Alexandrov Ensemble choir
Encyclopedia
The Alexandrov Ensemble choir (established Moscow
1926) is the choir of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
It has for most of its history been a male-voice choir
of tenor
s and basses
, based in Moscow and directed
and conducted by Alexander V. Alexandrov from 1926 to 1946, by his son Boris A. Alexandrov from 1946 to 1987, and by various directors up to the present. It has always consisted of Soviet and then Russian Red Army
personnel, and has been held to represent that army at home and abroad
.
Since the 1990s, female army personnel have occasionally been included in the choir as soprano
s
.
Since 2007 boy sopranos and altos from the associated choir school have joined the choir for some of the time
.
. There are several possible reasons for this:
, tenors, altos and sopranos, to allow the full range of tonal effects. Alexander Alexandrov, its first director, began his training at Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg
, which no doubt had a choir with the full vocal range
.
There are also several positive reasons for a male-voice choir in this Ensemble, especially in those decades when it was establishing its identity at home and abroad:
Thus, during the Ensemble's second tour to the United Kingdom
in 1963, The Times
reviewer shows his astonishment at his first experience of this choir:
– and at the same time he declares: "Their singing and dancing is of a spectacularly high standard"
.
s; (2) first tenor
s; (3) second tenors; (4) baritone
s; (5) first bass
; (6) second bass; (7) basso profundo
s. It was of course a great luxury for B.A. Alexandrov
to be able to do this, but the Ensemble numbered 475 people including 220 in the choir before the mid-1950s. They all used to go on tour abroad worldwide at the beginning. But in 1955 Krushchev
decided to cut the choir to 80 people and prohibited them to go on tour to capitalist countries from that date; only to Soviet
ones.
,
and during the directorship of Boris Alexandrov, show a choir of at least 80 singers
.
This size allows the characteristic massed-voices effect of the Ensemble, plus the opportunity for the composer or arranger to score for several parts
, in both bass and tenor
sections. For example, in Song of the Dnieper, a basso profondo
line suddenly appears in the chorus
two-thirds of the way through, giving a powerful effect
.
By contrast, during the UK 1988 tour, the Ensemble had a choir of up to 36
. Professionalism and the characteristic discipline of the Ensemble maintained good performance standards, but the small choir lacked the powerful, massed-voiced sound that its audience remembered from 1956 and 1963
.
here and
here in Russian
. Listed below are some of the notable ones. More are listed on the Alexandrov Ensemble discography
page.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
1926) is the choir of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
It has for most of its history been a male-voice choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
of tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
s and basses
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
, based in Moscow and directed
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
and conducted by Alexander V. Alexandrov from 1926 to 1946, by his son Boris A. Alexandrov from 1946 to 1987, and by various directors up to the present. It has always consisted of Soviet and then Russian Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
personnel, and has been held to represent that army at home and abroad
.
Since the 1990s, female army personnel have occasionally been included in the choir as soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
s
.
Since 2007 boy sopranos and altos from the associated choir school have joined the choir for some of the time
.
The central importance of the choir
Before he died in 1946, Alexander Alexandrov made it clear to his son Boris that the choir was central to the Alexandrov Ensemble, and that without the choir there would be no Ensemble. There are several possible reasons for this:
- It represents the army and the people: from the start, the choir has represented not only the Red Army but also, in the early days, the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's socialistSocialismSocialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
ethosEthosEthos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...
. To the audience – when the choir is 80-strong – it can sound like the voice of the masses. So the orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, soloistsSolo (music)In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
and dance troupe alone could not be seen to be representative in the same way. - It allows a full range of genresMusic genreA music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
in performance: in the Soviet era, the Alexandrov Ensemble represented the Soviet Union's musical culture at home and abroad. Alexander Alexandrov had to compose and arrangeArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
songs in a variety of musical styles, from folk song and popular musicPopular musicPopular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
to operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and oratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
. Popular music in his day (1920s–40s) could involve a choir, but opera and oratorio need a choir or chorusGreek chorusA Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
, if the full range of composition, arrangement and performance is to be allowed. - It showcases the singing stars: in the Ensemble, the soloist singers are the stars who are named on recordings, as they are the only personnel to be given solos for the length of a song or act. However, without the Alexandrovs' showmanshipShowmanship (performing)Showmanship, concerning artistic performing such as in Theatre, is the skill of performing in such a manner that will appeal to an audience or aid in conveying the performance's essential theme or message....
