Soviet voices

[shutko]

I found who I was looking for... his is a very nice rendition.

[Geoff]

Shutko - you are spot on. A fine performance.
Regards,
Geoff.

[Jim]

I am occasionally prone to collecting performances and creating a CD with information about the performances for my own use. I do this less frequently now. A USB key connected to the car system works as well. However to make a long story longer I was digging around and collecting recordings of Soviet singers and finding some biographical information on them. I had finished and was in the process of compiling the CD when I came across 'Voices behind the Iron Curtain' which, of course I purchased. Every blessed one of the singers (or nearly) I had collected was on this set. So there seems to be some effort to preserve the voices. However, I do think that what Geoff is doing, in bringing them to a wider audience, is important.

I have heard, recently, a few Russian traveling companies and my impression is that the female singers are generally good with well produced voices but the male singers were terrible. In at least some cases I wondered how they had completed the performance. Whether this is training, or something else I do not know. Language, of course does have a considerable influence on the style of the sound that we hear. There is and Italian, French, English and Russian sound and so on. I do notice that in many cases, including in Soviet times that what would normally be regarded as a lyric tenor sound is 'pushed' (for want of an better term) to sound much more like a heldentenor. With many of the Soviet singers this worked although the sound is harsh to my ears. If this is still being done then it is not working for the modern Russian tenor voice. Russia has been famous for its Bass sound and voices. Where are they (off topic I know)?
Jim

[Trickydicky1]

Here are one or two more voices.

http://nitroflare.com/view/B475B26CDCCF ... 960\'s.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/725F77ECCA08 ... -Cook).mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/5E215191ADB0 ... y_1937.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/E75F176D154E ... )_1946.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/B3936AACCD10 ... 950\'s.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/5EE8E2CF8724 ... )_1940.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/D74CA5FEA645 ... 950\'s.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/3E28DC0AFAC1 ... s_aria.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/22DA5C6C7F06 ... ailero.mp3
http://nitroflare.com/view/B342227A0FE6 ... rfenov.mp3


I particularly like Igor Gorin - well I like them all ! Pischaiev (there are different spellings) is a high voiced tenor and while some may prefer Lemeshev with Vladimir's romance, just listen to Pischaiev's final note.

Regards,
Geoff.

There is one Russian tenor from the past who impressed me, along with Lemeshev, with whom he had a friendly rivalry - Ivan Kozlovsky. In fact, I've only heard him on one LP singing Rachmaninov songs (which I'm more familiar with in performances by Nicolai Gedda, who had one Russian parent). Overall, I prefer Gedda's performances, but there is an undoubted sweetness and integrity in Kozlovsky's renderings which is very compelling - even if he delivered some of those high B's in open falsetto (which Gedda never did - he had this amazing, well-supported mezza voce for his soft high notes).
Kozlovsky was apparently Stalin's favourite tenor - I don't suppose that's going to encourage people to go searching for old recordings of his.

The recording of Natalia Davrath which you mention is supremely beautiful. When I first heard it (decades ago), I thought she must be a native of the Auvergne region of France, so authentic did her interpretation sound. It was not till much later that I heard of her real nationality.

[oddjobman]

This is pure liquid gold by the great Sergi Leneshev:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0q69JvLqag

[Geoff]

Thank you for Lemeshev. There are many good versions of Lensky's aria and one or two very good ones but I think that Lemeshev's version is probably the bench mark. Superlative.
I'm rather surprised that no one has mentioned the voice of the wonderful Soloman Khromchenko. Certainly not a huge voice by any means but what artistry. Here is Mendelssohn's 'wings of song'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Fd55fhHrw. I have always thought of the one-act 'Aleko' as a gloomy affair but Khromchenko adds a different dimension to the romance of the young gypsy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzDGF5gNu4Y.
Don't expect anything Italianate about Khromchenko with a Neapolitan song but his 'voce e'notte' (in Russian) is a delight :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cBl5R0qcM

Regards,
Geoff.