Comparison time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2z5k9Qs5W4
Galop, from Moscow, Cheryomushki, by Shostakovich. I'm not really sure of the groups name, all it says is OJSG.
Moscow, Cerymushki is an operetta. It is a light and humorous mock of the housing redevelopments in Moscow at the time.
Here's the character explanations ala Wikipedia:
Sasha, after his recent marriage to Masha, finds that the young couple cannot live together as they have no home. Sasha shares a communal apartment with one of his fellow museum guides,Lidochka and her father, Semyon Semyonovich, while, on the other side of town, Masha shares a room in a temporary hostel.
Boris is an explosives expert, who sought to settle in Moscow having worked in many parts of the Soviet Union. In the opening of the operetta, Boris encounters an old acquaintance, Sergei, who works as a chauffeur for a high-ranking official. Sergei meets and falls in love with Liusia, a young alluring construction worker from the Cheryomushki site.
The seven “good” characters are unsurprisingly confronted by enemies with conflicting interests. Fyodor Drebednev is an obnoxious bureaucrat who is responsible for the building of the Cheryomushki estate and the allocation of the apartments. Drebednov has been married three times, but now has a new partner, Vava, a Machiavellian young woman who uses her affair as a means of acquiring a new apartment. Barabashkin is the lower-rank estate manager, who is likewise corrupt as his superior, Drebednov.
Here's the plot, once again ala Wikipedia:
Time: 1950s
Place: Cheryomushki in southwest Moscow
Act 1
The old house where Sasha, Lidochka and her father lived subsides. Consequently Sasha and his wife Masha, as well as Lidochka and her father, are granted newly-built apartments in Cheryomushki. The group are driven to the estate by Sergei, who knows Cheryomushki since his on-off girlfriend Liusia worked there, and by Boris, who has fallen in love with Lidochka. Unfortunately, when they arrive, the estate manager Barabashkin is unwilling to hand over the keys, restricting access to many of the apartments.
Act 2
Since Barabashkin will not give up the keys, Boris cunningly uses the construction crane to lift Lidochka and her father into their new apartment through their window. While they are settling in to their new home, Drebednov and Barabashkin abruptly burst through a hole in the wall from the adjacent flat. The new occupants are ejected, but Barabashkin’s intentions are uncovered. He has refused to give Lidochka and her father the keys in order that Drebednov, who allocated the adjacent apartment to his girlfriend, could please her by illegally taking two apartments and joining them together to make more luxurious accommodation. By doing this, the old lecher tried to ensure Vava’s continuing devotion. After the corruption of Drebednov is revealed, Sasha and Masha hold a housewarming party at their flat, where the good characters agree to defeat Drebednov and Barabashkin.
In the closing scene, Boris attempts to exploit a previous liaison with Vava by making love to her when he knows Drebednov will see them, thus undermining their affair. However, his underhand plot is dismissed by his idealistic friends, who seek a less realistic solution. Liusia helps the tenants create a magic garden, complete with a bench, where bureaucrats are not heard and only the truth is told. Consequently, Drebednov and Barabashkin confess their crimes and are vanquished. They all live happily ever after.
Now, compare this performance to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4JG8YXYGEA&feature=related
This is the group Toos!, doing their rendition of the piece. I like stuff like this because I just like to see and hear non-professional musicians play stuff for fun. It has a certain homely quality to it. Also, I like the tuba stuff at about 1:43.
