Other songs like Song of the Volga Boatmen?

October 16, 2008 7:14 PM

What songs are similar to this recording of The Song of the Volga Boatmen? (Slow, non-English solo bass vocals, powerful and gloomy)
posted by Izner Myletze to media & arts (6 comments total)

Don't Cry Rachael (mp3) from the eponymous album by Ensemble Sreteniye at magnatune. Also, see their other work.
posted by spasm at 9:13 PM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sorry, I missed the solo criterion.
posted by spasm at 9:27 PM on October 16, 2008

Thanks for asking this. Ever since the Birthday Dirge question I've been looking for similar songs!
posted by niles at 9:28 PM on October 16, 2008

This sort of thing is pretty common in Russian opera as I understand it. Often in Russian operas, leading male characters are written in a lower voice (as opposed to western European, where the higher voice is). In the crudest terms, Russian: low = good, high = bad. Western would be the reverse.

Examples: Boris's Death from Boris Godunov and Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin.

These might not be lugubrious enough for you, but the Russian opera canon (that I'm not super familiar with) should have plenty to offer.
posted by turbodog at 1:02 PM on October 17, 2008

In Italian: The Commendatore from Don Giovanni and Scarpia in Tosca

I could go on. Most dramatic operas have (1) one or more low (baritone) or really low (bass) voiced characters and (2) one or more solos for them. The wikipedia page on bass voice has a list of roles by type. The dramatic, darker ones are at the bottom.

Searching YouTube with basso profondo is also fun.
posted by turbodog at 1:23 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Bonus youtubery, a Russian basso profondo singing in Italian: Ivan Petrov in Nabucco
posted by turbodog at 1:27 PM on October 17, 2008