khankonchak's video: Aleksei Bolshakov- Di Provenza in Russian

Aleksei Bolshakov (1914-1979) is one of many Bolshoi singers whose names and reputations have faded somewhat with the passage of time. Although he enjoyed a distinguished operatic career after the Second World War, there were a number of baritones vying for the public's affections during this period. Among them were the elegant, plaintive-voiced Pavel Lisitsian, the sturdy, reliable Andrei and Aleksei Ivanov, and the Estonian Georg Ots, who made frequent guest appearances at the theater. The hefty competition, and the fact that Bolshakov left fewer recordings than his colleagues, might explain his comparative neglect by collectors today. Bolshakov was born to a peasant family in Samara, where he attended school and eventually graduated from a construction technical college. In 1935 he was admitted to the Construction Institute in Kuybyshev, studying there by day and taking vocal classes at the local musical institute in the evenings. After serving in the military during WWII, Bolshakov sang for a few months at the Kuybyshev Opera Theater before moving on to the Yekateringburg Opera (the city was known then as Sverdlovsk) in 1946. Seven years later he was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater, and there he remained until 1975. Bolshakov's repertoire included 26 roles, from the Venetian Guest in Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Sadko", to Mercutio in "Romeo et Juliette", and Tonio in "I Pagliacci". Like virtually all singers in the former Soviet Union, he also regularly programmed old Russian romances, folk songs, and patriotic songs in recital. Relatively few achieved the title of People's Artist of the USSR, however; Bolshakov was given this honor in 1971. After retiring he taught at the Moscow Conservatory until his death in 1979. The instrument itself was a lyric baritone, with a plaintive flavor slightly reminiscent of Lisitsian. The plaintiveness, however, is less pronounced and the timbre, while quite distinctive and memorable, lacks Lisitsian's infinitely variegated coloration (or Ots's velvet-like nap, for that matter). Bolshakov's voice has more of a metallic core (particularly evident in middle voice) but is very evenly produced in all registers, and he seems capable of more power and fullness at the top than either of his aforementioned colleagues. This suits him well in 'Di Provenza', which benefits from his extremely attractive tone and admirably crisp diction (In Russian). Bolshakov is not the most probing of interpreters, but his musicality is never in doubt, and the legato is exemplary. The recording was made in 1968, and he is accompanied by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, with Mark Ermler at the helm.