My first exposure to Russian choral music was Basil Poledouris’s “Hymn for Red October” from the 1990 submarine flick The Hunt for Red October. I love the pounding vocal rhythms and assured, patriotic melodies. And Russian just sounds cool. I was delighted to find this entire album of similar songs. Almost every track sounds like it could be a national anthem for a Soviet province (anthems which are, indeed, also available for download from the same page). My favorite tracks are the bouncy “Varshavjanka,” the rousing “Our Locomotive,” the familiar “Worker’s March,” and the ethnic mini-opera “O Glorious Sea, Holy Baikal.”

This page shows translated track titles under the heading “Soviet Sounds” and has 192kbps MP3 files. The download link below has the tracks in 256kbps MP3. Here is the back cover of the CD, if you’re interested.

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