Leonid Kharitonov (singer)

L.M. Kharitonov, 1960s

From 9 November 1953 to March 1965 he was a member of the choir in the Red Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army (later the Alexandrov Ensemble). His place in the choir was always third from the right in the top row. From 1953 to 1955 he served in both the Red Army and the choir. From 1956 to 1959, while still with the choir, he studied at Gnessin State Musical College. His first unofficial public performance as soloist was in the State Kremlin Palace on 18 March 1965. On that day two good friends of his, cosmonauts Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov, traveled into space on the Voskhod 2. During this mission, Leonov became the first human to walk in space. Kharitonov's first official public performance as a soloist was on 22 April 1965.[4] In 1967 he was awarded Honoured Artist of Russia. He continued with the Ensemble until 1972 - so he was with them for nearly 20 years.[1][2][3] B.A. Alexandrov was proud of his soloist, and would often shake his hand or hug him publicly onstage after a performance.[5] Kharitonov sometimes sang duets, but only with Ivan Bukreev.[6] Kharitonov had only one singing teacher in his life: Evgeny Avgustovich Kanger, who taught no-one in the Ensemble but the leading soloists, including Evgeny Belyaev.

From 1972 to 1998 he was a soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic Society,[7] and in 1986 was awarded People's Artist of the RSFSR. Being a soloist for the Moscow Philharmonic meant that tours were arranged; he was given bookings by them; an accompanist was provided; but he could arrange his own bookings and pay for a different accompanist outside Moscow, and could accept tours offered by his own clients.[6] During this time, he performed frequently on radio and television. On tour, he visited the entire country and appeared several times at the State Kremlin Palace concert hall. He was considered the pride of Russia, and sang at concerts for the government and for foreign delegations.[2] During the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, Kharitonov went on tour abroad to many different countries, including Czechoslovakia, England, Scotland, the United States, China and Australia. From 1998 to 2006 he performed at various venues on a contract basis, giving concerts in Siberia, the German Embassy and Ilya Glazunov Gallery.[1][3] He was a friend of Anatoly Solovyanenko but they never sang a duet together.[6] Kharitonov never performed in theatrical opera, but sang operatic arias in concert performances.[6]

Like many of the great Russian operatic singers of the Soviet era, this bass-baritone singer who was respected in Russia and who sang fully in the tradition of Chaliapin was largely unknown in the West. This is because his career was overshadowed by the Cold War. However his recordings continue to be re-released worldwide, and this may eventually serve to redress the balance, along with the recent increased exposure of Kharitonov on YouTube.[6]

Utyos (Russian: Утёс)[8]

Kharitonov singing Cliff at the Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow, 1965

One of Kharitonov's first solo performances, at age 32 after twelve years in the choir of the Ensemble, was a concert at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses attended by top government officials. As a chorister he was aware of the primary function of the bass part. Whether the part actually does so or not, its effect is to appear to provide a rhythmic and tonal foundation for the musical piece. In other words, particularly when the choir sings a cappella, or when there are no drums, the bass part appears to set both the rhythm and pitch, by virtue of having the heaviest sound. This understanding, and the understanding within Boris Alexandrov's arrangement, is what makes Kharitonov's performance commanding. There is no destabilising ego here. When he sings he sets the melody and dynamic, and establishes all that is to come; the choir appears to settle comfortably above his voice; the choir repeats and follows his lead. This roars to a climax, with the soloist's voice appearing to carry the weight of all Russia's revolutionary optimism. After all, this is a song about Stenka Razin: the first revolutionary; a cross between Attila the Hun and Robin Hood - and this performance made Leonid Brezhnev cry.[9] The screenshot, left, from a concert given at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow during the same time period, is an indication of the stage presence which takes on the persona of Razin himself. Ultimately, this is a recording that demonstrates what a bass soloist really is: the musical foundation of a performance.[10] The sound recording of Cliff can be heard in the 2006 BBC documentary series Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster: Surviving Disaster while brave men swim to their deaths, opening sluice gates below the reactor in the hope of preventing a nuclear explosion.[11]

