Andrei Osipovich Sychra (1773-1850)
The Poor Branch
In the Valley
Troïka
Quatre études
Variation sur la Dernière Pensée de Weber
Rondo à la Savoyard
Polonaise
Variations et final sur 2 mélodies

Semion Aksionov (1784-1853)
Kamarinskaia
In the Valley
Exercice en la mineur
I Feel Bad
Pour bien dans ma chaumière
How Did I Upset You?
Akh vy seni
Variations Mozart
Rondo
Polonaise de Mars

Mikhail Timofeevich Vysotsky (1791-1837)
Marche
Stop Singing, Oh Nature's Friend
I Love Pear
Fantaisie
Not a Peacock
Troïka
I Loved Rose
Don't Be Surprised
Fantaisie sur des thèmes d'études de Cramer
Remember, My Friend
Bach's fugue
Cossack
Rondo
Go Home, Dear Cow
Mélodie ukrainienne
Oginski's Polonaise
Ah, mother, I Have a Headache
Vanyusha

Alexander Vetrov (1812-1877)
You Won't Believe
Étude en ré
Étude en sol
Étude en la mineur
Rondoletto

Joseph Kamensky (18ème-19ème siècle)
Sonate pour violon et guitare à 7 cordes

Ludwig Sychra
Fantaisie

Vladimir Lvov
Sonate

Anonyme
D’un mensonge
On dit que sans espérance
À ma Clémence

Ferdinando Antonolini (1771-1824)
Perduta l’arbitra

Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)
Se m'abandoni

A. Svientitsky
Variations
Kozak, Air russe

Mikhail Ivanovitch Glinka (1804-1857)
Polonaise
Kamarinskaia
Potpourri

Michal Kleofas Oginski (1765-1833)
Polonaise en la
Polonaise en fa mineur

Nikolai Alexandrov (1818-1884)
My Heart
Graziella
It is Hard for Me
Gallop
Scherzo
L'Illusion perdue
An Orphan's Song
Ballade
Prayer
Mélodie
Trois exercices
Six études

Fiodor Zimmermann (1813-1882)
Capriccio en si mineur
Capriccio en sol
Valse tyrolienne
Valse

Vassily Stepanovich Sarenko (1814-1881)
Romances sans paroles
Fantaisie "At the Seashore"
Quatre études
Danse ukrainienne

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Cavatina "Di tanti palpiti" (arr. A. Sychra)

Ignatz von Held (1766-1816)
My Little Dove
To the River
The Ray of Hope

Antoine de L'Hoyer (1768-1852)
Sonate pour violon et guitare

Piotr Naimanovsky
Variations pour guitare et piano-forte

Vladimir Morkov (1801-1864)
Potpourri sur des chansons populaires russes

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829)
Polonaise (arr. V. Morkov)

Oleg Timofeyev, guitare
John Schneiderman, guitare

This comprehensive release is a celebration of the astonishing presence of the guitar in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. Just the sheer number of composers featured on this 7CD album exemplifies how popular the instrument was. Though many of these composers have now fallen into obscurity, their works live on – discovered by renowned guitarist Oleg Timofeyev, an expert on the music of this time. Mr Timofeyev is known for reviving the seven-string Russian guitar, and it is on this instrument that he performs these works, many of which have never been recorded before. The release starts with one of the masters of the instrument, Andrey Sychra, whose numerous pupils form many of the composers on this album. Sychra was an accomplished harpist, and several of his works seem to imitate the delicacy of the harp. His fine Études are among the first for Russian guitar, and this style would be elaborated on by many of Sychra’s followers, whether they were meant for study or the concert hall. Sychra was also adept at programmatic music, with his compositions after poems able to depict atmospheric scenes, particularly apparent in his works based on Russian folk songs. Other composers, such as Mikhail Vysotsky, preferred to extemporise on themes by well-known composers; Vysotsky chose Cramer’s Études as a basis for his freeflowing Fantasia, and even arranged the third contrapunctus from J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue in a remarkably original and novel transcription. The final CD of this album sees the Russian guitar paired with other instruments – unusual, as Russian guitarists, often in the military or part of land-owning nobility, rarely had an opportunity to play alongside other musicians. We have Piotr Naimanowsky’s Variations for guitar and fortepiano, a sympathetic working of the popular French air Que le jour me dure, and a Sonata for violin and guitar by Antoine de L’Hoyer, a Frenchman who spent 10 years in Russia and frequently wrote for the Russian guitar. This innovative release represents an exciting chance to discover the severely neglected world of the Russian guitar during this period. As Oleg Timofeyev and his companions show, there is a wealth of music worthy of attention here, in a variety of genres and styles.