Sirba Octet - Sirba Orchestra! Russian, Klezmer & Gypsy Music (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

A collection of the best loved melodies of Cabaret Tzigane and klezmer music, Sirba Orchestra! is a collaboration between the Sirba Octet, a full symphony orchestra and one of the best balalaika players, Nicolas Kedroff.

In 2015, the friendship binding the Sirba Octet to the Orchestre de Pau /Pays de Béarn led them to create a new program: Sirba Orchestra!, at the heart of Russian, Romanian and Moldovan melodies and Ashkenazi traditions.

Sirba Octet invited Nicolas Kedroff and its magical instrument from Russia, the balalaika, to sublime a few numbers. A borderless path with multiples tones, festive, melancholic or passionate. Songs and poems orchestrated for unpublished versions that use all the musical and expressive resources of the symphony orchestra. A Russian cabaret which celebrates love songs – Otchi Tchornye (Dark Eyes), Ja Vstretil vas (I met you) or Kalinka – and its indispensable romances such as Cocher ralentis tes chevaux or Katioucha – a young girl in love with a soldier gone on duty to defend his homeland…

Numerous life stories and emotions gathering around the central Yiddish orchestral piece Gayen zay in shvartze Reien, a ghetto song both illuminating and deeply moving. Drawn from the Jewish folk songs that made the Barry Sisters, Sirba Octet reinterprets Zug es Meir Noch Amool (Tell Me One More Time) and thus establishes a musical bridge in a Yiddish 50’s Jazz feel.

Gipsy Russian cabaret and Romanian or Moldovan traditional dances: The Sirba Octet, the orchestra and the balalaika answer to each other successively and naturally slide towards Gipsy Russian cabaret repertoire – notably with the famous song Valenki (Felt Boots), written by nomad gypsies – and Romanian or Moldovan traditional dances – Tata vine pastele (Daddy, Easter Is Coming !) and the Suite de Moldavie, a medley of Doinas, songs that originated amongst shepherds. That rich program made of tales, a surprising musical project for three soloists, came to life in this album with Sirba Octet and thanks to the talents of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège directed by Christian Arming and Nicolas Kedroff… before Sirba Orchestra’s next musical journey with other symphonic ensembles.

Tracklist:
1. Katioucha / Otchi Tchornye (Medley) 04:55
2. Valenki 03:00
3. Cocher, ralentis tes chevaux 05:33
4. Tata, Vine Pastele 03:54
5. Kalinka 04:56
6. Farges Mikh Nit / Zug Es Meir Noch Amool (Medley) 06:54
7. Le temps du muguet 03:24
8. Ya Vstretil Vas 04:22
9. Gayen Zay In Shvartze Reien 06:33
10. Hora Moldoveneasca / Thème des Lăutarii / De La Cluj La Chişinău (Medley) 06:09
11. Azol Tanzmen 05:06
12. Dos Broitele / A Vaible A Tsnien (Medley) 03:53
13. Suite de Moldavie: Jelea Din Bosanci (Doïna) / Hora Din Grăniceşti / Sirba Lui Nutu (Medley) 08:09
14. Moskovskaya Polka 04:45

Personnel:
Sirba Octet
Nicolas Kedroff, balalaïka
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Christian Arming, direction