Dmitri Hvorostovsky - “Zhuravli (The Cranes)“ - Yan Frenkel - Alexander Shilov

Frenkel was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He was originally taught violin by his father, and later studied classical violin at the Kiev Conservatory under Yakob Magaziner . During the Second World War he was evacuated to Orenburg, where he studied at the Orenburg Zenitnoe Uchilishche, and played the violin in the orchestra of the Avrora Cinema. After the war he lived in Moscow, where he wrote orchestral arrangements and played the violin in various restaurants of the city. He began composing songs in the 1960s. His first was the song Gody (’The Years’), written to lyrics by Mark Lisianski. During his later career he worked in collaboration with many prominent Soviet musicians, including Mikhael Tanich, Igor Shaferan, and the husband and wife team Konstantin Vanshenkin and Inna Goff. Thanks to Mark Bernes his song Zhuravli (’The Cranes’, lyrics by Rasul Gamzatov) became a major hit. Frenkel gave concerts in which he performed his own music. During these concerts the audience would generally j