Monday, May 24, 2010

Yuri Vishnyakov

Yuri Vishnyakov (or Wichniakov) is one of the more well known Russian basso profondos, although there are relatively few videos of him singing. Vishnyakov is perhaps responsible for popularizing the Russian basso profondo as he is featured on the Orthodox Singers CD "Basso Profondo from Old Russia."

Vishnyakov, along with Boris Tchepikov, and Viktor Krutchenkov, sung perhaps the most impressive rendition of Chesnokov's "Do Not Reject Me in My Old Age," a piece for a basso profondo soloist, although, in this case, three basso profondos sing!
You can hear the recording below:



Vishnyakov hits a rather impressive G1 at the end, although it is somewhat masked by the G2 sung by the other two bassos. Vishnyakov has performed with a number of Russian Choirs. He recently has performed with the Orthodox Singers choir, but he can be seen here performing the Russian Patriarchate Choir of Moscow:



In a more recent video, we have Vishnyakov singing with the Orthodox Singers, performing the entering chant "It is Fitting" :

4 comments:

  1. http://anylaboratory.ru/other/x_6ca336b6.jpg

    Vishnyakov


    http://anylaboratory.ru/other/x_3cfb3aef.jpg

    Vishnyakov & Miller

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  2. Do not reject me in my old age -- This brought shivers and tears to me. Beautiful, profound, and deep (no pun intended).

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  3. On Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Wichniakov) it is mentioned that Vishynakov performed in what I presume to be the recording of Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil directed by Valery Polyansky in 1986.

    There were more bassi profundi in the recording directed by Alexander Sveshnikov in 1965 (Melodiya). It would be very interesting to find out who they were...

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  4. Here's a link to the Sveshnikov recording (in MP3; unfortunately I hear artifacting). The previews provide ample opportunity to hear the bassi.

    http://www.amazon.com/Vespers-Op-37/dp/B001UGA990/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284323677&sr=1-1-catcorr

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