Despite coming from a family of peasants and workers, as well as his image of a rude guy and the nickname “air hooligan”, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov had a good taste in music. He often listened to Russian and foreign classics — Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky, and Schumann.

The famous pilot loved music and was well-versed in it. He had an excellent memory and could instantly recognize the work that sounded on the radio and its composer, too. His favorite performers were Heinrich Neuhaus, David Oistrakh, and Lev Oborin — Chkalov could listen to them for hours on end.

Apart from that, Chkalov also gravitated toward folk songs in general and burlak songs in particular: ever since he was a child, he knew many songs that reflected the fate and history of a whole generation. Valery Chkalov liked to sing and did it a lot. According to other people’s recollections, the way he did it was very heartfelt.

The image of Chkalov performing a romance was embodied in the 1941 biopic of the same name directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. There, the pilot says to his future wife,

Interestingly enough, Chkalov’s unconfirmed flight under the Trinity Bridge in Leningrad was shown for the first time in that film.

In his book “Actors Without Makeup”, the well-known Soviet theater activist Boris Mikhailovich Filippov wrote,

Chkalov’s characteristic trait was his respectful attitude toward actors and singers. He quite seriously believed that a real actor or singer experienced no less nervous tension than he did during the most difficult flight.

After his flight through the North Pole to America, Chkalov came back with records of Piano Concerto No. 2 performed by Rachmaninoff himself, folk songs and arias performed by Chaliapin, Beethoven’s symphonies, and works by Tchaikovsky. He also brought along a table-sized radiogram.

The model of a radiogram presented in the exhibition was released in 1936 by the well-known New York-based company RCA (Radio Corporation of America). This model had five wave bands and weighed a centner.