Ivan Koslovsky

I tracked this opera singer down after having my curiosity piqued by description of his sometimes improvisatory, sometimes crooner-like, performing style (on Greg Sandow's blog, I think it was). I do find something appealing in his sound, even though I generally don't like opera. Probably there are sub-categories of opera (and I don't mean Robert Ashley--I mean pre-modernist, certainly pre-postmodernist, forms) that I could get to like.

This movie clip is pretty wild, in general:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfPinG_bZsE

Some brooding romanticism (after the home movie):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gX36yjaaJ4

More samples, with some commentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cr4md9woT0

I think it may be time for me to put some Russian opera in my life.

"You notice that the conductor must stop when he does and starts again when the singer ends the phrase." In other words he sets the pace like (just to pull one out at random, of course) Oum Kalthoum does for her orchestra.

(Also, keep an eye out for the Stalin hot air balloon. Some fascinating Soviet-era footage in general.)