Tchaikovsky: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Tchaikovsky's liturgical settings have never quite caught the popular imagination which has followed Rachmaninov's (his All-Night Vigil, at any rate). They are generally more inward, less concerned... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: CDA66948
Label: Hyperion
Length: 74 minutes

Tchaikovsky: Nine Sacred Choruses (1884 / 5)

Album only

Corydon Singers
Matthew Best

Tchaikovsky: Angel vopiyashe 'The Angel Cried Out'

Album only

Corydon Singers
Matthew Best

Tchaikovsky: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 41

Album only

Corydon Singers
Matthew Best

About
Reviews
Explore

About

'There is nothing like entering a church on a Saturday, standing in the semi-darkness with the scent of incense wafting through the air, lost in deep contemplation searching for an answer to those perennial questions, wherefore, when, whither and why?' These words, from one of Tchaikovsky's own letters, sum up the spirit behind the glorious Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op 41. The work is steeped in the Orthodox tradition, the choral writing provides that sense of transparency and simplicity demanded by the text, and the resulting ambience is rich in the manner familiar to Western listeners from works such as Rachmaninov's Vespers. This recording also includes ten choruses to texts many of which are taken from the Liturgy. The first nine were published together in 1885, while the tenth, 'The angel cried', was lost shortly after its first performance in 1887 and only rediscovered thirteen years after the composer's death.

Reviews

2010

Tchaikovsky's liturgical settings have never quite caught the popular imagination which has followed Rachmaninov's (his All-Night Vigil, at any rate). They are generally more inward, less concerned with the drama that marks Orthodox celebration than with the reflective centre which is another aspect. Rachmaninov can invite worship with a blaze of delight, setting 'Pridite'; Tchaikovsky approaches the mystery more quietly.
Yet there's a range of emotion which emerges vividly in this admirable record of the Liturgy together with a group of the minor liturgical settings which he made at various times in his life. His ear for timbre never fails him. It's at its most appealing, perhaps, in the lovely 'Da ispravitsya' for female trio and answering choir, beautifully sung here; he can also respond to the Orthodox tradition of rapid vocalisation, as in the Liturgy's Creed and in the final 'Blagosloven grady' (in the West, the Benedictus).
Anyone who still supposes that irregular, rapidly shifting rhythms were invented by Stravinsky should give an ear to his Russian sources, in folk poetry and music but also in the music of the Church.
Matthew Best's Corydon Singers are old hands at Orthodox music, and present these beautiful settings with a keen ear for their texture and 'orchestration'. The recording was made in an (unnamed) ecclesiastical acoustic of suitable resonance, and sounds well.

Tchaikovsky: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom

Downloads

Contents

Download queue