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9001
Hymns and Chants of the Russian Orthodox Church
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The contribution by the great tenor, Nicolai
Gedda, himself a member of the Russian Orthodox Church,
is the outstanding feature of this recording. His interpretation
of the liturgical repertoire -which in the Russian church
is always unaccompanied - and the richness of his voice
blending with the choir produces a remarkable effect. With
his help this recording illustrates a particular role given
to a soloist within the structure of the Orthodox liturgy:
namely, the singing of the Exapostilarion. This is a short
chant at the end of the Matins which poetically summarises
the event commemorated in the service, and was traditionally
sung by a single musician standing in the middle of the
church. Although this practice has largely fallen into disuse
in the Russian Church (the exapostilarion being either sung
by the choir, or chanted in a monotone by a reader), a number
of traditional melodies are still extant and have been harmonized
by modern composers for choir. Two of these are included
on the present recording (Tracks 6 and 14): the third exapostilarion
(Track 12) is an original composition. All three have been
specially adapted for soloist and choir on this recording.
Nicolai Gedda also lends his voice to a Nunc Dimittis based
on an old Russian melody in the Dorian mode (Track 12),
and to a chant sung here by the male section of the choir,
as used during a monastic procession (Track 4).
Another feature of this recording is the use of traditional
melodies which, like Russian ikons and |
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| N |
TRACK NAME |
LENGTH |
| 1 |
Our Father (Rimsky-Korsakov: Kastorsky) |
1'22 |
| 2 |
Razboynika: Exapostilarion on Good Friday (Lissitsyn)
Soloist: Nicolai Gedda
|
5'13 |
| 3 |
Dostoyno Vest: Hymn to the Mother of God, Kiev chant
(Harmonised Kastorsky) |
1'32 |
| 4 |
Obyatia Otcha: Sedalion, Sunday of the Prodigal
Son, monastic chant (Harmonised Lvovksy), Soloist:
Nicolai Gedda |
2'44 |
| 5 |
Cherubic Hymn No. 9 (Lomakin) |
4'10 |
| 6 |
Apostoli: Exapostilarion, Dormition of the Mother
of God, traditional chant (Harmonised Lvovsky), Soloist:
Nicolai Gedda |
1'59 |
| 7 |
Bogoroditse Devo: Hail, Mother of God, Greek Chant
(Harmonised Kastorsky) |
2'10 |
| 8 |
Krestu Tvoyemu: Troparion to the Holy Cross (Goncharov) |
1'57 |
| 9 |
Ne Imamy: Prayer to the Mother of God, old chant
(Harmonised Kastorsky) |
1'30 |
| 10 |
Kto Boh Veliy: Prokeimenon at Pentecost (Lirin) |
2'06 |
| 11 |
Dostoyno Vest: Hymn to the Mother of God (Tchesnokov) |
1'45 |
| 12 |
Nyne Otpushchayeshi: Nunc Dimittis, old chant (Harmonised
Kastorsky - Soloist: Nicolai Gedda
|
2'28 |
| 13 |
Vzabrannoy: Kondak to the Mother of God, Greek chant
(Harmonised Kastorsky) |
1'16 |
| 14 |
Ones Vesna: Putevoy chant (Harmonised von Gardner)
- Soloist: Nicolai Gedda
|
3'16 |
| 15 |
Psalm 104: Greek chant (Harmonised Lvovsky) - |
4'20 |
| 16 |
Beatitudes: Traditional chant (Mironositsky) - |
4'02 |
| 17 |
O Preslavnago Chudese: Idiomelos for the Holy Cross,
tone 8 (Harmonised Kastalsky) |
1'49 |
| 18 |
Dogmatic Psalm 141 and Dogmatic Hymn, Znamenny chant
tone 4 (Harmonised Kastalsky) |
5'39 |
| 19 |
Mnogaya Leta (Trad.: Bortnianski: Grechaninov) |
1'57 |
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medieval churches, are part of the rich spiritual
and cultural heritage of Russian history.
The most important and venerable chant is the Znamenny,
which has a history of some seven centuries, reaching its
zenith in the 16th century, but losing most of its impetus
in the 17th century, and being practically forgotten by
the 18th. Between the 17th and 18th centuries several lesser
chants appeared and developed: the Kiev chant, the Greek
chant, and a number of local and monastic chants. Here the
melodic phrases are considerably shorter, simpler, and more
repetitive than in the Znamenny and can, consequently, be
sung from memory, not only by quite modest church choirs,
but impressively by entire congregations with no musical
training and without the help of a hymn book. In the last
two or three centuries these melodies came into regular
use, often harmonized by one of the more talented choir
masters. A. V. Kastorsky, a gifted singing teacher and choirmaster
in Penza in the second half of the 19th century, wrote the
simpler versions for four part choir on this disc (Tracks
3, 7, 9, and 13). More elaborate and artistic are the settings
by G. T. Lvovsky (1830-1894) who often, as in Psalm 104
(Track 15), in order to render more tellingly the words
of the Psalm, gives each verse a suitably altered descriptive
harmony. At the start of the 20th century the Znamenny chant
and its large number of melodies attracted considerable
interest in Moscow, and a number of dedicated scholars and
composers undertook their restoration and harmonization.
Foremost among them was A. D. Kastalsky (1856-1926) whose
novel and professedly un-western manner of harmonizing a
traditional melody of the Znamenny chant appears here (Track
18), while an example of his treatment of a lesser chant
is to be heard on Track 17, where he takes full advantage
of the vocal qualities and structure of a Russian choir
by giving the melody to the basses while the three remaining
parts sing a descant, a sort of running commentary on the
text.
In the same style of the Moscow school is the Exapostilarion
chant, harmonized by J. von Gardner in 1968. The setting
of the Beatitudes (Track 16) has an interesting story behind
it. The melody was heard and noted down by a collector of
folk music at the turn of the century when he found himself
in the presence of a band of blind pilgrims who spent their
lives going from monastery to monastery, praying, and singing
their own traditional brand of liturgical chant. Rimsky-Korsakov's
setting of the Lord's Prayer (simplified by Kastorsky) has
a traditional flavour and is sometimes sung by whole congregations.
The remaining five free compositions on this disc may be
broadly ascribed to the western style prevalent in Russia
in the 19th century (those by Lomakin, Goncharov, and Lirin),
and to the more recent national style (those of Lissitsyn
and Tchesnokov).
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