The Roaring Twenties roared in Russia as well as in Europe and America, to an extent not generally realised in the west.

This CD reveals for the first time the light music of a minor master of the day, Matvey Nikolaevsky (1882–1942). Nikolaevsky’s songs and dances were enormously popular in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and ’30s. His style moved effortlessly from the salon music of the late 19th century to the foxtrots, Charlestons and tangos that were now in vogue. Most of his substantial output was lost and this CD presents most of his surviving compositions.

Svetlana Zlobina took part in the Russian Culture Channel TV series Grand Opera. Since 2011 she has been a guest soloist at the K S Stanislavsky and V I Nemirovich-Danchenko State Musical Theatre in Moscow. The pianist Mikhail Mordvinov is co-founder of the ensemble Arteunita in Valencia, and in Berlin he was a founder-member of the Mieczysław Weinberg Trio.

Filipp Chizhevsky studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he himself has taught since 2011, the year in which he was appointed conductor of the State Symphony Capella of Russia. In 2012 he conducted the world premiere of Michael Nyman’s opera 'Dido: The Prologue' in a concert performance in Perm with the Capella’s chamber orchestra.