The Russian repertoire of folk music is extensive, going back many hundreds of years. During the Soviet era this repertoire was added to with a wide range of original compositions, clearly inspired by and deliberately harking back to the folk idiom. This tradition has been and continues to be extraordinarily popular, not just in Russia but throughout the world. The repertoire of this disc is drawn from the cream of Russian folk and folk-inspired music, brimming with melody and saturated in emotions ranging from the longings of love to boisterous bacchanalia.