The Alexandrov Ensemble choir (established Moscow 1926) is the choir of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
It has for most of its history been a male-voice choir of tenors and basses, based in Moscow and directed and conducted by Alexander V. Alexandrov from 1926 to 1946, by his son Boris A. Alexandrov from 1946 to 1987, and by various directors up to the present. It has always consisted of Soviet and then Russian Red Army personnel, and has been held to represent that army at home and abroad. Since the 1990s, female army personnel have occasionally been included in the choir as sopranos. Since 2007 boy sopranos and altos from the associated choir school have joined the choir for some of the time.
On December 25, 2016, a plane containing 92 people, including over 60 members of the choir, crashed while en route to Latakia, Syria.
The central importance of the choir
Before he died in 1946, Alexander Alexandrov made it clear to his son Boris that the choir was central to the Alexandrov Ensemble, and that without the choir there would be no Ensemble. There are several possible reasons for this: It represents the army and the people: from the start, the choir has represented not only the Red Army but also, in the early days, the Soviet Union's socialist ethos. To the audience – when the choir is 80-strong – it can sound like the voice of the masses. So the orchestra, soloists and dance troupe alone could not be seen to be representative in the same way. It allows a full range of genres in performance: in the Soviet era, the Alexandrov Ensemble represented the Soviet Union's musical culture at home and abroad. Alexander Alexandrov had to compose and arrange songs in a variety of musical styles, from folk song and popular music to opera and oratorio. Popular music in his day (1920s–1940s) could involve a choir, but opera and oratorio need a choir or chorus, if the full range of composition, arrangement and performance is to be allowed. It showcases the singing stars: in the Ensemble, the soloist singers are the stars who are named on recordings, as they are the only personnel to be given solos for the length of a song or act. However, without the Alexandrovs' showmanship via choral arrangement to provide a framework and showcase for these soloists, there would be no stars. A fine example of this would be the choral arrangement which complements Stanislav Frolov singing Song of the Dnieper ().
Compositions and arrangements for the choir
In an ideal world any composer, considering arrangements on such a grand scale as many of those recorded by the Alexandrov Ensemble, might reasonably demand the full set of basses, tenors, altos and sopranos, to allow the full range of tonal effects. Alexander Alexandrov, its first director, began his training at Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg, which no doubt had a choir with the full vocal range.
The male-voice choir
However, for most of its history, the choir has consisted only of basses and tenors. Alexander Alexandrov several times applied to his superiors for permission to include boy singers, but was refused. There are several possible reasons for this refusal: The budget was limited or controlled: as a Red Army choir, its budget – however bountiful in its 1950s/1960s heyday – possibly covered the wages and expenses of army personnel only, and perhaps any extras had to be justified within army regulations. Choirboys cannot join wartime tours: during World War II the primary role of the Ensemble was to entertain troops and to keep up morale in war-torn areas: hardly an acceptable environment for young boys. Female carers for choirboys on tour could mean scandal: Being representative of the USSR at home and abroad, the Ensemble carried the burden of USSR public morality, which was carefully controlled. Taking choirboys on tour abroad would have necessitated taking female carers too, and rumours of personnel behaving inappropriately on tour could destroy musical careers.
There are also several positive reasons for a male-voice choir in this Ensemble, especially in those decades when it was establishing its identity at home and abroad: