Скачать или смотреть Nikitin: Cold Waves Lapping (1950) with Alexandrov Ensemble

Victor Ivanovich Nikitin (Виктор Иванович Никитин) sings "Cold Waves Lapping" with the Alexandrov Ensemble 1950.

This is a song about the Russian naval ship Varyag which, when cornered in battle in 1904, was scuttled by her brave crew who refused to surrender. There is more information about the Varyag on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org. Search on Wikipedia for "Russian cruiser Varyag (1899)"

No wonder it is said that in World War 2 the Nazis stopped shooting when they heard Nikitin sing in the trenches. If he sang like this it would have knocked 'em dead. This is probably his finest recording. He sings with his very recognisable, slightly nasal voice, seemingly not quite fully trained. Although he has tremendous power, attack and enthusiasm, there is still a tentative or fragile edge to his performance, which is what makes it so dramatic. He manages to sound slightly vulnerable, yet massively energetic and powerful at the same time. Fans must have dropped at his feet when they heard this. Why have we not heard of him in the West before?

Nikitin playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list...

His recording career was suddenly cut short at roughly the age of 33 years in about 1951. We do not know his dates of birth and death. What we do know of him is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...

Update: We now know that he returned to the Ensemble choir in 1951 as WW2 meant that he missed his chance of training at Gnessin music college, which had a department for military musicians. His position in the choir was front row, 7th from the left from the pov of the audience. He has been spotted in videos of the choir until 1965. It is said that he died aged 70, ca.1990.