Evgeny Belyaev: Nightingales (Solovii), 1970s

Evgeny Mikhailovich Belyaev sings Nightingales (Соловьи or Solovii) with the Alexandrov Ensemble in the mid-1970s, conducted by Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov.

The year is ca.1975. The Ensemble is wearing the new uniform which replaced the tunics on 1 January 1970. Belyaev left the Ensemble in 1980. It is probably the mid-70s because Belyaev readjusted his technique to be suitable for singing Russian Romances around this time, and he could not have sung as sensitively as this before around 1975.

I now believe that this performance is an homage to Georgi Pavolovich Vinogradov (Георгий Павлович Виноградов) who was a superb tenor with the Ensemble until 1951 when his career ended suddenly. Vinogradov is said to have been a singing teacher in Moscow until his death in 1980. Belyaev's voice was far more powerful than Vinogradov's: but here Belyaev is not just imitating Vinogradov's 1950 record; he is re-living the spirit and perfection of it.

In the original record, Vinogradov declines the final high note, and gives homage to the dead soldiers by bowing out with the low note. However the high note at the end here reads like a celebration of the soldiers' sacrifice, and at the same time a celebration of Vinogradov's gift Just my interpretation; but there is no doubt that there is a tight musical interrelationship between Belyaev, Vinogradov and B. Alexandrov who showcased them both