My Russian Experience

As quite a few of you proggers know, I spent last week in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Please allow me a thread (my first) to tell all of you just how great of a time I had.

The first day I toured I went around the city buying souveniers for myself and my family.  We saw quite a bit of monuments including Katherine the Great, Peter the Great, Lenin, Trotsky, Alexander Puskin, Alexander Nevsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Tiacovsky, and many others.  Russians really decorate their history.  They have permantly sealed canons symbolizing the end of Turkish conflict, the first ship firing during the Red Revolution permantley anchored, Ressurection Sqaure dedicated to the victory in WWII over the Nazis. 

The first tour I had was of St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral and Fortress along the Neva River.  Inside the cathedral there are the coffins of all of the Czarist familes and in the back corner there is a pit that contains the body parts of the final Romanov dynasty.  The Fortress was made of granite walls which perserve heat, so along the wall outside the Neva you can see plenty of Russian girls tanning in 24 degree wheather.  That's 24 degrees fahrenheit.

The second tour was of the Hermitage.  Unfortunately I could only a small part of it being that it takes nine years to fully tour the museum.  The Hermitage is broken into a few buildings including the Winter Palace of the Romanov family.  The Hermitage is the greatest museum in the world featuring the greatest pieces from Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Picasso, and many others.  The Hermitage has the largest collections of French, Spainish, and Dutch are work other than the largest museums in France, Spain, and Denmark respectively.  The Hermitage also features replicant artwork of Michaelangelo of Vatican City architecture along with fine Greek, Roman, and Egyptian sculptures. Inside the Hermitage, not only are the pieces of art amazing, but the ceilings and floors are quite a visual experience as well.  I wish I could have seen more of it, but there's only so much I can do in three hours out of nine years.

The third tour was of the Yusupov Palace who were one of the richest families of Russia.  The Yusup's were Tar Tar defectors to Russia.  The Czar's generously rewarded them with four Palaces in St. Petersburg which the family decorated with over 45,000 pieces of art, most of which have been transfered to the Hermitage collection.  The most interesting part of the tour was the wax figures used to replicate the murder of Rasputin.  Pavlovich, Felix Yusupov, and Rasputin are quite creepy being that they have moving eyes that can really though a chill down your spine.

The fourth tour was of the Alexander Nevsky Necropolis/Graveyard.  Not much to say about this, but how would any musician feels seeing the graves of Rimsky-Korsakov, Tiachovsky, Musorgsky, Glinka, and the Russian Five?

The fifth tour was of Peterhoff, the summer palace of the Czars.  Peterhoff is incredibly close to the gulf of Finland, so close if you walked along the stream at the back of the palace, you would find yourself physically inside of it.  Peterhoff is decorated in the typical Baroque style featuring favorite artwork of the Russian Czars.  The original gold decoration was removed from all but three rooms, because Katherine the Great thought it was barbaric.  Again, great pieces of art, great floors, and amazing ceilings.

I was doing this on my school band trip, so I obviously had a musical experience as well.  I played to packed houses in the Russian Music Conservatory feat. Tiachovsky and Rimsky-Korskov and Capella Hall feat. same.  Both halls souned incredible.  The Conservatory had the thickest reverb I had ever herad in my life, and the Capella Hall was incredibly clear from stage to balcony. 

I got really trashed with the nicest Finnish/Suomea people at the bar at the hotel.  Scotch and a few house beers goes a long long way.  I also got speak a little Finnish with the Finnish, and it's a shame that it was an experience than I'm not likely to have for a very long time.

The Russian people are extremely friendly.  Many of the dangers are made up of people that really don't know much about the country.  There isn't much of a police prescence, but that doens't mean that there is any unrest amongst the people.  If you're an idiot you can get pickpocketed, but if you keep your wallet close and somewhat secure you're fine.  Anyways about the people, they are extremely friendly and many of them know English.  The general population is very kind to people of any origin, and they are more than willing to speak of their culture and history.

Russia was an amazing experience and I reccomend anyone to go.  Learning the language is helpfull, but not essential becuase so many Russians speak English.

I'm going to Finland the next chance I get to travel over seas, but that will be followed by a trip to Moscow to complete my Russian education.  I will be learning the language and alphabet before I return.

SLAVA!

stonebeard wrote: Sounds great Tlossy! Take any travelling tips from Ansen?

Yeah, I didn't take weed, I got really drunk instead.  Thanks to Ansen for his tip and his great homeland.

AtLossForWords, nice to read such words. It was a good decision to visit St. Petersburg, probably most beautiful city in Russia.

Welcome to Russia again!

AtLossForWords wrote: Moscow has the red/bolshiveck history, so I must stop there and meet Lenin above the ground.

And don't forget to visit ARSENAL concert at the Forte Club (BTW, it's not so far from Lenin mausoleum). Believe me, it is much more interesting than see Lenin.

