The Red Army Choir - Nastasia - Boris Alexandrov

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• published: 17 Sep 2015
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The Red Army Choir - Nastasia - Boris Alexandrov Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov (Russian: Александр Васильевич Александров, Aleksandr Vasilevich Aleksandrov) (13 April [O.S. 1 April] 1883 – 8 July 1946) was a Russian Soviet composer, the founder of the Alexandrov Ensemble, who wrote the music for the national anthem of the Soviet Union, which, in 2000, became the anthem of Russia (with new lyrics). During his career, he also worked as a professor of the Moscow State Conservatory, and became a Doctor of Arts. Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, known as Sacha, was born on 13 April in Plakhino, a village south-east of Moscow. As a boy his singing was so impressive that he travelled to Saint Petersburg to become a chorister in Kazan Cathedral. A pupil of Medtner, he studied composition at Saint Petersburg and in Moscow, where he eventually became professor of music in 1918. Alexandrov founded the Alexandrov Ensemble, and spent many years as its director, in which role he first gained favor with Joseph Stalin, the country's ruler during the last two decades of Alexandrov's life. His choir participated successfully in the Universal Exposition of 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, Stalin commissioned him and lyrist Sergey Mikhalkov to create a new Soviet national anthem, which was officially adopted on 1 January 1944. It was very popular, and was used by the Soviet Union until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It later became the National Anthem of Russia in December 2000, with Mikhalkov writing the new lyrics. He also composed the famous song The Sacred War, and the official march of the Soviet and now Russian Armed Forces, the Song of the Soviet Army. He died on 8 July 1946, while on tour in Berlin; some records say he was returning from Germany. Major General Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov (Russian: Борис Александрович Александров, August 4, 1905 Bologoye – June 17, 1994 Moscow) was a Soviet Russian composer, and, from 1946 to 1986, the second head of the Alexandrov Ensemble which was founded by his father, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov. Alexandrov is also the composer of the Anthem of Transnistria. He began his musical career, aged 13, as a viola player and in the children's choir at the Bolshoi Theatre inMoscow, performing alongside singers such as Feodor Chaliapin. Chaliapin was a great showman, as can be heard in his recording of Dark Eyes,[2] and Boris would later carry the same attitude into his choral arrangements for the Ensemble. From 1923 to 1929 he attended the Moscow Conservatory, taught by RM Glier. He grew up among leading performers, and later collaborated with the leading Soviet composers and poets. From 1929 to 1937 he ran the music department of the newly established Central Theatre of the Red Army and from 1933 to 1941 was associate professor of Moscow Conservatory. He was also a composer, writing in various genres of symphonic and chamber instrumental music . In 1937, he became the deputy artistic director of the Alexandrov Ensemble and some of his best compositions date from this era. As a conductor, Boris Alexandrov apparently worked from two principles: interpreting a composer's work correctly, and making sure that a mass audience would appreciate it. Boris Alexandrov was a composer, arranger, conductor, music critic, artist and teacher: an important 20th century figure in Russian military music. He saw to the training and promotion of many fine soloists. After World War II, the ensemble, led by Boris Alexandrov, travelled abroad sixty-eight times and was well received in many countries throughout Europe. He carried on the central idea which drove his father: that the choir was central to the ensemble, and that without the choir there would be no ensemble . In 1985, his 80th birthday was publicly celebrated. Alexandrov finally retired in 1987. He was succeeded by Igor Agafonnikov the same year, with Anatoly Maltsev as the ensemble chief. He retired as the principal conductor in 1994; he died that year and was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery. He was succeeded by Victor Fedorov, the chorus master since 1986.