On tour, he visited the entire country and appeared several times at the State Kremlin Palace concert hall.

[2] During the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, Kharitonov went on tour abroad to many different countries, including Czechoslovakia, England, Scotland, the United States, China and Australia.

From 1998 to 2006 he performed at various venues on a contract basis, giving concerts in Siberia, the German Embassy and Ilya Glazunov Gallery.

However his recordings continue to be re-released worldwide, and this may eventually serve to redress the balance, along with the recent increased exposure of Kharitonov on YouTube.

[6] Utyos (Russian: Утёс)[8] One of Kharitonov's first solo performances, at age 32 after twelve years in the choir of the Ensemble, was a concert at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses attended by top government officials.

In other words, particularly when the choir sings a cappella, or when there are no drums, the bass part appears to set both the rhythm and pitch, by virtue of having the heaviest sound.

After all, this is a song about Stenka Razin: the first revolutionary; a cross between Attila the Hun and Robin Hood - and this performance made Leonid Brezhnev cry.

[9] The screenshot, left, from a concert given at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow during the same time period, is an indication of the stage presence which takes on the persona of Razin himself.

[11] This song is about the fate of the 17th-century Russian rebel, Stepan Razin, its lyrics and music written in 1864 by poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Navrotsky.

[13] Kharitonov remembered: "My solo career truly began with a concert in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses on April 22, 1965, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Lenin,[14] when I sang "There is a cliff on the Volga.

I do not know what my performance stirred in the hearts of Leonid Ilyich and the other listeners, but I would like this song to be considered a monument to the Russian victorious spirit.

After that performance, I continued to be a soloist with the Ensemble for seven years, and, from then on, I was regarded as a serious professional singer among the musical and political elite".

After expressions of gratitude he hugged me as a father would and told me that Stalin also considered this song to be his favorite, and often played a record of it being performed by A. Pirogov,[16] whenever he was sad at heart.

"If Stalin were alive, then you would be leaving this room as a People's Artist of the USSR - because you sing it better than Pirogov," Voroshilov told me.

- The Times review of the Ensemble's 1967 UK tour[19]"Newly promoted from the ranks of the choir to that of soloist, Leonid Kharitonov sternly leads his voice into chasms of dizzying depth, displaying an impressively full sonorousness."

- L’Aurore review of the Ensemble's 1967 French tour[20]"Leonid Kharitonov was a great success on his visit to Britain in 1967 with his rendition of the Volga Boat Song.

Siberian born Kharitonov is now a soloist with the Moscow State Philharmonic Society specializing in traditional Russian songs."

- Sunday Post review of his Scottish tour, 1977[22]"The Russian opera singer Leonid Kharitonov, accompanied by the rhythm sections, sang songs such as I’m looking at the sky, Along Peterskaya Street and Pies with cheese.

His last song had the crowd laughing, as he staggered out onto the stage as if he was drunk, making faces and losing his balance as he sang to the audience....

- Yorkton this week, tour review, 1979[23]"...The same can be said about the presentation of another remarkable singer — People's Artist of Russia Leonid Kharitonov.

In France, he performed at the invitation of President Charles de Gaulle, at a charity concert of stars of the world, held to benefit less developed countries (December 1967.)

Competing with such world celebrities as Franco Corelli, Fernandel, Nicolai Ghiaurov, and the Beatles, Kharitonov received the title of Best Singer of the Year."

- Kopeck (Russian: Копейка), performance review, 2006 [26]"I am very grateful to Leonid Kharitonov, a remarkable bass, soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, with whom I first went on tour.

[33] The following is a small selection: Ivan Susanin from Life for the Tsar by Glinka; King Rene from Iolanta by Tchaikovsky; Song of the Varangian Guest from Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov; King Philip from Don Carlos by Verdi; Konchak from Prince Igor by Borodin; The Old-Man's Tale from Aleko by Rachmaninov; Kutuzov from War and Peace by Prokofiev; Serenade of Mefistofeles from Faust by Gounod, Song of the Flea by Mussorgsky.