This song is about the fate of the 17th-century Russian rebel, Stepan Razin, its lyrics and music written in 1864 by poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Navrotsky.[12] The song was an anthem for revolutionaries of the late 19th and early 20th century in Russia; Lenin often sang it with his comrades-in-arms. The song is still culturally central to Russia.[13] Kharitonov remembered:

"My solo career truly began with a concert in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses on April 22, 1965, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Lenin,[14] when I sang "There is a cliff on the Volga."[15] This was my first solo performance. Brezhnev wept. He got up from his seat and wiped away the tears with his hands then applauded, and then everyone in the room stood up as well and applauded too. I do not know what my performance stirred in the hearts of Leonid Ilyich and the other listeners, but I would like this song to be considered a monument to the Russian victorious spirit. After that performance, I continued to be a soloist with the Ensemble for seven years, and, from then on, I was regarded as a serious professional singer among the musical and political elite".

"I remember how after the concert Marshal Voroshilov came to see me backstage. After expressions of gratitude he hugged me as a father would and told me that Stalin also considered this song to be his favorite, and often played a record of it being performed by A. Pirogov,[16] whenever he was sad at heart. "If Stalin were alive, then you would be leaving this room as a People's Artist of the USSR - because you sing it better than Pirogov," Voroshilov told me."[13]

Properly titled Yo, Heave, Ho! (or Ej, uhnem!), (Russian: Эй, ухнем!)

Kharitonov singing Ej, Uhnem, 1965

In the West Kharitonov is recognised for his 1965 video of The Song of the Volga Boatmen,[17] which resembles Chaliapin's 1922 recording, especially in the upper-register roar which in the song represents the hauliers making superhuman effort.[18] He demonstrates the clean Russian bass-baritone sound: a fusion of various influences. There is the Eastern Orthodox Church singing style, inherited from Byzantine music, without vibrato and demanding a clear and sonorous resonance at all times: preferably utilising the soundbox of a building space. There is also the influence of the Italian operatic singing style with its emphasis on forward placement and the power of the diaphragm: both of which permit control of the loudest and softest vocal sounds without compromising tonal quality. The tendency of Russian language speakers to create some vowels by expanding the soft palate is a great advantage for Russian basses, as it encourages their unique type of richly open resonance. This effect tells to advantage in both the upper and lower registers of this bass-baritone singer.[10]

The hard labor of the burlaks is portrayed by the seriousness of his expression throughout the performance, with the exception of a momentary lightening—even the shadow of a smile—when he sings: "We are singing our song to the Sun," arguably the most hopeful phrase in the entire song (see screenshot).[19]

Chernoglazaya Kazachka (Russian: Черноглазая казачка)

Kharitonov performing "Dark Eyed Cossack Girl", and a rare image of Boris Alexandrov laughing

Many Russian songs are serious or sad, but Kharitonov also performed comic songs or arias. The composer Matvey Blanter wrote Dark-Eyed Cossack Girl (Russian: Черноглазая казачка) especially for him in 1966. Kharitonov's definitive performance was recorded in 1969.[20] Again he is celebrating Chaliapin's legacy as the first modern bass to successfully fuse drama — and humour — with pure musical technique, as in Chaliapin's performance of Dark Eyes.[21] Moreover, this performance of Kharitonov's demonstrates the Ensemble's style, which in the era of A.V. and B.A. Alexandrov encouraged soloists to stay in tune in spite of any vibrato, any emotional acting, or any humour. Therefore, although the song involves laughter, he laughs elegantly in tune. All the while he is making faces and humorous gestures, his vocal tone and pitch remain spot-on. That is the achievement of this kind of performance: while the audience and the other musicians laugh so much at Kharitonov's clowning (see image, left), at the same time they are aware of highly disciplined singing, and the performance remains perfectly musical.

This performance demonstrates that discipline is fundamental to musical elegance.[10]

Gori, Gori, Moya Zvezda (Russian: Гори, гори, моя звезда)

Leonid Kharitonov singing Gori Gori (Shine shine my star) on television, 1974

In this song, the singer speaks to a star, asking it to have compassion on him. Kharitonov sings it as if it were a prayer, and the close-up of his face emphasises the spirituality of the performance. In an interview about this, the interviewer asked Kharitonov about his faith; whether as a child he believed. Leonid remembered that in his early years, he did not go to church, but the boy always felt a connection with the sky; with the cosmos. His star, with whom he communicated, spoke to him.

