Alexander Evstyugov-Babaev
@Schwallex · Piano, violin, guitar, flute, bayan, kalimba · Music theory, composition, improvisation · Saarbrücken
Russian-trained pianist, guitarist and composer. Now learning the violin and arranging a ton of pieces to play in duet with my teacher. Sharing some of them here for the benefit of other beginners and teachers alike.
What Pakhmutova/Dobronravov are to Russia, John/Taupin are to the world. In every particular. Classically educated, half a century of creative collaboration through all ages and styles, hundreds of songs,… More…
1991 Russian charts in a nutshell. The Soviet Union is no more. Nobody has even realized it yet. Nobody knows what's next. But something's in the air. Mostly it's this thing. … More…
Aleksandra Pakhmutova is a living legend. Every Russian knows her name. Over the last 60 years she wrote hundreds of songs. Absolutely everyone can hum dozens of them off the top of their head. And this… More…
With different lyrics and at different points in time, this song permeated the Russian, Polish, Yiddish, and probably other cultures, yet its ultimate origins remain a mystery. Versions of it can be traced… More…
Valeri Leontyev sure had many hits in his day. This isn't one of them, I don't think. Quite an obscure song for all intents and purposes. I still listened to it lots as a kid, as we had the LP pictured… More…
Written for a 1974 Soviet stop-motion cartoon, this song is popular to this day with Russian children and adults alike. Bittersweet lyrics by E. Uspenski, the author of the children's book of which the… More…
Yet another popular Russian song from yet another Soviet movie that hasn't aged well and is no longer popular at all. This slice includes original footage from the movie, where the song is lip-synched… More…
From a 1977 children's movie that's all but forgotten now. The song, however, remains popular, if anything only more so with today's adults than yesterday's kids, due to the nature of its lyrics. Performed… More…
Probably the most successful ad jingle ever. Written in 1880 to spread the word about the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius, the sheet music sold a million copies in the first year alone. That's… More…
The title song, as well as the grand finale, from the 1975 Soviet movie "The Adventures of Buratino", an adaptation of A. Tolstoy's 1936 book "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino", itself a reimagining… More…
Ode to the Russian cruiser Aurora that in 1917 signaled the beginning of the October Revolution by firing a blank shot from its forecastle gun. Written in 1973 for a children's cartoon about the ship,… More…
One of many popular songs from the 1975 Russian movie adaptation of Pinocchio. Performed by the inimitable Rina Zelyonaya, who adamantly refused to sing the second verse for hitting too close to home,… More…
A quick sketch, requested by my teacher, of the main theme from Dunaevsky's ouverture to his score for the 1936 movie "The Children of Captain Grant". Transposed for two violins. Could be worth expanding… More…
For the 2011 two-part TV movie adaptation of his autobiography, Udo Jürgens wrote this little gem that only features prominently twice over the 200-minute runtime, on a solo piano, at pivotal points of… More…
An exceptionally catchy schlager song with exceptionally sad lyrics. Transposed and arranged for two violins. In memoriam Udo Jürgens, hugely celebrated as a schlager star, but barely recognized as a gifted… More…
A song from the very first Soviet TV series, "Day after day". Transposed and arranged for two violins. Original 1971 performance by Nina Sazonova and canonical 1974 performance by Valentina Tolkunova both… More…
From the 1972 Soviet movie "What ever shall we do with Nastya", which owed much of its popularity to this song alone. Still getting recorded and covered to this day. Originally sung by Aida Vedisheva (video… More…
Transposed and arranged for two violins. Based on his score for the 1979 animated Soviet film "Cinderella", Igor Tsvetkov wrote this song that jump-started Ludmila Senchina's career. She passed away this… More…
One of the songs from "A Great Space Voyage", a 1974 Soviet science-fiction movie for children, with many now-obvious nods to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" that of course at the time went entirely… More…
A popular Russian song from a 1976 children's movie. Transposed and arranged for two violins. Great practice for jumping from first position on E to third position on A. More…
A song from a three-part cartoon series popular in Russia. Transposed and arranged for two violins. Good practice for shifting an octave from first to third position. More…
A popular waltz and song from 1940. Then a popular World War II song. To this day, keeps cameoing in all kinds of unexpected places (like Hollywood science-fiction blockbusters, of all things). Transposed… More…
Transposed and arranged for two violins. Some nice rhythmic patterns there, that look much easier to pull off than they actually are. The pauses on the downbeat in particular are quite treacherous for… More…
A 1975 song with a rich history. An ode to a White Russian forest, originally performed by a popular White Russian ensemble, it quickly turned into the unofficial anthem of Belarus. Two decades later it… More…
A Russian song from 1938, iconic to the extent that many think of it as a traditional folk tune. This is my second attempt at an arrangement, easier on the second violin, and transposed to E minor by teacher… More…