Lvov is credited with making Vinogradov into a professional singer – with lessons in diction, breathing, flexibility, and finally in producing the sound he became famous for.

[5] In the 1940s he also recorded Nightingale as a duet with the baritone Vladimir Bunchikov,[6] and The Bending Branch (or Luchina[7]) as a solo with the Alexandrov Ensemble.

[12] However it has been suggested that he was primarily a radio singer because his voice lacked the power of a true lyric tenor to sing above a full choir and orchestra.

[14] Two notable sets, recorded around 1950, are the Liederkreis or song cycles, Schumann's Dichterliebe and Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin; they were sung in Russian.

The accompanist on the recordings was Georg Orentlicher (Russian: Георг Борисович Орентлихер), who later in old age became professor of chamber and vocal accompaniment at the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1951 there was apparently a bar-room brawl, possibly with Polish officers or officials, which embarrassed the Soviet government, and finished his career.

[16] Another version of this story has it that apparently his glory gave him too much importance, and in 1951 with the phrase "For breach of discipline in the tours" Vinogradov was removed from the concerts.

His colleague Leonid Kharitonov remembers the following, which contradicts the above rumors: "Vinogradov left the Ensemble in 1951 and started his own career as a soloist with RosKoncert's philharmonic department.

This organization was responsible for distributing its artists on tours throughout Russia, and salary payment was donated by the government.

[20] Vinogradov left a considerable discography of arias, song cycles, and popular music – with the bulk, 125 items, released originally on Melodiya.