This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zapX8PCln9o
is one of the best recordings of Chaliapin I've heard, I think. You get a real feeling of what his timbre and range must have been like in RL.
('Wotta guy; makes you cry-')
Atcually, this YouTube poster, 'Eva Hartwig' has lot of very impressive recordings online, of the lovely Feodor and other golden age masters. quite unusual, some of them, and gorgeous. Bless her for her generosity.
OMG, the boiler/meter man is here, and he's weird.....