via choral arrangement to provide a framework and showcase for these soloists, there would be no stars. A fine example of this would be the choral arrangement which complements Stanislav FrolovAlexandrov Ensemble soloistsThis is an alphabetical list of the basso profondo, bass, bass-baritone and tenor soloists who have performed with the Alexandrov Ensemble since its establishment in 1928. It is difficult to differentiate between regular and guest soloists, since many have alternated between the one category and...
singing Song of the Dnieper .
Compositions and arrangements for the choir
In an ideal world any composer, considering arrangements on such a grand scale as many of those recorded by the Alexandrov Ensemble, might reasonably demand the full set of bassesBass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
, tenors, altos and sopranos, to allow the full range of tonal effects. Alexander Alexandrov, its first director, began his training at Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg
, which no doubt had a choir with the full vocal range
Vocal range
Vocal range is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a human voice can phonate. Although the study of vocal range has little practical application in terms of speech, it is a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech and language pathology, particularly in relation to the study...
.
The male-voice choir
However, for most of its history, the choir has consisted only of basses and tenors. Alexander Alexandrov several times applied to his superiors for permission to include boy singers, but was refused. There are several possible reasons for this refusal:- The budget was limited or controlled: as a Red Army choir, its budget – however bountiful in its 1950s/1960s heyday – possibly covered the wages and expenses of army personnel only, and perhaps any extras had to be justified within army regulations.
- ChoirboyChoirboyA choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.- History :The use of choirboys in Christian...
s cannot join wartime tours: during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the primary role of the Ensemble was to entertain troopsSoldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
and to keep up morale in war-torn areas: hardly an acceptable environment for young boys. - Female carersLegal guardianA legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
for choirboys on tour could mean scandal: Being representative of the USSR at home and abroad, the Ensemble carried the burden of USSR public moralityPublic moralityPublic morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the media, and to conduct in public places...
, which was carefully controlled. Taking choirboyChoirboyA choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.- History :The use of choirboys in Christian...
s on tour abroad would have necessitated taking female carers too, and rumours of personnel behaving inappropriately on tour could destroy musical careers.
There are also several positive reasons for a male-voice choir in this Ensemble, especially in those decades when it was establishing its identity at home and abroad:
- If the choir represented the Red Army, then it should look like the army, and that excluded choirboys.
- Limited choices give the Ensemble a unique character. When a composer is faced by limited choices, this can introduce discipline and tension into his compositions, and great art can feed off such tensions. Limited choices can give compositions identity and character. The lusty voices of 80 highly-trained RussiansRussiansThe Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
with their characteristically SlavonicSlavic languagesThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
vowel productionRussian phonologyThis article discusses the phonological system of standard Russian based on the Moscow dialect . For discussion of other dialects, see Russian dialects...
aided by the soft palateSoft palateThe soft palate is the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone....
, and the choir's impressive dynamicDynamics (music)In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
and tonal controlTimbreIn music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
, already makes the Ensemble choir like no other to the WesternWestern worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
ear. Where missing top notes of stretched and extended chordExtended chordIn music, extended chords are tertian chords or triads with notes extended, or added, beyond the seventh. Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended chords...
s are compensated for by balalaikaBalalaikaThe balalaika is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass...
s, bayanBayanBayan may have the following meanings coming from various cultures* Bayan, means dawn in Kurdish language.*Bayan, the larger drum of the tabla set.* an Arabic female name meaning "clearness, eloquence."*Bayan, the Turkish word for "lady"...
s (and perhaps a few countertenorCountertenorA countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
s), the choir acquires an extraordinary quality which makes it unique.
Thus, during the Ensemble's second tour to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1963, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reviewer shows his astonishment at his first experience of this choir:
"What VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
would have thought of the full-throated chorus from ErnaniErnaniErnani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo. The first production took place at La Fenice Theatre, Venice on 9 March 1844...
with an orchestral accompaniment consisting largely of balalaikaBalalaikaThe balalaika is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass...
s and accordionsBayanBayan may have the following meanings coming from various cultures* Bayan, means dawn in Kurdish language.*Bayan, the larger drum of the tabla set.* an Arabic female name meaning "clearness, eloquence."*Bayan, the Turkish word for "lady"...
is worthy of contemplation."
