PLEASE NOTE:

The following audio files contain excerpts from the 'Lightworkers Family' telephone conference of Saturday 6 June 2009, hosted by Ms Carol Davis of Palm Springs (California), USA.  The conference recording has been divided into shorter files for ease of selection and downloading.

For the past year or so JW has been giving readings for Lightworkers teleconferences from the Ringing Cedars Series of 9 books by Vladimir Megré, which he translated between 2004 and 2008.  The 6/6/09 reading included a reading of his Translator's Preface to Book 1 of the Series (this segment of the teleconference cannot be reproduced here for copyright reasons).

On the occasion of the 210th anniversary of Pushkin's birth, JW was asked to follow the Ringing Cedars reading with a presentation on Pushkin's life and poetry.  The teleconference also included some spontaneous dialogue on Tolstoy and the Doukhobors, as well as several musical offerings on Russian themes -- a couple of  JW's piano improvisations and two Russian folk songs with balalaika accompaniment.

Link to the Lightworkers site

Pushkin presentation 6 June 2009
for a 'Lightworkers Family' teleconference
.
Celebrating the 210th anniversary
of Russia's best-loved poet

Host:
Carol Davis

Guest:
John Woodsworth
Member, Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa
Member, Literary Translator's Association of Canada

Click on the heading in each box to go to the mp3 file
,

. Pushkin presentation: File 1 (23:17)  CLICK HERE Introduction Spontaneous conversation on > Tolstoy and the Doukhobors > Preface to Book 1 of the Ringing Cedars Series Piano improvisation on the Russian folk song Korobushka [The little fruit basket] .

At this point in the teleconference JW read his Translator's Preface to Book 1 (Anastasia) of the Ringing Cedars Series by Vladimir Megré.  To read or download a free pdf file of this Preface, first click here and then click on "Translator's Preface" on that page. 

This was followed by JW's piano improvisation on the Russian folk song Èkh, dorogi! [Oh, the roads], telling about the dangers (cold, desolation, bandits) of crossing the steppes in a lone horse-drawn coach.  Click here to listen.  This song sets the stage for the following poem by Pushkin.

Click here to go to JW's piano improvisation page.

. Pushkin presentation: File 2 (12:03)  CLICK HERE Pushkin poem Besy [Devils] a dramatic poem about crossing the steppes by coach & horses during a blinding snowstorm Pushkin poem Zimnee utro [Winter morning] a cheerful romantic poem about a frosty winter morning  (for a text version of the English translation click here) Russian folk song Metelitsa [The snowstorm] a romantic song in which the singer compares his love to a snowstorm that is moving too fast for him  (for a text version of the English translation and an audiofile with better sound quality click here) Spontaneous conversation about the Russian balalaika .

 

. Pushkin presentation: File 3 (9:28) CLICK HERE JW's article on Pushkin as submitted to the Ottawa Citizen Weekly, and published there in abridged form (together with sample poems) on the bicentenary of the poet's birth, 6 June 1999 (for a text version click here) .

This point in the teleconference featured Gremin's aria from the final act of Tchaikovsky's opera Evgenij Onegin [Eugene Onegin], based on Pushkin's novel in verse of the same name.  Click here to listen to this aria on Youtube -- as sung by Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov (1929-2004) in Chicago in 1985.

. Pushkin presentation: File 4 (13:57) CLICK HERE JW's anecdotes on hearing Tchaikovsky's opera Evgenij Onegin (based on Pushkin) in St-Petersburg (1980) and Moscow (1982) Tribute poem to Pushkin Smert' poèta [Death of a poet] written by his contemporary Mikhail Jur'evich Lermontov (for a text version of the English translation click here). .

JW then presented his own recording (with balalaika accompaniment) of the Russian folk song Tonkaja rjabina [The slender rowan-tree]; click here for a text version of the English translation and a link to an audio recording.

. Pushkin presentation: File 5 (5:36) CLICK HERE Pushkin's poem Vospominanija [Memories] Pushkin's poem Ja vas ljubil [I loved you] (for a text version of the English translation click here) JW's tribute poem to Pushkin based on  Ja vas ljubil (for a text version of the English translation click here) .

 

. Pushkin presentation: File 6 (3:04) CLICK HERE Acknowledgements & final comments by host Carol Davis .

Link to the Lightworkers site