Soviet voices

Geoff · Post by **Geoff** » 10 Mar 2016, 17:34

Like many others, I have an interest in Soviet voices. It seems to me that Eastern European singers of the past seem to have a certain plangency in their vocal production, probably due to the way they have been trained in technique, diction etc., or is it the Russian language itself ? - I'll leave that to our vocal critics to define more closely. All I know is that I like them. For many years the Soviet system denied their singers to Western ears and those that were permitted very briefly to visit the West were jealously chaperoned. Their records were simply unavailable although that has changed somewhat in recent years. The actual standard of recording was certainly not up to western standards and one wonders exactly what care has been applied to the former soviet archives. Not a great deal I suspect and how much more could be made available ?

Here are one or two tenors who may be known to western ears, but not very widely:
http://nitroflare.com/view/0F050DD48D2C ... s_aria.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/B7DF11384C3C ... s_aria.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/0E61F307FB18 ... _guest.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/D6E037BF62D3 ... 1960's.mp3

I would welcome comments and no doubt we can add to this thread if there's enough interest.

Regards,
Geoff.

Pantenor · Post by **Pantenor** » 11 Mar 2016, 15:04

shutko · Post by **shutko** » 11 Mar 2016, 19:30

I've been trying to remember a certain elusive soviet tenor who was famous for his Otello... If someone knows who I am talking about, do share

TifosoBonisolli · Post by **TifosoBonisolli** » 11 Mar 2016, 21:22

Vinogradov is of course one of the great singers of all times. I also like Ognevoi. Chekin's and Belinnik's singing is rather laboured to my ears.

Shutko - could the one of whom you are thinking be Nikolai Pechkovskij? He, too, is certainly worth mentioning on this thread, as well as countless others... for example, Tengiz Zaalishvili and Lütfiyar İmanov, about whom I'm going to post in a few minutes on the current "most underrated" thread.

Geoff · Post by **Geoff** » 12 Mar 2016, 00:17

Virgilius Noreika is Latvian (which formed part of the Soviet bloc) and also within my own age group and like me, still alive and kicking ! What a superb tenor - a student of Kipras Petrauskas, a superb tenor in his own right of course. I have a great admiration for this tenor.

Maybe we will yet add to this thread.

Regards,
Geoff.

ogisha007 · Post by **ogisha007** » 12 Mar 2016, 09:52

From the SSSR era, I'm quite fond of singers such as Pavel Lisitsian, Yuri Gulyayev, Boris Gmyrya, Evgeniy Nesterenko et al.

I can't speak for the female voices, but from my listening experience, they mostly have a certain 'rough-around-the edges' sound, oftentimes sing exclusively in the Russian language or struggle with foreign diction, probably as a direct result of the iron curtain, but I guess that is what makes them so unique.
There is a certain inimitable beauty in the ever-present melancholy of the 'Slavic soul'...

wunderlich · Post by **wunderlich** » 14 Mar 2016, 01:28

shutko wrote:I've been trying to remember a certain elusive soviet tenor who was famous for his Otello... If someone knows who I am talking about, do share

I am sure it is Vladimir Atlantov. The greatest Otello of his time.

shutko · Post by **shutko** » 14 Mar 2016, 18:10

wunderlich wrote:
shutko wrote:I've been trying to remember a certain elusive soviet tenor who was famous for his Otello... If someone knows who I am talking about, do share
I am sure it is Vladimir Atlantov. The greatest Otello of his time.

I don't believe it is, the person I'm thinking of does not have any video footage of him in performance...

TifosoBonisolli · Post by **TifosoBonisolli** » 14 Mar 2016, 21:36

As I said, Pechkovskij was a famous and excellent Otello. If you're thinking of more recent singers, Vladislav Piavko would be a good bet.

Geoff · Post by **Geoff** » 15 Mar 2016, 17:57

Soviet voices

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