Valery Popov

Valery Popov (born 9 September 1937) is a Russian bassoonist, described as the foremost of his era in Russia in his Grove Music Online entry.

Biography Popov was born on 9 September 1937 in Moscow. Valery Popov at first studied the trumpet, switching to the bassoon in 1957.

In 1959, he joined the Opera-Symphony State Radio and Television orchestra. In 1960 he graduated from the Musical College (in the class of V. Gorbachov) and attended the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with R. Terekhin. and Shoot as well as the composers Yuri Levitin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mikhail Alekseyev, Lev Knipper, Edison Denisov and Alfred Schnittke have all written works for the bassoon dedicated to him.

Popov has taught at the Moscow Conservatory since 1971, A review of concertos by Danzi, Vivaldi and Hummel for American Record Guide describes Popov's playing as "fluid and fluent", with "warm and resonant" tone and "superb" technique. The music critic Donald Vroon in an American Record Guide comparison of recordings of Mozart's bassoon concerto describes his playing as being rather romantic, with "a round, fat tone".

A review in Fanfare praises Popov's 1976 recording of Jolivet's bassoon concerto, and states that he "deftly skates the thin ice between comic and soulful". Another review of the same recording in American Record Guide describes his breath control in the high register as "impressive". Comparing recordings of Denisov's Sonata for Solo Bassoon, Ronald E. Grames prefers Katarzyna Zdybel's performance, considering that Popov is "hard pressed at times to make it sound like more than exercises".