"The more I live . . . the more I believe that God exists. Lord God was preparing me to be clean, kept me through homelessness, hunger, poverty. I never hurt anyone, did not deceive, did not have debts. On stage, the artist reveals himself to the spectator-listener. If a person is mean, with a dirty soul, the listener sees and feels this. I'm on stage not just performing my part. On stage, I live every romance, folk song, or aria from the opera. This brought me to the Lord God. He established everything in Man so that he learned to understand and distinguish the good from the bad." Tatiana Kovalska, 2004[22]

Vdol po Piterskoy (Russian: Вдоль по Питерской)

Kharitonov singing Along the Peterskaya, 1983

This folk song, about a jolly, tipsy troika-driver indiscreetly courting the ladies, belongs to a tradition in which it was previously popularised by Feodor Chaliapin and Alexei Sergeev[23] who each made the song their own. Sergeev's version was hilariously rumbustious but possibly overwhelming at close quarters for the ladies. Kharitonov's inebriate is the huge and clumsy but genial Russian Bear: the symbol of Russia beloved of Leo Tolstoy.[24] The tonality is kept warm and elegant, while the vocal slide from one note to the next — and on one occasion a whole glissando - help to create an illusion of musical drunkenness. This is a musical joke, as previously Georgi Vinogradov had taken the vocal slide from drunks and tuneless club singers, and utilised it to showcase his own disciplined vocal skill and consistent vocal quality as he slid from one register to the next.[25] Kharitonov, in his prime, still has a consistent vocal quality across the registers at the age of 50 years,[26] and can surprise the audience by taking a technique which had come to represent sobriety, and hand it back to the music-hall toper.

So this performance demonstrates the artistry behind the charm of a comedic bass solo performance.[10]

With the Alexandrov Ensemble he recorded The Ballad about Russian Boys (music: Novikov; lyrics: Oshanin L.), John Reed Walks Around Petrograd (music: Novikov; lyrics: M. Vershinin), War isn't Over Yet (music: B. Muradeli; lyrics: M. Andronov), Here Lenin Lived (music: B. Terentiev; lyrics: A. Fatyanov), Lenin's Guard (music: B Aleksandrov; lyrics: M Khotimsk), My Fatherland (music: O. Feltsman; lyrics: Oshanin L.), Veterans don't Grow Old in their Souls (music: Tulika S.; lyrics: Y. Belinsky), Song of Peace (music: B. Muradeli; lyrics: V. Kharitonov), Gray Hair (music: A. Ekimyan; lyrics: F. Laube), Son of the Fatherland (music: S. Tulika; lyrics: V. Lazarev), Son of Russia (music: St. Tulika; lyrics: V. Kharitonov), Vasya-Vasilyok duet with I.S. Bukreev (ca.1965), Song of the Volga Boatmen [39] ,[40] Death of Varyag. [41] He possibly sang Spring of 1945 (by Mrs.Pakhmutova) as a duet with I. Bukreev, but this was unrecorded.[6] Kharitonov also sang Quand fera-t-il jour, camarade? as a duet with French singer Mireille Mathieu. It was recorded in France but not published, and Kharitonov made enquiries about it over the years, but the recording was not found.

See discography navbox at bottom of page.

There is a full discography on Leonid Kharitonov's official website.[42] All his 1965-1972 records are included in the Alexandrov Ensemble discography section of the Japanese Red Army website.[43] This Japanese site also lists individual tracks by Kharitonov, linked to full album details.[41]

Ivan Susanin from Life for the Tsar by Glinka; King Rene from Iolanta by Tchaikovsky; Song of the Varangian Guest from Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov; King Philip from Don Carlos by Verdi; Konchak from Prince Igor by Borodin; The Old-Man's Tale from Aleko by Rachmaninov; Kutuzov from War and Peace by Prokofiev; Serenade of Mefistofeles from Faust by Gounod, Song of the Flea by Mussorgsky.[44]