The voice of the artist Yuri Gulyaev, often heard on the radio, could not be confused with another. Penetration combined with masculinity, beautiful timbre and strength captivated the listeners.
The singer managed to express the emotional experiences of people, their anxieties and hopes. He chose topics that reflected the fate and love of many generations of Russian people.
People's Artist Yuri Gulyaev
Yuri Gulyaev received the title of People's Artist of the USSR at the age of 38. Contemporaries admired his natural charm, which, combined with a magnificent voice, attracted everyone's attention to him. His concert repertoire consisted of songs loved by the people.
Gulyaev's smile, his manner of singing won hearts. The lyrical baritone that he possessed was deep, strong and at the same time restrained, with a special and slightly sad intonation of a man who had experienced a lot.
Yuri Gulyaev was born in 1930 in Tyumen. His mother, Vera Fedorovna, was a musically gifted person, she sang, taught popular songs and romances with her children. But her son Yuri, who had remarkable abilities, was not prepared for an artistic career.
Playing the button accordion at a music school was a hobby for the boy, and not preparation for the profession of a musician. Probably, he would have become a doctor if not for classes in amateur performances. He liked to sing, and the leaders advised him to start studying vocals at the Sverdlovsk Conservatory.
Songs about courageous people
Many people born in the Soviet Union remember perfectly the songs of Alexandra Pakhmutova performed by Yuri Gulyaev. In these compositions we are talking about genuine admiration and appreciation for a life associated with professional risk.
Fine verses and melodiousness were combined with Gulyaev's performing art. Such was the cycle "Gagarin's Constellation" and other songs dedicated to people conquering the sky. Among them: "Eaglets learn to fly", "Embracing the sky with strong hands ...".
But Gulyaev sang not only about pilots and astronauts. Soulful songs were dedicated to builders, installers and pioneers. The romance of the blue taiga was the background for a harsh story about hard but necessary work.
"LEP-500" is an unforgettable, sincere song about ordinary guys working in winter quarters, without comfort and communication with loved ones. For this song alone, you can bow low to the authors and the singer. And Gulyaev had many such beautiful songs.
“Tired Submarine”, “Song of Anxious Youth” are hymns to people who created and defended their country. And Yuri Gulyaev sang them not as bravura marches, but as a confidential monologue of a person who knows the real value of all achievements and successes.
Folk and pop songs
Gulyaev combined a soulful performance of Russian folk songs, romances and modern pop songs written by the best Soviet composers. In Gulyaev's repertoire, they sounded completely natural, one could feel the inextricable link between the desperate, courageous Russian spirit of past and current generations.
“A blizzard sweeps along the street” and “Russian Field”, “There is a cliff on the Volga” and “At an unnamed height”. Gulyaev's voice magically revived and restored this connection, passing through the centuries. To the verses of his beloved poet, Sergei Yesenin, the singer wonderfully performed the compositions: “Honey, let's sit next to you”, “Queen”, “Letter to mother” ...
Gulyaev sang songs dedicated to the war in such a way that the listeners involuntarily cried. These are the compositions: “Farewell, Rocky Mountains”, “Cranes”, “Do Russians Want Wars” ...
And the romances of M. Glinka, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Rachmaninov sounded fresh, reverent in Yuri Gulyaev, leaving no one indifferent. They had feelings that do not leave people at all times.
operatic baritone
Yury Gulyaev became a soloist of the opera theater immediately after graduating from the conservatory. By the end of the training, they finally determined that he was a baritone, not a tenor. Since 1954, he worked in the country's opera houses - in Sverdlovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv. And since 1975 - at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
His repertoire included many leading roles from famous operas. These are "Eugene Onegin", "The Barber of Seville", "Faust", "Carmen", etc. Gulyaev's voice was heard by vocal lovers in dozens of countries - the singer repeatedly toured.
Yuri Alexandrovich Gulyaev performed works by other authors, but he himself had the talent of a composer. He wrote music for songs and romances in which love and tenderness sounded.
The fate of the singer Yuri Gulyaev
It is a pity that the singer left his fans and family very early. He died at the age of 55 due to cardiac arrest. Orphaned close people - wife and son Yuri. One of the dramatic pages in the life of a famous singer is the congenital ailment of his son, who had to be overcome every day. The younger Yuri was able to courageously cope with his illness, becoming a professional teacher, a candidate of philosophical sciences.
Yury Alexandrovich Gulyaev is reminded by a memorial plaque on the wall of a Moscow house, street names in Donetsk and in his homeland - in Tyumen. In 2001, a small planet was named after him.
Those who want to learn new things not only about the talent of Russian singers, but also to feel the special facets of the Russian soul, should watch documentaries about Yuri Gulyaev and listen to recordings of his compositions. Everyone will find their own, sincere - about love, about courage, about a feat, about the homeland.
