Rachmaninoff: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31

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In this recording, the excellent Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir sings not only with exemplary tuning and purity of tone – with just a touch of vibrato in the sopranos – but with a degree... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2022, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 4th Mar 2022
Catalogue No: BIS2571
Label: BIS
Length: 58 minutes

International Classical Music Awards

2023

Nominated - Choral Music

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Rachmaninoff: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 31

Work length58:58

$18.00

$23.40

$31.50

Raul Mikson (tenor), Olari Viikholm (bass), Maria Valdmaa (soprano)
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Kaspars Putniņš

No. 1, The Great Litany

Track length0:44

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$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Track length3:45

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$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, Glory to the Father - Only-Begotten Son

Track length2:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 4, In Thy Kingdom

Track length4:56

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$1.75

No. 5, Come, Let Us Worship

Track length1:27

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No. 6, O Lord, Save the Pious - Holy God

Track length2:37

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No. 7, The Augmented Litany

Track length4:27

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No. 8, The Cherubic Hymn

Track length4:56

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No. 9, The Litany of Supplication

Track length0:48

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No. 10, The Creed

Track length6:35

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No. 11, The Eucharistic Prayer

Track length6:16

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No. 12, We Hymn Thee

Track length2:37

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No. 13, Hymn to the Mother of God

Track length2:58

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No. 14, The Lord's Prayer

Track length4:47

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No. 16, Praise the Lord from the Heavens

Track length2:18

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No. 17, Blessed Is He - We Have Seen the True Light

Track length1:23

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No. 18, Let Our Mouths Be Filled

Track length3:36

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No. 19, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord - No. 20, Many Years

Track length2:08

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"The music of the Russian Orthodox Church was an essential part of Sergei Rachmaninov’s musical background. As a boy he was deeply moved by the sound of St Petersburg’s cathedral choirs, and phrases reminiscent of liturgical chant permeate his music. His Vespers has long been admired as a summit of Russian liturgical music. It has unfortunately tended to overshadow the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, his earlier large-scale sacred composition. Named after the fourth-century Archbishop of Constantinople and Church Father, the Liturgy consists of a sequence of prayers, psalms and hymns, which are sung or chanted by the different participants in the service. Rachmaninov did not make use of any existing chants (as he would later do in his Vespers), but chose to reflect their style and spirit with music entirely of his own. The sonorities he creates is rarely achieved by plain four-part writing: instead the voices are frequently divided, solos emerge from the choir, and the range of textures shows great imagination. The Liturgy is here performed in the warm acoustics of the Niguliste Church in Tallinn by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir –listed among the ten best choirs in the world by the BBC Music Magazine in 2020 – conducted by Kaspars Putniņš."

Reviews

May 2022

In this recording, the excellent Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir sings not only with exemplary tuning and purity of tone – with just a touch of vibrato in the sopranos – but with a degree of warmth and expression to make this a truly touching and uplifting performance.

May 2022

The Estonians are absolutely at home with this repertoire, and Kaspars Putniņš knows, as always, exactly how to shape the music so that one section relates to another and there is always a sense of a dramatic curve.

Rachmaninoff: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31

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