Alexandrov Ensemble choir

Alexander Alexandrov, its first director, began his training at Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg,[11] which no doubt had a choir with the full vocal range.

[citation needed] There are several possible reasons for this refusal: 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: Thus, during the Ensemble's second tour to the United Kingdom in 1963, The Times reviewer shows his astonishment at his first experience of this choir: "What Verdi would have thought of the full-throated chorus from Ernani with an orchestral accompaniment consisting largely of balalaikas and accordions is worthy of contemplation.

Most of the films and photographs of the Ensemble in its heyday, including the 1948 Berlin Peace Concert,[16] and during the directorship of Boris Alexandrov, show a choir of at least 80 singers.

[17] This size allows the characteristic massed-voices effect of the Ensemble, plus the opportunity for the composer or arranger to score for several parts, in both bass and tenor sections.

[19] Professionalism and the characteristic discipline of the Ensemble maintained good performance standards, but the small choir lacked the powerful, massed-voiced sound that its audience remembered from 1956 and 1963.