius do not pretend to be complete works. They can and should be varied and combined.

In pursuit of an authentic sound, Traditerra turns to instruments described by Praetorius himself: hummelchen, recorder, guitar, cittern, landsknechttrommel, and panderet. The ensemble always manages to find a balance in their combinations, achieved through two key techniques: the gradual introduction of timbres and their variation. The density of the sound changes from piece to piece, featuring both solo and group dances. Among them, the "Simple Branle," with its naive, pastoral undertones, and the "Double Branle," with its somewhat out-of-place, meditative, oriental introduction, sound like quiet intermezzos. Some of the dances have been given a rounded three-part structure by Traditerra, not so characteristic of early music but familiar to the modern ear. Ultimately, the album's form builds into a suite with perfectly calibrated dynamics and drama.

The colorful world of folk music recreated by Traditerra resonates with the paintings of the Little Dutchmen—the numerous scenes of revelry and feasting. The dances of "Terpsichore" would fit in well with our times. I believe the album will certainly find admirers among Dungeons & Dragons fans—connoisseurs of the so-called "medieval" atmosphere. Listening to these simple melodies, you're unlikely to conjure up the elegant image of one of the denizens of Parnassus, to whom the title of Praetorius's collection refers. But they serve as excellent proof of the well-known line by the "last troubadour," Guillaume de Machaut: "The Science of Music is how to sing, dance, and be merry."

Ivan Semkin, "Musical Life," March 22, 2026

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Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

To mark Anna German's 90th birthday, Firma Melodiya is releasing a vinyl reissue of selected recordings by the singer.

Anna German's first encounter with Soviet audiences took place in 1965, when Melodiya released her first record, featuring songs in Polish and Italian. By the 1970s, she was performing regularly in our country: her voice could be heard on countless radio stations across the Soviet Union, and her records sold in huge numbers.

…Not sweet, no, not sugary-honey,The tall Warsaw Madonna sang on stage honestly and brightly,Giving hope and warmth.

This is how the poet and songwriter Mikhail Plyatskovsky wrote about her. Millions of Soviet people loved and regarded this singer of German-Dutch descent, born in Central Asia and by fate ending up in Poland, as one of their own, much closer and dearer than some of their compatriots. And it wasn't just that she sang without an accent. The life of Anna German, possessor of a remarkably gentle and soft voice, was full of tragic trials: the execution of her father, wandering through the cities of the USSR during the hungry war years, and a terrible car accident in Italy at the very beginning of her international career, which forced her to forget about singing and the stage for three years. Fate did not grant her much time for creativity, but these were years of truly national love.

The album, produced at Melodiya's own production facility, features songs recorded by Anna German between 1965 and 1979. It juxtaposes early compositions like "City of Lovers" (by Vadim Gamaliya and Viktor Orlov), "Don't Hurry" (by Arno Babajanyan and Yevgeny Yevtushenko), and later ones like "Echo of Love" (by Yevgeny Ptichkin and Robert Rozhdestvensky), and "Spring" (by Valeria Milyaeva). And, of course, "Hope" (by Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov)—a song-mantra that has become a symbol of resilience in the face of adversity.

Today, Anna German's voice, filling souls with hope, love, and the light of sincere feelings, is needed by people more than ever.

The record was pressed in 2026. The matrices were made from original analog tapes. The sound engineer for the remastering and restoration was Maxim Pilipov. The liner notes were written by Denis Boyarinov. The artist was Vasily Karmazin.

Musical Life, March 24, 2026

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Firma Melodiya is releasing a concert recording of the program performed at St. Andrew's Anglican Church.

Melodiya and the Apriori Arts agency continue their collaboration and release an album from the Melodiya Apriori series. The 11th Opera Apriori Vocal Music Festival concert took place on September 22, 2025, at St. Andrew's Anglican Church. The program was prepared to commemorate the anniversary of the festival's founder, producer, and director, Elena Kharakidzyan.

"For a producer to release a second album in the 2025/26 season, six months apart, sounds almost unbelievable, but it's a fact. 'Ariadna' is more than just a concert program for me, opening the festival's 11th season," shares Kharakidzian. "It is the quintessence of my creative vision, perfectly executed and exquisitely performed by amazing singers and musicians."

The main theme of the evening was the myth of Ariadne. This girl was the daughter of the Cretan king Minos and lived in the Palace of Knossos—the labyrinth in which her half-brother, the Minotaur, was imprisoned. Theseus escaped the Minotaur and was able to escape the labyrinth thanks to Ariadne.

The album's program spans nearly 400 years of musical history—from the late Renaissance to the present day—and consists of premieres and rarely performed pieces. Vladimir Zisman, the author of the annotation, writes: "Four female monologues—three cantatas and a long aria, in which Ariadne addresses the imaginary image of Theseus, who abandoned her—are structurally linked into a single tangle of instrumental pieces."

In the first part of the album, the musicians tune to 415 Hz, a scale used in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. In the second, along with the sound of a modern piano, they switch to 440 Hz.

Only female voices are heard on stage—Ariadna seems to "speak" on her own. We see Ariadnas from different eras, the first of which is by Rust Pozyumsky, a contemporary composer and performer on period instruments. In his reminiscence cantata, Ariadna recalls her happiness with Theseus. This piece is being performed and recorded for the first time. Pozyumsky was inspired by the music of Claudio Monteverdi, the composer of the first known work about Ariadna.

Maren Mare's Chaconne, a hit of its time, performed on the viola d'amore (Sergey Poltavsky), theorbo (Asya Grechishcheva), and viola da gamba (Rust Pozyumsky), was the Russian premiere. Another Russian premiere, a cantata by Francesco Mancini, is performed by Dilyara Idrisova, soloist of the Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theatre and one of the stars of Baroque music today. Beginning with Nikolai Sidelnikov's "Ariadne's Dance" (Yuri Favorin, piano), the tuning changes to a modern 440 Hz.

The operatic—or near-operatic—movement is represented by Joseph Haydn's little-known cantata "Ariadne auf Naxos," performed by mezzo-soprano Karina Demurova, a singer with an international career, and Yuri Favorin, and Richard Strauss's opera of the same name. Excerpts from Strauss's opera are performed by Bolshoi Theatre soloist Albina Latipova, Yulia Igonina (violin), Sergei Poltavsky (viola), and Yuri Martynov (piano).

Classicalmusicnews.ru, March 20, 2026

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Online sales of vinyl and turntables are growing in Russia despite high prices. Karina Abramyan, First Deputy General Director of Melodiya, and Oleg Nesterov, leader of Megapolis, spoke on Media Trends on RBC Radio about who's buying vinyl.

At the end of 2025, Melodiya announced the resumption of record production at its own plant. The company cited high audience demand as one of the reasons for this. According to First Data, online sales of vinyl players and records in Russia increased by 36% over the past year.

Karina Abramyan, First Deputy CEO of Melodiya, notes that the vinyl market remains niche and expensive, but has been growing steadily for about 15 years. The main drivers of demand are the 25- to 40-year-old audience and Zoomers, who are focused on "conscious listening." Record purchases are becoming part of lifestyle consumption: vinyl competes not with a digital subscription, but with going to the theater or a restaurant, and also serves as merchandise and a direct monetization tool for artists.

According to musician Oleg Nesterov, frontman of the band Megapolis, a digital signal contains "a mass of unnecessary information": "Our consciousness doesn't process it; our body rejects it. As doctors say, listening for more than three hours straight tires a person. Analog signals, that is, how a vinyl record works, are all waves, and their physics are absolutely consonant with the nature of the world, with human nature," says Oleg Nesterov.

According to A

Melodiya is relying on its own press plant, archival releases, and high-quality printing, hoping for a long-term renaissance of the format and increased collector value. With high production costs due to imported raw materials and logistics, lowering the price of records is virtually impossible, so labels are targeting a loyal cultural core audience while simultaneously providing access to the same recordings digitally.

