Melodiya presents recordings of the outstanding Russian baritone of the 20th century Yuri Mazurok. 'I always thought Yuri Mazurok was a brilliant vocalist. His performance is an ornament to any production, on any of the most famous operatic stages worldwide,' wrote Irina Arkhipova about him. 'The singer’s voice as resilient as a string, his beautiful sound, his entire posture contain nobleness, honour and many other virtues of his operatic heroes – counts, princes and knights. It determines his artistic individuality.' The graduate of the Moscow Conservatory was accepted in the opera company of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1963 and instantly won the hearts of the connoisseurs and lovers of music with a bright and deep interpretation of Eugene Onegin’s part in Tchaikovsky’s opera. He performed the part of Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace at Milan’s La Scala where the Bolshoi performed for the first time. Those roles, as well as Figaro, Germont, Yeletsky, Escamillo and many others became his hallmarks. Yuri Mazurok mastered over thirty parts of the lyrical and dramatic repertoire during his nearly 40-year performing career at the Bolshoi. As a performer of European opera, he was in demand on the world’s best stages (Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera), and his concert repertoire was enormous. The featured recordings were made by Yuri Mazurok with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra conducted by Mark Ermler in the 1970’s when, in the public’s and critics’ unanimous opinion, his vocal art achieved the peak of musical and dramatic expressiveness.