[ConorMacNessa]

A Blessed Lord's Day to you, ML.

*HUGS*

Here's the note from the website where I found the transcription:

"Simeon’s song sung – in a Kiev melody – by solo tenor: nonetheless this motet ends with the lowest note in the Rachmaninoff Vespers : a B flat below low C."


"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[left that other site]

Yep...that was a Bb alrighty! LOL!

I can get down to the low c but Bb is too low for me! (I was a dramatic coloratura, but over the years I seem to have become more of a contralto, but I can still vocalize up to the high c.)

[left that other site]

The solo tenor sounds so characteristic of the Russian Tenors...so different from the sweet Bel Canto Type Tenor we associate with Italian or Irish tenors.

The Russian tenor seems to have a slightly strained or strident sound to it, I think due to Asian Influence. .

I have no idea if there is an “official” opinion on this, but it has been my experience.

There are probably a lot of “Sweet” Russian Tenors, but most of them that I have heard, especially in folk and liturgical music, sound just like the one on this recording.

It gives the music an “edge”.