Talk:Alexandrov Ensemble choir

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Before he died in 1946, Alexander Alexandrov made it clear to his son Boris that the choir was central to the Ensemble, and that without the choir there would be no Ensemble ^[1]. There are several possible reasons for this:

It represents the army and the people. The choir represents not only the Red Army but also, in the early days, the USSR socialist ethos: to the audience - when the choir is 80-strong - it can sound like the voice of the masses^[2]. So the orchestra, soloists and dance troupe alone could not be seen to be representative in the same way.
It allows full range of genres in performance. In the Soviet era, the Ensemble represented USSR musical culture at home and abroad. Alexander Alexandrov had to compose and arrange songs in a variety of musical styles, from folk song and popular music to opera and oratorio^[3]. Popular music in his day (1920s-40s) could involve a choir, but opera and oratorio need a choir or chorus, 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' showmanship 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 Frolov singing Song of the Dnieper (Russian: Песня о Днепре)^[4].

References

Wikidata

Latest comment: 7 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion

Can someone check and transfer the language editions of this article at wikidata with a bot? (see end of the article). Thank you.--Vagrand (talk) 07:55, 22 February 2017 (UTC)Reply

All removed. --Vagrand (talk) 05:56, 28 February 2017 (UTC)Reply

Add topic

[1] Ensemble-Aleksandrova: Biography of Boris Alexandrov

[2] Youtube: . . . especially in performance of Polyushko Pole.

[3] Alexandrov Ensemble website: music genres listed on front page. in Russian

[4] rapp-sa.narod.ru webpage: list of Alexandrov Ensemble recordings.

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