Valery Popov (born 9 September 1937) is a Russian bassoonist, described as the foremost of his era in Russia in his Grove Music Online entry.
He played with the orchestra for 26 years, under many notable conductors including Evgeny Svetlanov, Natan Rakhlin, Aleksandr Gauk, Kiril Kondrashin, Valery Gergiev and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
[1][3] His repertoire includes concertos by Vivaldi, Mozart, Boismortier, Dutilleux, Kozeluh, Zelenka, Weber, J. C. Bach, K. Stamitz, J. Hummel, André Jolivet, Wolf-Ferrari, Villa-Lobos and Tomazi.
[6] A review of concertos by Danzi, Vivaldi and Hummel for American Record Guide describes Popov's playing as "fluid and fluent", with "warm and resonant" tone and "superb" technique.
[8] A review in Fanfare praises Popov's 1976 recording of Jolivet's bassoon concerto, and states that he "deftly skates the thin ice between comic and soulful".
[10] Comparing recordings of Denisov's Sonata for Solo Bassoon, Ronald E. Grames prefers Katarzyna Zdybel's performance, considering that Popov is "hard pressed at times to make it sound like more than exercises".