I'm quoting my own post from another thread:

"ARSENAL with "Progressive Rock" programme. It includes songs by KING CRIMSON, YES, GENESIS, CHICAGO, LZ, THE DOORS, excerpts from "Jesus Christ Superstar" and some ARSENAL material. The band does not simply play covers, some songs are arranged in ARSENAL own way while others are performed close to originals. ARSENAL is the best Russian jazz rock band, it is the band of extra class musicians (sax, guitar, keyb., bass, drums, vocals). Their leader and driving force from 1973, Alexei Kozlov is one of the best sax players and composers in Russia. The singer's voice range allows to perform songs of listed different bands. If somebody's going to visit Moscow, I highly recommend to visit the "Forte" club (Bolshaja Bronnaja, 18, phone 202-88-33) - every Thursday ARSENAL plays there this programme (and, for jazz rock lovers, on Fridays ARSENAL plays fusion set consisting mostly of band's own material). Satisfaction, or at least good time, guaranteed. It's not an advertising, I only hope this information can be useful for somebody."

freebird wrote: Thanks to "Not Proghead" for the info. I was in Kiev last summer, having lots of difficulty finding RUSSIAN prog CDs at the Music store. They had Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Yes & Tangerine Dream (my favorites) but no RUSSIAN stuff. Can you recomend any other Symphonic/Psych/Space Rock groups from Russia?

Unfortunately Russia (and former Soviet Union) is not a hotbed of prog. But there are some interesting bands. You can see small CD stores in Moscow almost everywhere, but usually they don't offer Russian prog artists. Prog releases can be found in big stores like "Soyuz" and "Transylvania".

Another incovenient thing for foreign guests is that many CDs don't contain songs' and albums' titles in English, but I hope guys in record stores can help you.

Sympho-rock:

- AVTOGRAF (but avoid the album "Stone Land", it's only pop-rock, better start with their reunion concert "25 Years After. Jubilee Concert"). Solo works by band's leader, guitarist and composer Alexander Sitkovetsky, "Zello" and "Empty Arena" are quite interesting too (instrumental prog with good guitar work). One of the best AVTOGRAF songs, "Requiem (To The Memory of John Lennon)" can be downloaded here.

- DIALOG. The band of the 80s, usually played long prog suites in the first part of the concert and shorter songs (some of them are prog, while others are pop). Their 6CD anthology has been released last year. First 2 CDs of the anthology containing suites "I'm A Human" and "Share With Me" might be interesting for prog fans. CD3 presents a couple of DIALOG best prog songs. The rest CDs are pop-rock. Some DIALOG tracks can be downloaded from the band's unofficial site, the site is in Russian only, look for "mp3", where you find them, and click.

I don't know much about Russian psychedelia, probably the band RADA & TERNOVNIK worth checking, but better listen before buying.

From other genres I can highly recommend:

- ARSENAL. As I mentioned before, the best Soviet/Russian jazz rock band.

- The album "Po volne moej pamiaty" ("On The Wave of My Memory") by Soviet composer David Tukhmanov. It was probably the 1-st prog album released (in 1975) officially in USSR. D. Tukhmanov, not a rock composer at all, invited for this record many best rock musicians and singers. The album presents itself a suite based on verses of great poets of different ages and countries (Sapho, Shelly, Nicolas Guillen, Pole Verlen, Anna Akhmatova,...). Some songs (or their parts) sung in original languages. IMHO, it is a must have album. Now CD-reissue can be found almost in every music shop. You can download the album, track after track, here. 

- PESNYARY, the album "Gusliar" '80. Unique folk rock band from Belarus. This band's vocal harmonies are incredible. They were extremely popular on the whole territory of former USSR in 70's. "Gusliar" is a concept album, almost rock opera, mund-blowing thing, really. It seems Boheme Records issue of this album is sold out now, but I hope sooner or later it will be reissued. Lots of PESNYARY compilations were released on CDs. Usually they contain both wonderful folk (sometimes prog-folk) songs and pop songs. Some fragments of songs can be found on the band's official web-site. Warning: there is also the band BELORUSSKIE PESNYARY, formed by some ex band members, but their music is pure pop!

- Some rock operas are also interesting and can be found on CDs: "Orheus and Euridice" (composed by Alexander Zhurbin in 1975, the first Soviet rock opera), "Zvezda i smert Hoakina Muriety" ("The Star and The Death of Joakin Murieta") by Alexey Rybnikov, "Stadion" ("The Stadium") by Alexander Gradsky. But I can't predict how these operas will be accepted by non Russian-speaking listeners. 

I'm not an expert in modern prog in Russia (maybe because what I've listened didn't impress me). Probably the topic "Russian prog" in PA forum will be helpful.