Oh, this is a fun thread.
I don't think it is disapproval of the Russians as much as what developed into received usage, which is a complex issue indeed.
If the Troparia are chanted recto tono at the Beatitudes, with the sung Beatitudes, it is quite nice. I have also heard several other variations of singing these troparia. To prefer one usage doesn't equate to dislike of the other.
Also when speaking of the Sabbaitic Typicon in its adaptation in Rus' it is perhaps more accurate to describe this a rather complex synthesis of Studite and Sabbaitic. It may be preferable to call these "monastic" or "cathedral" usages as has Taft and others.
The monastic Typicon, through its prominent use espceially in the Pecherska Lavra, became the standard of obviously at first monastic and from there most parish usage in central and eastern Rus'.
It has been positied that the Antiphons were pre-Nikonian, but many Old Rite prayer books give the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes as normative. It's not an issue of pre- or post-Nikonian but goes back to the larger issue of catherdral vs. monastic usage.
One thing Patriarch Nikon did do was reduce the triple Alleluias after Psalms 91,92 and 94 each to one, which was resisted by the Old Believers. So even with the Old Rite both usages were present, although the monastic usage of the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes certainly seems to have become more prevalent.
The question really does go back in essence to a more Greek and southern Balkan influenced parish/"cathedral" usage compared to a Kyivan Sabbaitic-influenced monastic usage. To some extent the heart of this involves "cathedral" vs. "monastic" usage.
The monks of the Evergetis monastery in Constantinople in the 12th century began singing the Typical Psalms in response to a desire for a more rigid adherence of the Palestinian Sabaitic monastic Typicon. Here also they began to sing Psalm 33 for the distribution of the Antidoron.
This was resisted in the country Greek parishes, which keep the "cathedral" use of Antiphons of Psalms 91, 92, and 94. The monastic usage which was being used now in Constanintople as well as Palestine subsequently spread into Rus' by monastics and was later embraced in general by the hierarchy (who were monastics).
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic parishes are split to some extent in this regard, i.e. while most parishes do generally take the Sunday Antiphons of Psalms (currently 65-66 and 94, often ommitting the second) the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes are included in the pew books and altar sluzhebnikyi. The Typical Psalms and Beatitudes are actually used in some UGCC parishes and in some of the monasteries. Daily liturgies in the UGCC generally do use the three Psalms and not the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes, however.
The changing from Psalms 91,92 to the "Paschal Antiphons" of 65-66 is a separate story. The use of these psalms for regular Sundays as antiphons cannot whatsoever be argued to be an older usage at all. This occurred at the Synod of L'viv in 1891 and is thus of very recent origin.
There are various opinions of why this change was mandated, some saying it was to "Paschalize" all of the Sundays, some saying it was to introduce "variety" to the Psalms which outside of feasts with specific Antiphons (not very many) were used for both weekdays and Sundays.
The Ordo for the Ruthenian Rescension gives both possibilities (Typical Psalms and Beatitudes or the three Psalms with verses) in the rubrics for the Antiphons. The Rusyn Greek Catholics generally all stick to the antiphonal psalm verses of Ps. 65-66 and 94 (Sundays) and do not use the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes as frequently (if at all) compared to Ukrainian GC parishes.
You are not dreaming, Dave. The early 16th century Sluzhebnyk printed in Venice actually gives instructions to use Psalms 91, and 92 for the First and Second Antiphon and the Beatitudes for the Third Antiphon.
Even more strange, I have a small Greek pew book from the 1960s which has selected Psalm verses of Psalms 102 and 145 with the refrains associated with Psalms 91 and 92, and for the Third Antiphon it gives three choices: "the Third Antiphon, the Beatitudes, or the verse "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" with the verse "Let the heavens and the earth sing his praise". Go figure.
