Great Russian Voices

May 13, 2007 5:27 PM

Giants of Soviet opera are little known in the West.But Victor Han has taken it upon himself to keep their memory alive....my personal favorite is Mark Reizen, a deeply nuanced bass, who was powerful enough to carry on singing into his ninth decade. If you'd care to follow along with some of the songs, you can use Emily Ezust's massive archive of lyrics, to which Victor contributes. Or, try listening in English first. Too much music? Here's some reading.
posted by StrikeTheViol (9 comments total)

Lovely post, Strike!
I've got many sites to explore!
posted by Dizzy at 6:10 PM on May 13, 2007

Nice! (But 16kbs, ouch. Guess I'll have to check allofmp3.com...)
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:39 PM on May 13, 2007

I emailed Victor after finding the site and he sent me a CD of a radio program of him introducing Reizen songs in high quality. Just let him know you're into the music. His physical collection is massive.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 6:45 PM on May 13, 2007

The giants of Western opera are also little known in the West.
posted by pompomtom at 7:57 PM on May 13, 2007

Agreed, sadly.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 8:33 PM on May 13, 2007

Giants of Soviet opera

Is it wrong that I'm hearing that in a monster truck rally announcer's voice?
posted by dreamsign at 8:12 AM on May 14, 2007

Beethoven really wrote songs titled "Scottish Drinking Song" and "Song of the Flea"?
posted by nomisxid at 8:40 AM on May 14, 2007

"Song of the Flea" is a Goethe setting from Faust. Mussorgsky's setting is a bass classic; not sure about Beethoven's.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:47 PM on May 14, 2007

Nothing to add, but wanted to thank you for a most excellent post. I didn't know Rezin's voice, but it was a real treat. I love the excerpt of Onegin in English too.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 6:38 PM on May 14, 2007