Pavel Chesnokov - Sacred Choral Works - Teach Me Thy Statutes - SACD

Product no.: RR727SACD

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Pavel Chesnokov - Sacred Choral Works - Teach Me Thy Statutes - SACD
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MusicWeb International's 2018 Recording of The Year!

2019 Grammy Award Nominee:
• Best Choral Performance
• Producer of the Year: Blanton Alspaugh

…Pavel Chesnokov's genius… is superbly collected and recorded in the best way available. I congratulate those involved, and look forward to the next in this proposed sequence. And it is interesting to note the blessing given the cast by His Eminence, Metropolitan Longin of Saratov and Volsk, in July of 2016 in the Church of Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary. Buy it!" - John Miller, HRAudio. 5/5 for Performance and Sonics

A landmark recording of Orthodox choral music by Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944)! Conducted by Vladimir Gorbik in a gorgeous and acoustically excellent church in Saratov, Russia. Teach Me Thy Statutes skilfully unites strong musicianship with superb diction and epitomizes the best traditional culture of singing in the Russian Orthodox Church. Recorded in the Slavonic language.

Pavel Chesnokov: All-night vigil, Op. 44, Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 42

PaTRAM Institute Male Voice Choir
Vladimir Gorbik (conductor)

Reference Recordings are opening a new series of SACDs from “Patriarch Tikkon Russian – American Music Institute”, otherwise known as the PaTRAM Institute, a highly professional male group which is a collaboration of Russian and American singers. The present album is the first recording for this project. It is devoted to selections of Orthodox choral music in the Slavonic language, all by the famous Russian composer Pavel Chesnokov, whose output was about 500 choral works, 400 of which being sacred.

Chesnokov was born on October 25th 1877, in the village of Ivanovskoye in the Moscow Province. After a youth with much interest in music from the village choirmaster, Chesnokov graduated from the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing with a gold medal. After that, he worked hard by teaching at the Synodal School and directing various annual summers in Moscow and Petersburg. At the age of 36, he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1917, for composition and conducting, and after he became a choirmaster for Moscow churches. He was much appreciated for his singing and composing, but after the October Revolution of 1917, he worked as the choirmaster of Bolshoi Theatre and taught at the Moscow Ballet with other works, as long as such activity was permitted (until 1928). He died in wartime March, 1944, from a heart attack and malnutrition resulting to standing at bread queues.

This SACD album of Chesnokov could be thought as a eulogy, with a programme by conductor Vladimir Gorbik showing a radiant collection of Chesnokov’s work, including selections from very well-known sets such as “The Great Doxology”, “Cherubic Hymn” and “Only Begotten Son”; the whole set are from the “All-Night Vigil” (itself highly praised). There are 15 items in a 67:14, but the Hymns are not listed in the booklet, only the back of the case. The booklet, though, has an excellent account of each piece from Vladimir Gorbik as ‘Conductor’s Notes’, on the left page in Russian and the right in English. Texts of title, Cyrillic, transliterated and English are printed in separate vertical columns which are quite handy to use.

The recording took place at the Church of Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary, Russia. As well as I have previously mentioned, PaTRAM and two other Russian professionals; The Choir of the Moscow Representation (Podvorye) of the Holy Trinity-St.Sergius Lavra & The Hierarchal Men’s of the Saratov Diocese. This gives a total chorus of 42. The way in which conductor Vladimir Gorbic organised this large chorus produces remarkable sounds in these hymns. There are Tenor 1 (10), Tenor 2 (11), Baritone (9), Bass 1 (3), Bass 2 (4) and Basso Profundo (5). Also two soloists: Mikhail Davy – ‘Blazhen much’ and Vladimir Krasow – ‘Great Doxology’, plus ‘Mnogoletie’.

The first moments of hearing the 5.0 multi setup puts us into a large church (a photo on the back page) with carefully placed sections of the choir in front of us. High walls hold colourful paintings of Saints and icons wrapped by much gold, all of which supports a clean acoustic ideal for the beautiful Russian monastic style, aiding the singing through its fullness and richness of sonority. The first Orthodox Psalm, “Bless the Lord, O My Soul”, shows just a few of these beautiful Russian monastic styles. In this first Psalm, quiet singing of fullness and richness of sonority is the main part, with superb diction. 

The second Psalm “Blessed the Man” has a soloist (Mikhail Davydov, bass-baritone) taking the place of Man – “Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord”, and such line of each verse in rich tone is answered by the chorus in deep tones, underpinned by the five Bass profundi, whose voices go down and down like steps at the end, into silent blackness. Intensely beautiful. Going now to the final piece, ‘Salvation Is Created’, we have a powerful, virile statement, fully exuded by the whole of the chorus and magnificently directed by conductor Vladimir Gorbik, who says “Music and our emotional response to it are far beyond words”. 

Pavel Chesnokov’s genius in writing these pieces from which this album of PaTRAM Institute and Reference Recording is superbly collected and recorded in the best way available. I congratulate those involved, and look forward to the next in this proposed sequence. And it is interesting to note the blessing given the cast by His Eminence, Metropolitan Longin of Saratov and Volsk , in July of 2016 in the Church of Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary.

 

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