To be fair to Bikel, he says in the liner notes, "The language of some of the songs is not Russian but Gypsy dialect."
Not sure what he means by this: the original Indo-Iranian Romany language? Some Russo-Hungarian or Russo-Romanian cross? Russian-Romany? Or more-or-less Russian with Romany loan words?
Bikel claims close acquaintance with Russian gypsies and their songs through his theater work with them. But I still seem to hear, in places, a kind of tongue-tied babble that does not remind me of such Romany as I've heard.
I admit I just don't know enough to be sure. This needs the verdict of a Russian speaker, preferably a Russian Gypsy speaker.
And oh my, if anyone could turn up a copy of that booklet and scan it into this thread! Armed with the transliteration, I think I could make a fair shot at translation. But would be glad to give way to someone more knowledgeable.