Evgeniya Stogova,RBC Radio, March 2, 2026

March 2

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Melodiya has released an album of early music performed by the ensemble Traditerra. The group, collaborating for the label for the first time, has recorded secular instrumental pieces by Michael Praetorius, one of the key composers and collectors of 17th-century German music. He is also known for his treatise "The Structure of Music," which has become an important source for historically informed performance—a movement that studies medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music-making practices and brings them back to concert halls and studios.

The album includes pieces from "Terpsichore, the Fifth of the Aonian Muses," the only surviving collection of Praetorius's dance music, with instrumental arrangements of mostly French melodies for Nanters. Praetorius prepared this material for the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, recording compositions fashionable among the aristocracy. From nearly three hundred pieces, the Traditerra ensemble selected ten, emphasizing variations of the branle—an ancient, leisurely circle dance. The ensemble used authentic instruments mentioned by Praetorius, including Renaissance bagpipes, cittern, four-row guitar, recorders, and percussion.

Radio Orpheus, 02/28/2026

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From Amadeus to the anniversary: new releases from Melodiya that will interest true connoisseurs of classical music.

The new releases from our flagship audio label are, as always, original and sophisticated, sure to intrigue music lovers of all tastes.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Six Duets for Two Flutes

In the 19th century, it was common for wealthy families to spend evenings performing simple pieces by famous composers on home instruments (piano, violin, flute). This tradition was so popular that music publishers sometimes even assisted homegrown music lovers by "inventing" classical works themselves. Famous works were compiled, lightly edited, and arranged for a specific cast of performers, resulting in new pieces ready for publication.

Mozart's "Six Duets for Two Flutes, Op. 75," originated precisely in this way. Everything Amadeus created was traditionally in great demand, so one music publishing house, whose employees' names have unfortunately been lost to history, combined several violin sonatas (KV 377, 378, 379, 380) and piano trios, arranging them for flute duet.

For a long time, Mozart's nonexistent opus remained unnoticed, which is understandable: professionals were quite biased toward a work whose origins were disputed. No one was in any hurry to record the unknown work. This state of affairs persisted until the day Melodiya decided to release a studio recording of this curious work.

One of the performers, the author of the idea, flutist Andrei Malykh, explained the concept this way: “It happens that arrangements of certain musical works sound no worse, or even better, than the original… The amazing beauty of the melodies, the harmony of the form, the absolutely flute-like sound and the masterfully written interaction of the two instruments – all this convinces us that the composers of the duets accurately understood and felt Mozart’s music.”

Nizhny Novgorod native Andrey Malykh is known for performing rare and exclusive programs. His releases include "Flute in Russian Music," all of Bach's sonatas for flute and piano, and all of Mozart's quartets. Another participant in the project, Elena Platitsyna, like her partner, plays in the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, performs extensively, works with the Gorky Quintet, and participates in the International Festival "Voice of the Flute." This recording was recorded last year at the Nizhny Novgorod studio "Tonmeister" under the sound engineering direction of Alexander Repyev.

Elmir Nizamov "Dedication. Symphonic Works"

The creative biography of Elmir Nizamov, a contemporary composer working in a wide range of genres (from classical to popular theater music), is impressive. His major symphonic works are performed in concert halls, his music for plays can be heard in theaters across the globe, and vibrant musicals based on national themes are performed in Kazan.

The composer's new album, "Dedication," features seven compositions from various years—from student samples to works that experts consider the most important in the composer's current catalog. In particular, the disc includes "Heavenly Movement," Elmir Zhavdetovich's most important symphonic work to date, which won the "International Tribune of Contemporary Music" competition of the UNESCO International Music Council and the European Broadcasting Union.

