Sounds of the Past: A Unique Record of Rostov Bell Rings

Recording engineer Alexei Pogarsky presented at the III International Symposium of the Academic Music Recording Industry his unique recording of Rostov bell ringings, which became the result of many years of research and experiments. Winner of the International Prize “Clean Sound” and sound engineer of the creative association Artes Mirabiles, Pogarsky shared the history of Rostov bells, their peculiarities of sound and rare recordings made by him with a team of experienced bell ringers.

The ringing of bells in ancient Russia was not just part of a religious rite, but a complex language that united people. Rostov Assumption Cathedral, built in 1689 by Metropolitan Ion, became the center of the bell tradition. In the XIX century, thanks to the talent of Archpriest Aristarchus Israel, they began to create records that became the basis for further research. In 1884, Israel published a book with a description of Rostov bells and scores of bells, which became the only surviving pre-revolutionary notation source. In 1919, thanks to the efforts of Dmitry Ushakov, director of the Rostov Kremlin, the bells were saved from destruction by the Bolsheviks.

In 1963, sound directors of the film studio them. Mm. Gorky Alexander Matveenko, Igor Urvantsev and Yuri Mikhailov, with the support of Sergei Bondarchuk, made the first sound recording of Rostov bells, and in 1967 the documentary “Seven Notes in Silence” was released. In the following years, thanks to the efforts of bell ringers (Alexander Butylin, Mikhail Uranovsky, Petr Shumilin and Nikolai Korolev), new recordings were made, which became a valuable source of information.

Difficulties in recording Rostov bells, such as incorrect timbre and the influence of ambient noise, were overcome thanks to new approaches, in particular, the use of “circular” microphones. As a result, the recording, which allowed Alexei Pogarsky to find the most effective way of recording, was awarded the prize at the First International Sound Design Competition of the Moscow State Conservatory in 2019. Pogarsky urges to visit Rostov the Great, to feel the spirit of the living tradition of Rostov bell ringing.