Tribute to the Red Army Choir

It was just after 2 a.m. when I saw the news flash. A Russian military plane leaving Sochi had crashed into the Black Sea en route to Syria. Like many of you, I was still awake at this wee hour. Returning from a midnight Christmas Eve service, I was stuffing stockings, stuffing the turkey, and stuffing a few gingerbread men down too. The tree was lit, the household was asleep, and a magical sense of peace washed over me.

Then I saw this news. Reading about any plane crash is awful. It shakes particularly those who do a lot of flying. But this ill-fated airplane was filled with musicians: sixty-four singers from the renowned ensemble “The Red Army Choir.” These singers were traveling to perform for troops in Syria during the New Year’s Festivities. Also on the plane were journalists and staff, as well as their extraordinary conductor Valery Khalilov and four of their celebrated soloists whose magical voices graced countless recordings and performances world-wide: all of them lost as they traveled to bring the gift of music.

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A.V. Alexandrov

The Red Army Choir, officially called the Alexandrov Ensemble or The Academic Ensemble of Song and Dance of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov, reflects the whole identity of the Soviet Union and post-Communist Russia. The choir was founded in 1928, only four years after Lenin’s death, by Alexander Vasilevich Alexandrov (1883-1946), a conductor, professor, and composer of patriotic songs including the hymn that became the Soviet National Anthem. Leadership of the ensemble was carried through by the founder into the WWII era, with his son Boris at his side (who took on the mantel after his father’s death).

Other directors followed, but in May of this very year, 2016, Lieutenant General Khalilov (1952-2016) assumed the chief spot. A highly decorated man, his accomplishments included the rebuilding of the military musical ensembles in post-Communist Russia. His leadership promised great things.

I first heard the Red Army Choir in the early 1960s via one of their (then) hard-to-obtain recordings of classic Russian songs such as Kalinka and Doroga dlinnaya. Their powerful voices defined these songs for me and for many people worldwide. What you might call the ensemble’s “signature tune”—the lushly beautiful Soviet National Anthem—dates from 1944 but was reborn in the post-Communist era, first by a removal of the Soviet-crafted words altogether in 1991, and then by the addition of new words penned, astonishingly, by the same lyricist who wrote the original words, Sergei Mikhalov (1913-2009).

Below you will find two performances. The first comes from a 2009 Eurovision Song Competition. (There’s really nothing like this annual European competition in the US; it needs to be experienced to be appreciated.) Here you’ll hear a medley of several highly popular Russian folk songs, enhanced by gymnastic folk dance and some fun drum-line flash at the end.

The second performance, recorded not very long ago, is a shimmering arrangement of Ах ты, степь широкая (“Oh, you wide steppe”). It conveys an even better sense of the grace, spirit, and soul of the singers lost in this dreadful crash. With knowledge of their tragic end, the poignant lyrics, given in English subtitles, are likely to touch your heart deeply.

 

1 thought on “Tribute to the Red Army Choir”

  1. I hadn’t heard about this, thank you for writing about it and sharing some of their history as well as those two performances. I shared this with my family this morning as well.

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