The recording of the program featured musicians from the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan, along with maestro Jeremy Walker. Trumpet is performed by Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan Roman Mudarisov, baton is held by People's Artist of the Russian Federation Alexander Sladkovsky, and sound engineering is by Honored Artist of Russia Pavel Lavrenenkov. The recording took place at the Salikh Saidashev State Grand Concert Hall (Kazan) in 2024.

Anton Batagov, "The Well-Meditated Clavier. Volume 2"

This disc is a direct successor to the album "Well-Meditated Clavier," released by Melodiya in 2023. Back then, Anton Batagov presented a cycle of nine piano pieces to listeners. For this new program, the renowned pianist has prepared seven additional compositions.

Here's how the author explains the essence of his creative vision: "In Bach's time, composers didn't invent concepts. They simply practiced their craft. Everyone seemed to be doing the same thing over and over again. Forms and names were also standardized… Within this ancient sameness, there was life in every detail. And there was no fuss. Now that modernism has successfully destroyed everything that came before, and post- and metamodernism have left no chance for perception without mockery, one can calmly turn off the navigation system and sit down at the piano."

Batagov’s choice of “vintage” instruments (the first volume of the “Piano” was recorded on a 1909 Steinway piano, and the second on an 1880 Steinway) for the project was also not accidental.

"Back then, pianos could sing and breathe. Every such instrument is a time machine. In this machine, we can travel to places we've long since disappeared. Planes don't fly there. There, you don't have to choose every image of a traffic light to prove you're not a robot. And from there, we hear the 'future' with different ears," explains Anton Alexandrovich.

Alexander Tchaikovsky, "On Behalf of the Globe." Oratorio for bass, mixed choir, organ, and orchestra

In February of this year, our outstanding contemporary, Alexander Tchaikovsky, turned 80. To mark the anniversary of this People's Artist of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Council of the Union of Composers of Russia, Melodiya released a digital album featuring a recording of the oratorio "On Behalf of the Globe," a large-scale work originally released on vinyl in 1990.

The oratorio is based on the verses of Ilya Selvinsky, an avant-garde poet, founder of the Constructivist Literary Center, and one of Vladimir Mayakovsky's main rivals. The work was composed in 1983 and premiered the following October at the 6th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Moscow Autumn."

"After I wrote the oratorio 'To the Sun' to Tyutchev's words (in 1982), I became interested in the poets of the 1930s—Kirsanov, Selvinsky, Svetlov, and others," the composer recalls. "Selvinsky was completely forgotten back then, and even more so now. And he has some amazing works! The music was a success; it was performed by Vladimir Fedoseyev, a very young Valery Gergiev, and other conductors."

Alexander Vladimirovich is one of the most frequently performed Russian composers. His works have premiered at some of our finest venues, including the Mariinsky Theatre, the P. I. Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. For many years, the composer has collaborated with the Melodiya label. The label has recorded many of his works, including the operas One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (2009) and Grandfather Laughs (2016), the Second Viola Concerto (Etudes in Simple Tones) and the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (2017), the First Violin Concerto (2018), selected vocal cycles (2019), the dramatic symphony The Tale of Igor's Campaign (2019), and string quartets and the Piano Quintet (2022).

The oratorio "On Behalf of the Globe" was recorded in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in 1987. The concert, almost 40 years ago, featured the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company's Grand Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev, the State Academic Choir of the Latvian SSR (artistic director Imants Cepitis), and soloists Anatoly Safiulin (bass) and Alexander Fiseisky (organ).

Denis Bocharov, Kultura Newspaper, February 26, 2026

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Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Demand for vinyl records continues to grow, but the audience has become significantly younger over the past five years. The popularity of this music format is attributed to both the retro craze and the "slow-down" trend.

The number of vinyl record purchases in Russia in 2025 increased by 15% compared to 2024 and by 32% compared to 2023, according to Platforma OFD, the country's largest fiscal data operator. The median price of vinyl records also showed comparable dynamics over the year. In 2025, it increased by 13% compared to 2024, reaching 1,978 rubles per record.

