Razboinika Blagorazoumnago (The Judicious Villian)
liner notes:
Boris Christoff, Bass, sings Bulgarian and Russian Orthodox Chants, accompanied by the Choir of the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church, Sofia, conducted by Angel Konstantinov. Christoff renders a vivid illustration of the Slavonic chants originating in Bulgaria in the ninth century. This chant praises God's mercy in accepting the judicious villain into Paradise.[/list]
I have always liked Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, the music of The Bulgarian Women's choir; does this sound anything like that (assuming you're familiar with it)?
Yes and no re. sounding similar... The Bulgarian liturgical chants are sung a cappella, by definition, as are most of the selections by Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (if not all), but thereafter the similarities begin to peter out... (although I would venture that Christoff's Slavonic chants come closer than his other material).
Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares have
four selections you can play right on their website, in case anyone is interested. My favorite of those is 'Danyova Mama' ('Danyo's Mother'). There are
some more tracks (some full, some previews) on last.fm, along with some other related material. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a version of one of my favorite of their recordings, namely 'Pilentse Pee' (also known as 'Pilentze Sings', and 'A Little Bird is Singing'), a rather famous Bulgarian folk tune also recorded by a few other groups, e.g., the Strouma Folk Ensemble and
Trio Bulgarka. There is
a snippet of that song sung by the London Bulgarian Choir that can be accessed from the latter's website, but I find the range of nasal intonations along with other uniquely Bulgarian sounds to be a tad flattened or "conventionalized" for my taste. Still beautiful, but more mainstream.
Boris Christoff, on the other hand, was a classical Opera star, whose repertoire focussed mainly on Italian and Russian material. Considered to be one of the greatest basses of all time, his voice had a dramatic presence not wholly explained by its range or timbre. His life was filled with controversy, political intrigue, and scandal, both on and off the stage, including a public pissing fest with Maria Callas in the Fifties and a sword fight with a fellow performer that turned a little too real. At one point, the American government denied him entry for his scheduled debut at the Metropolitan, claiming he was a Soviet spy, and yet his own native Bulgaria (Communist at the time) wouldn't even let him return to attend his own father's funeral. You'll never be able to find a biography that tells the
whole story. Some more material on
THIS page (not all of it written in the best English!).
