Contrapunctus

Compare performersRussian folk song

Song of the Volga Boatmen: Chaliapin, 1922 and 1927

Song of the Volga Boatmen, arranged by Chaliapin and Keneman

Chaliapin sings the boatmen’s repeated call in an acoustic recording of 1922 and an electrical one of 1927.

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1922Reference recording

Fyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng

Fyodor Chaliapin, bass; orchestra conducted by George W. Byng

Chaliapin’s first recording of the arrangement he helped create, made through an acoustic horn with Byng conducting.

3:21
1927Performance 02

Fyodor Chaliapin, Albert Coates

Fyodor Chaliapin, bass; orchestra conducted by Albert Coates

The electrical remake, conducted by Coates, was made five years after Chaliapin’s first version.

3:23
Selected recordingFyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng
0:00 / 3:21

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Each strip shows changes in volume within one recording.

The comparison

Men hauling barges along the Volga sang to coordinate each heave. Chaliapin and Fyodor Keneman arranged their work song as a piece for bass and orchestra. Chaliapin returns again and again to the same short call, building it to a shout and then letting it die away.

Tempo

Tempo map

Time taken compared with Fyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.

Time taken compared with the reference recordingEach gold line follows a performer. Above 1×, the recording takes longer over the same music. Numbered lines mark the passages below.0.25×0.5×0.75×1×1.25×1.5×1.75×2×0:000:301:001:302:002:303:001. Crescendo on the repeated call · 0:3512. Quieter phrases after the climax · 0:5523. Second crescendo · 1:3534. Diminuendo to the close · 2:454Fyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng (reference)Fyodor Chaliapin, Albert Coates
The reference recording’s clock runs left to right. Each line is smoothed over about eight seconds; pauses can create peaks. Numbers mark the passages below.
  • Fyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng · reference
  • Fyodor Chaliapin, Albert Coates
Passages

Passages compared

Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.

  1. 01

    Crescendo on the repeated call

    0:35 in the reference

    The bass gives the repeated call more force, and the short phrases build into one long swell.

  2. 02

    Quieter phrases after the climax

    0:55 in the reference

    Chaliapin reaches the top of the crescendo, then sings the next phrases more quietly while the orchestra continues beneath him.

  3. 03

    Second crescendo

    1:35 in the reference

    The repeated call grows louder again. The bass holds the rise across successive phrases.

  4. 04

    Diminuendo to the close

    2:45 in the reference

    The voice grows quieter, and the last calls die away into the orchestral accompaniment.

Durations

Length of each recording

  1. Fyodor Chaliapin, George W. Byng3:21
  2. Fyodor Chaliapin, Albert Coates3:23

These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.

Performers and sessions

Recording notes

Sources & method

Further reading

How the recordings are matched

The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.

  • Fyodor Chaliapin, Albert Coates: match score 0.940. Matched passages available.

Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.