The number of vinyl record player purchases in 2025 also increased, according to OFD Platform data: 7% compared to 2024 and 17% compared to 2023. Meanwhile, the median price for vinyl record players was only 3% higher than last year, reaching 26,700 rubles. OFD Platform emphasizes that more than 70% of vinyl merchandise sales occur online.

How the vinyl audience has changed

The vinyl record audience in Russia has become significantly younger over the past five years. This is the conclusion reached by experts at Pult.ru, who analyzed sales in their online store for the period from August 2025 to February 2026. (The results of this study, as well as a comparable one for the first half of 2020, are available to RBC.)

Experts found that in 2020, vinyl buyers were primarily people over 40–45 years old, while now the average age has dropped to 30–33. "This generation grew up in the digital age and missed out on the golden age of records," the study's authors note. "We see roughly the same figures in statistics published by international industry press: the fastest-growing category of record buyers is young music lovers aged 18 to 24, while the majority of purchases are made by men aged 25 to 34."

Dmitry Frolov, director of online sales at Pult.ru, believes that vinyl's popularity is largely due to the emergence of "good, yet affordable, turntables." "The barrier to entry has now dropped, the average purchase price is falling, a new category of devices is emerging, and this is directly impacting mass adoption," he notes. Young buyers, according to a Pult.ru representative, no longer perceive vinyl as an "elitist hobby," as its cost has become comparable to other forms of entertainment.

Karina Abramyan, First Deputy General Director of Melodiya, spoke on the program "Media Trends" about "vinyl"—"it's an audience of 25-40." She also noted that a leisure format where "people gather in trendy spaces and listen to vinyl" is currently gaining popularity. "It's a way to slow down, which I think is very important right now," Abramyan said. "It's a way to show respect for yourself, your time, and your identity."

What does the vinyl audience listen to?

Sales of contemporary vinyl releases are growing just as rapidly as reissues of classic albums, according to Pult.ru. According to the company's category manager, Mikhail Feshchenko, there's been a steady increase in interest in records by contemporary artists—from pop to alternative and indie. "This vinyl is being bought on par with classic rock and jazz, and it's largely responsible for creating a new audience," he says.

At the same time, analysts at the OFD Platform, commenting on the demand for vinyl, attribute it to the fashion for retro and vintage merchandise. Interest in such products is driven by several consumer niches, says an OFD Platform representative: "These include not only music lovers and connoisseurs of functional decor, but also zoomers in general. In 2025, unit sales of records will be significantly higher than in 2023, but not significantly higher than in 2024. The turntable user base is stable and is actively expanding its vinyl collection."

Evgeniya Stogova, RBC, February 22, 2026

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Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

To commemorate Alexander Vladimirovich Tchaikovsky's 80th birthday, Firma Melodiya is releasing a digital album featuring a recording of his work. The oratorio "On Behalf of the Globe" was previously released on vinyl in 1990. The recording was made at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in 1987; the live concert featured the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company's Grand Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedoseyev, the State Academic Choir of the Latvian SSR, and soloists Anatoly Safiulin (bass) and Alexander Fiseisky (organ).

The oratorio "On Behalf of the Globe" is based on the poetry of Ilya Selvinsky, an avant-garde poet, founder of the Constructivist Literary Center, and one of Vladimir Mayakovsky's main rivals. The work was composed in 1983 and premiered the following October at concerts at the 6th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Moscow Autumn." "After I wrote the oratorio 'To the Sun' to Tyutchev's words in 1982, I became interested in the poets of the 1930s—Kirsanov, Selvinsky, Svetlov, and others," the composer recalls. "Selvinsky had been completely forgotten back then, and even more so now. And he has some amazing works! The music was a success; it was performed by Vladimir Fedoseyev, a very young Valery Gergiev, and other conductors."