– and at the same time he declares: "Their singing and dancing is of a spectacularly high standard"
.
Composition of the choir
In the early 1950s a typical full division (which varied from song to song) was as follows: (1) countertenorCountertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
s; (2) first tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
s; (3) second tenors; (4) baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
s; (5) first bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
; (6) second bass; (7) basso profundo
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
s. It was of course a great luxury for B.A. Alexandrov
Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov
Major General Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov was a Soviet Russian composer, and, from 1946 to 1986, the second head of the Alexandrov Ensemble which was founded by his father, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov...
to be able to do this, but the Ensemble numbered 475 people including 220 in the choir before the mid-1950s. They all used to go on tour abroad worldwide at the beginning. But in 1955 Krushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
decided to cut the choir to 80 people and prohibited them to go on tour to capitalist countries from that date; only to Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
ones.
The size of the choir
The choir appears to function most successfully with a minimum of 80 singers. Most of the films and photographs of the Ensemble in its heyday, including the 1948 Berlin Peace Concert,
and during the directorship of Boris Alexandrov, show a choir of at least 80 singers
.
This size allows the characteristic massed-voices effect of the Ensemble, plus the opportunity for the composer or arranger to score for several parts
Part (music)
1) A part is a strand or melody of music played by an individual instrument or voice within a larger work. Parts may be referred to as an outer part or an inner part . Part-writing is the composition of parts in consideration of harmony and counterpoint...
, in both bass and tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
sections. For example, in Song of the Dnieper, a basso profondo
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
line suddenly appears in the chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
two-thirds of the way through, giving a powerful effect
.
By contrast, during the UK 1988 tour, the Ensemble had a choir of up to 36
. Professionalism and the characteristic discipline of the Ensemble maintained good performance standards, but the small choir lacked the powerful, massed-voiced sound that its audience remembered from 1956 and 1963
.
The choral songs
Many of these are listedhere and
here in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Listed below are some of the notable ones. More are listed on the Alexandrov Ensemble discography
Alexandrov Ensemble discography
This is a list of recordings made by the Alexandrov Ensemble since 1928. Within each section they are in alphabetical order of record labels.- Facets: Leningrad Cowboys - Total Balalaika Show :...
page.
The chorus alone
In alphabetical order:- En RouteV Put"V Put" is a song written in 1954 by Soviet composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi and poet Mikhail Dudin. It was originally written for the film Maxim Perepelitsa starring Leonid Bykov. The movie itself went on air in 1955, and the song has achieved fame and popularity independently of it ever since...
(music V. Soloviev-Sedoy; lyrics M. Dudin). Also translated as Let's Go, and On the Way. This is the famous song in which the choir rocks from side to side as if marching. It was a favourite party-trick of Boris Alexandrov's to walk off and leave the Ensemble to perform it un-conducted.
- In Peace (Russian: В защиту мира) (music Victor White; lyrics Ilya Frenkel, 1948). A song for peace composed in 1948: possibly one of the compositionsMusical compositionMusical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
sung at the 1948 Berlin Peace Concert.
- National Anthem of the Soviet UnionNational Anthem of the Soviet UnionThe National Anthem of the Soviet Union or the State Anthem of the USSR was introduced during World War II on March 15, 1944, replacing The Internationale as the official national anthem of the Soviet Union as well as the national anthem of the Russian SFSR...
and National Anthem of RussiaNational Anthem of RussiaThe National Anthem of the Russian Federation is the name of the official national anthem of Russia. Its musical composition and lyrics were adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union, composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and lyricists Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan. The Soviet anthem was...
: The same music is used for both (with different words), and that music was composed by Alexander V. Alexandrov in 1944.
- Polyushko PolePolyushko PolePolyushka Polye is a Soviet Russian-language song.Polye means "field" in Russian, "polyushko" is a diminutive/hypocoristic form for "polye".- Soviet arrangements :...
variously translated as Plaine ma plaine, Field my field and Meadowland (Russian: Полюшко-поле) (music: L. Knipper; lyrics: Vladimir Gusev). Recorded from 1934 onwards.
