Valentin Silvestrov - Sacred Works - ECM: 4763316 - download

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Here is a ravishing collection of a cappella choral works by the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov that perfectly illustrates his own description of his music as “a response to and an echo of what... — Michael Quinn, bbc.co.uk, 18th December 2009 More…

Release Date: 2nd Nov 2009
Catalogue No: 4763316
Label: ECM
Series: New Series
Length: 75 minutes

Sylvestrov: Liturgical chants

Work length40:50

$13.20

$18.00

Oleksander Biloshapka (vocalist), Victor Sachok (vocalist), Ernest Biekirov (vocalist), Roman Puchko (vocalist), Taras Mudrak (vocalist), Petro Biletskij (vocalist), Victoria Zabolotska (vocalist), Tetiana Havrylenko (vocalist), Petro Hrekov (vocalist)
Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. Litany

Track length7:47

$1.10

$1.50

2. Four Spiritual Songs: Christmas Song

Track length1:36

$1.10

$1.50

3. Four Spiritual Songs: Dithyrambic Song

Track length1:27

$1.10

$1.50

4. Four Spiritual Songs: Cherubic Song

Track length1:20

$1.10

$1.50

5. Four Spiritual Songs: Alleluia

Track length1:43

$1.10

$1.50

6. Bless O Lord

Track length3:59

$1.10

$1.50

7. O Holy God

Track length2:52

$1.10

$1.50

8. The Creed

Track length6:40

$1.10

$1.50

9. Gloria

Track length1:38

$1.10

$1.50

10. Hymn Of The Cherubs

Track length2:59

$1.10

$1.50

11. The Beatitudes

Track length6:24

$1.10

$1.50

12. Ave Maria

Track length2:25

$1.10

$1.50

Sylvestrov: Two spiritual songs

Work length5:56

$2.20

$3.00

Iryna Vasenko (vocalist)
Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. Alleluia

Track length2:36

$1.10

$1.50

2. Ave Maria

Track length3:20

$1.10

$1.50

Sylvestrov: Two spiritual chants

Work length5:51

$2.20

$3.00

Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. A Mercy Of Peace

Track length3:41

$1.10

$1.50

2. To Thee We Sing

Track length2:10

$1.10

$1.50

Sylvestrov: Two Psalms of David

Work length6:21

$2.20

$3.00

Petro Biletskij (vocalist), Roman Puchko (vocalist), Tetiana Havrylenko (vocalist)
Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. Fret Not Thyself Because Of The Ungodly (Psalm 37)

Track length3:48

$1.10

$1.50

2. O Praise God In His Sanctuary (Psalm 150)

Track length2:33

$1.10

$1.50

Sylvestrov: Diptych

Work length10:08

$2.20

$3.00

Roman Puchko (vocalist)
Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. The Lord's Prayer

Track length3:55

$1.10

$1.50

2. Testament

Track length6:13

$1.10

$1.50

Sylvestrov: Alleluia

Work length5:57

$3.30

$4.50

Oleksander Biloshapka (vocalist), Roman Puchko (vocalist)
Kyiv Chamber Choir
Mykola Hobdych
Recorded: 2007
Recording Venue: Cathedral of the Dormition, Pechersk Lavra, Kiev

1. Evening

Track length1:28

$1.10

$1.50

2. Morning

Track length1:55

$1.10

$1.50

3. Night

Track length2:34

$1.10

$1.50

About
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About

This album of sacred a cappella works from recent years - music of haunting beauty, characterised in turns by calm introspection and serene lightness - offers a fascinating addition to the wide spectrum of works by Valentin Silvestrov on ECM New Series. The imprint, recently named ‘Label of the Year’ in the 2009 Gramophone Awards, has championed the Ukrainian master (born 1937) since 2001, but Sacred Works represents a new development by the composer.

Silvestrov’s compositions for chamber choir have a uniquely transparent sound with otherwordly shifting harmonies and free timing. The pieces were written mostly in 2005/06 on the instigation of chorus master Mykola Hobdych and these ravishing performances – displaying astounding flexibility and polish – are very much “authentic”: the Kiev Chamber Choir have repeatedly studied the pieces with the composer and gave the premières of the majority.

Silvestrov’s interest in the choir came comparatively late. Partly due to conductor Mykola Hobdych’s persistent encouragement, he immersed himself more deeply in the choral world and began to study old Russian litanies. Once he had started reading them, he was so fascinated that he wrote some 40 minutes of music within two weeks. By treating the choir as an ensemble of “extremely modest” soloists and dividing the sections into small groups, Silvestrov acquires unique sonic and harmonic effects and an utmost flexibility of melody and rhythm. Its lyrical fluency and introvert tenderness brings Silvestrov’s choral writing close to his much-lauded Silent Songs, to Requiem for Larissa and his music for solo piano.

Reviews

18th December 2009

Here is a ravishing collection of a cappella choral works by the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov that perfectly illustrates his own description of his music as “a response to and an echo of what already exists”...Acutely sensitive performances by the Kiev Chamber Choir under Mykola Hobdych...ring out with crystalline beauty in the softly resonant acoustic of Kiev’s Cathedral of the Dormition.

February 2010

The opening track sets the tone for the rest of the disc, a haunting setting of the opening litany of the Divine Liturgy in which the choir "shadows" the priest's petitions… The Kiev Chamber Choir under Mykola Hobdych is in its element and the recorded sound does full justice to Silvestrov's alternately ethereal and earthy sound world.

22nd November 2009

Hypnotic and startlingly different, this music has cult potential.

Valentin Silvestrov - Sacred Works

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