This is a Recording

At the PDSA charity shop in Thornbury a few years ago I spotted a 10" record with an orangey-red sleeve on which the title and artist (so I presumed) were spelled out in Cyrillic text. I recognised the Melodiya logo on the cover: that being the USSR's state-run record label. I already owned a few Melodiya records, and on the prior occasions when I'd bought LPs with titles in Russian it hadn't worked out badly: one being a fine performance of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony; the other an interesting compilation of balalaika music. My weak recollection of the Russian alphabet failed me in the moment, but, as the record was only £1, I thought I'd buy it anyway. This wasn't such a successful purchase: I'd acquired some performances of Государственный Гимн Союза Советских Социалистических Республик - that is, the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, and of 'The Internationale' (Интернационал). Side A begins with the Anthem sung by the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus,...