The oratorio has five movements. The finale (the longest section of the cycle) is like a large-scale orchestral fresco; it raises the theme of the artist and his role as orator, the voice of society: "I am neither a soothsayer nor a prophet—I am only a poet, and only for that reason do I dare speak in the name of the globe."

Alexander Tchaikovsky is one of the leaders of the Russian school of composition and one of the most performed Russian composers. His scores have been conducted by Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, and Yuri Bashmet, who calls him a "living legend." Tchaikovsky's works have been premiered at the finest Russian venues, including the Mariinsky Theatre, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

For many years, the composer has collaborated with Firma Melodiya. The label has released recordings of many of his works, including the operas One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (2009) and Grandfather Laughs (2016), the Second Viola Concerto (Etudes in Simple Tones) and the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (2017), the First Violin Concerto (2018), selected vocal cycles (2019), the dramatic symphony The Tale of Igor's Campaign (2019), string quartets, and the Piano Quintet (2022).

Musical Life, February 19, 2026

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate account of the source's assertions and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

Melodiya has released the rock opera "Guslyar" performed by the Pesnyary VIA on vinyl. This work occupies a special place in the artistic career of the renowned Belarusian group, as well as in the history of Soviet recordings in general.

By the late 1970s, the VIA movement was at its peak: by and large, the songs of groups like Samotsvety, Plamya, Vesyolye Rebyata, Verasy, Ariel, and many others formed the foundation of Soviet entertainment and "light" music. And at the forefront of this vibrant, largely original phenomenon was the ensemble Pesnyary, founded by the talented vocalist, guitarist, and composer Vladimir Mulyavin.

During their ten years of existence (the Belarusian folk-rock project was officially founded in 1969), the musicians released several long-playing records that sold in the millions, toured throughout the USSR, and even enjoyed international success. They didn't reach the point of a frenzied "song mania," but the songs "Belorussiya," "Kosil Yas' Konyushinu," "Belovezhskaya Pushcha," "Vologda," "Do Trety Petukov," and "Aleksandrina" were well-known in our country.

However, Pesnyary's immense popularity couldn't distract its leader from his tireless creative pursuit. Mulyavin saw the group's primary goal, and, if you will, mission, in the constant pursuit of new horizons of artistic expression. Vladimir Georgievich's interest in British and American rock, in large-scale forms and concept albums, gradually led Pesnyary toward more complex expressions. Bound by the daily necessity of performing popular hits of national significance, the project's artistic director felt a certain lack of creative freedom.

In an interview given to our newspaper by Leonid Bortkevich in 2017, one of the ensemble's lead vocalists noted: "Unlike the overwhelming majority of Russian pop groups, Pesnyary was initially a professional ensemble. What followed from this? It was that an officially functioning group, no matter how much they wanted to, couldn't focus solely on their own conceptual works—some kind of 'locomotive' pulling the obligatory 'ballast' was necessary. So songs by Soviet composers were a given in the repertoire.

Many of these songs are truly wonderful, and they were performed at the highest professional level. But this left a somewhat distorted impression of the ensemble. Unfortunately, it so happened that the general public remembered Pesnyary primarily for that same infamous "Vologda," which Volodya, frankly, disliked somewhat, despite having come up with a superb arrangement for it. It was the hits that were played on the radio, although at concerts we offered listeners a completely different repertoire: we presented compositions whose chances of appearing—let alone gaining traction—on the airwaves were virtually nil.

The ensemble truly found itself in a dilemma. On the one hand, there was official recognition, the desire of the best Russian composers and poets to collaborate with the group, guaranteed sold-out concerts, and queues at record stores for every new release. On the other, the forced necessity of performing acclaimed hits hindered their creative growth. The legendary poem "Guslar" (the ensemble's only studio foray into this genre), recorded in 1979, was an attempt to break free from the narrow confines dictated by circumstances.

