On The Hills of Manchuria / На Сопках Манчжурии

"On the Hills of Manchuria" is one of the most famous Russian waltzes, composed by Ilya Shatrov in 1906, after the Russo-Japanese War. Shatrov was a conductor of a military brass band, and was a man of courage. During a particularly grueling battle, when his regiment was encircled and supplies were running out, Shatrov commanded his band to play spirited military marches. The music raised the soldiers' morale, and they broke through the encirclement.

All seven musicians who survived this battle were awarded the highest honors in the Russian army: the cross of St. George. They also received silver trumpets, and Shatrov received an additional military decoration.

After the war, Shatrov composed this waltz, in memory of his fallen comrades. The waltz achieved tremendous popularity: in just its first three years, it was reprinted more than 80 times. Recordings of the waltz brought great fortunes to gramophone companies, but hardly anything to the composer. So Shatrov, with the same courage that he displayed at the battlefield, filed a lawsuit against the gramophone companies to re-claim a share of the profits, and, after long proceedings, won the first such lawsuit in Russian history.

The waltz was popular not only in Russia, but also abroad, where it was nicknamed the "national Russian waltz". Here, I play it in a piano arrangement.

For pianists - here is the sheet music of the waltz (you will notice that I embellished it a bit): http://igraj-poj.narod.ru/arhiv/pdf/new/shatrov_na_sopkah_man4jurii.pdf
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Alexander Zlatkovski is an Alaskan pianist, born in Russia. His repertoire includes classical pieces, waltzes of all sorts -- from Tchaikovsky to Chopin to Strauss -- as well as his own arrangements of Russian, Italian, Jewish, and French songs. For information on weddings and other events, visit http://www.AlaskanPianist.com. For more information about Alexander's concerts and his unique "Tales from the Keyboard" series, visit http://www.TalesFromTheKeyboard.com

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Тем из вас, кто читает по-русски, может быть интересна моя книжка «Песок на клавишах» - воспоминания о том, как я был уличным музыкантом в Израиле. Прочесть ее можно на http://www.zlatkovski.com/

Видео On The Hills of Manchuria / На Сопках Манчжурии канала Alexander Zlatkovski