- Song of the Soviet ArmySong of the Soviet ArmyThe Song of the Soviet Army or Invincible and Legendary was performance of Alexandrov Ensemble.The original 1945 is highly triumphal with its brass fanfares and ecstatic chords extended upward with the aid of trumpets, as part of the V-E Day celebrations. That arrangement by A...
(music: Alexander Alexandrov; lyrics: O. Kolychev). The original 1945 recording is highly triumphal with its brass fanfares and ecstatic chords extended upward with the aid of trumpets, as part of the V-E Day celebrations. That arrangement by A. Alexandrov is very much in the tradition of final choruses in 19th century Italian grand opera, and shows how he originally envisaged this composition.
- Svyaschennaya VoynaSvyaschennaya VoynaSvyashchennaya Voyna was one of the most famous Soviet songs associated with the Second World War. It was written by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach in 1941 upon the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union...
or Sacred War. The music was composed by Alexander V. Alexandrov on 22 June 1941, on the very day when the WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
invaded the USSR. A. Alexandrov's arrangement of this on the 1941 recording sounds both strikingly modern and movingly painful, with the chords and the percussive rhythm sounding raw and exposed. This was the year of the Battle of Leningrad, and the year when the Alexandrov Ensemble did one of its most gruelling tours through war-torn areas. Later recordings sound more joyful.
The chorus with soloists
In alphabetical order:- Boundary (Russian: Граница) (music O. Feltsman; lyrics A. Sofronov). An arrangement which takes full advantage of the dramatic effect of a brassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
solo and extreme dynamicDynamics (music)In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
variation in the chorus, to back up two unnamed duettistsDuet (music)A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
.
- Song of the Dnieper (Russian: Песня о Днепре) (music M. Fradkin; lyrics E. Dolmatovskaya). A powerful and dramatic arrangement to back up the basso profondo soloist Stanislas FrolovAlexandrov Ensemble soloistsThis is an alphabetical list of the basso profondo, bass, bass-baritone and tenor soloists who have performed with the Alexandrov Ensemble since its establishment in 1928. It is difficult to differentiate between regular and guest soloists, since many have alternated between the one category and...
. Massive chordsChord (music)A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
are obtained by stretching the vocal range of the choir well into basso profondo and countertenorCountertenorA countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
ranges, and by creating extended chordExtended chordIn music, extended chords are tertian chords or triads with notes extended, or added, beyond the seventh. Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended chords...
s which contain the maximum tension, until they are finally resolvedResolution (music)Resolution in western tonal music theory is the move of a note or chord from dissonance to a consonance .Dissonance, resolution, and suspense can be used to create musical interest...
at the end.
See also
- Alexandrov Ensemble
- Alexandrov Ensemble soloistsAlexandrov Ensemble soloistsThis is an alphabetical list of the basso profondo, bass, bass-baritone and tenor soloists who have performed with the Alexandrov Ensemble since its establishment in 1928. It is difficult to differentiate between regular and guest soloists, since many have alternated between the one category and...
- Alexandrov Ensemble discographyAlexandrov Ensemble discographyThis is a list of recordings made by the Alexandrov Ensemble since 1928. Within each section they are in alphabetical order of record labels.- Facets: Leningrad Cowboys - Total Balalaika Show :...
- Evgeny BelyaevEvgeny BelyaevEvgeny Mikhailovich Belyaev, also written as Yevgeny Belyayev , was a Russian tenor soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble under Boris Alexandrov...
- Georgi Pavlovich VinogradovGeorgi Pavlovich VinogradovGeorgi Pavlovich Vinogradov , Honoured Artist of Russia, was a Russian tenor: a popular World War II singer on Radio Moscow, recording artist, and soloist with the Alexandrov Ensemble.- Musical training :...
External links
- krapp-sa.narod.ru webpage: list of Alexandrov Ensemble recordings. translated Russian→English by Google translate tool.
- Alexandrov Ensemble website. in Russian
- Sovmusic.ru webpage: list of Alexandrov Ensemble recordings. in Russian
- Wordpress: Alexandrov Ensemble blog