"We strive to make folk songs sound modern," is how Mulyavin defined Pesnyary's creative credo. The band had already successfully achieved this goal during the recording of their first albums: the group's repertoire had always been based on a successful synthesis of Belarusian folk motifs with contemporary rock arrangements, and the percentage of folk songs and songs by Soviet composers was roughly equal. Now, however, the artistic director of Belarus's leading pop sensation wanted something more—to establish Pesnyary as a group capable of creating something fundamental and fundamentally new—in other words, something no one expected.

The rock opera "Guslyar" was tasked with fulfilling this challenging task. The score was written by composer Igor Luchenok, based on the poem "Kurgan" by the classic Belarusian writer Yanka Kupala. To realize this work, Pesnyary significantly expanded its lineup: striving for symphonic richness, they added brass and string instruments, as well as an additional rhythm section. The complex choral structure was realized by the ensemble, which has always been renowned for its skillful polyphony.

Folk instruments—the cymbals and zhaleika—are juxtaposed on the recording with a Hammond organ and a Moog synthesizer, while the protagonist's gusli is "depicted" using a flanged acoustic guitar (the use of this "psychedelic" sound effect was a rather unexpected and daring decision for Soviet recording at the time). The musical fabric of "Guslyar," in accordance with the original vision of Mulyavin, who composed most of the arrangements, represents a refined and thoughtful dialogue between distinctive Belarusian folklore and 1970s European progressive rock.

This release has a dual destiny. On the one hand, the record found its mass market: the first pressing sold out in a matter of days; it could hardly have been otherwise, given the unprecedented interest that accompanied the release of each new studio album by the band. But did Guslyar find its mass audience? There's no definitive answer to this question, as the buyer and the listener are not the same thing. This ambitious work truly revealed to the audience a "new" Pesnyary: a complex, structurally Europeanized art rock, framed by Slavic folk musical traditions and lyrical intonations—the likes of which the public had never heard before.

But did this audience, in its entirety, ever put the needle to a vinyl disc again? Many professional music reviewers, as well as ordinary listeners, after listening to the recording noted that "Guslyar," unlike some other conceptual works of a similar ilk (such as "Juno and Avos," for example), desperately lacked memorable melodic themes—in other words, hits. Therefore, for many fans accustomed to perceiving their favorite ensemble through the prism of "Birch Juice," "Our Favorites," "Half an Hour Before Spring," "I Can't Do It Otherwise," and other surefire masterpieces, "Guslyar" proved too much of a challenge.

Several years ago, in an interview with our publication, Pesnyary vocalist Anatoly Kasheparov lamented: "Mulyavin created a huge amount of music, but it's such that even a seasoned musical veteran can't always understand it. Let alone the average listener. Many of Pesnyary's pieces require special preparation to be fully appreciated. When we performed the rather difficult-to-understand "Song of a Fate" or "Guslyar" at concerts, no one left the audience, as if to demonstrate, 'I don't like that kind of music.' But the audience still made us into idols, demanding that we perform well-known hits, and this down-to-earth approach sometimes stifled us."

Leonid Bortkevich agreed with his colleague: "Alas, history teaches us that serious, multilayered things don't stick in people's memories. What sticks are the simpler things. In plain English, things you can sing along to at the table after a few drinks."

And yet, despite the fact that a certain disappointment can hardly be concealed in the testimonies of those directly involved in the events of nearly half a century ago, one cannot deny that "Guslyar" has become a crucial milestone in the history of our musical culture. Firstly, it is a valuable audio document of the era: neither before nor after has the Soviet Union produced musical canvases so original in style and impeccably professionally executed. Secondly, Mulyavin and his colleagues succeeded in convincing the music public to perceive Pesnyary in a much broader perspective, proving that, as they say, "Vologda" is not the only thing… There is good reason to believe that today, with the increased interest in both Slavic history and vinyl recordings, Igor Luchenko and Vladimir Mulyavin's work will find many appreciative listeners. Incidentally, this is already Melodiya's sixth record, pressed at the label's new Novosibirsk production facility.

Denis Bocharov, February 11, 2026

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate account of the source's assertions and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.