PentaTone Releases The St. Petersburg Chamber Choir Performing Rachmaninovís Vespers 

Conducted By Nikolai Korniev

12-Jun-03

The Famous Recording Made By Philips Of This Work (Released In 1994) Now Re-Recorded In Surround SoundA singer who participated in the premiere recalled how closely Rachmaninov followed the rehearsals. ìI had never dreamed that I had written quite such a work,î the composer praised the performers. But the anti-religious politics of the Soviet Union and the temporary performance prohibition with regard to the music of Rachmaninov following his emigration, led to the Vigil being forgotten It was rediscovered in Russia only after the advent of Perestroika and the increasing strength of renewed religious consciousness.Rachmaninov was well qualified to connect the tradition of church music with artistic creativity, as he had spent some time deciphering ancient manuscripts of hymns under the guidance of Stepan Smolensky (1848-1909), the director of the Moscow Synodal School for Church Song and Professor of Russian Church Music History. Rachmaninov dedicated the score of his Vespers (All-Night Vigil), which he composed in January and February 1915, to the memory of this his teacher, after having already set to music the standard orthodox-liturgical form, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, in 1910.In the Russian-Orthodox church, the All-Night Vigil portrays the prayers chanted at vespers on Sundays and major feasts and consists of the Offices of the Vechernya, the Utrenya and the Pervy chas. (In the Roman-Catholic rituals, this corresponds to Vespers, Matins and Prime, as celebrated before the reformation of the liturgy by the Second Vatical Council.) As Tchaikovsky had done 33 years earlier, Rachmaninov also falls back mainly on original liturgical melodies in his composition, as published by the Holy Synod in the so-called Obichod, the first of five collective volumes of sacred chant. The composerís personal additions fit in seamlessly with the style of the original melodies, based on the eight church modes.Rachmaninov held his Vigil in high esteem. Together with the choral symphony The Bells, Op. 35 (1913, based on Poeís poem of the same title), this was his favorite work. He was especially fond of the fifth hymn (Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, Luke 2:29), which he designated for performance during his own funeral, and he quoted the ninth in 1936 in the Finale of his last symphony. The premiere (reduced by three numbers) of the Vigil, which took place on March 10, 1915 with the Moscow Synod Choir under conductor Nikolai Danilin, provided him with ìan hour of the most felicitous satisfaction.î The audience was also so enthusiastic that, despite the fact that applause was forbidden following a performance of sacred music, the work received a spontaneous ovation. Despite the turmoil caused by the war, a further four performances were immediately organized, the proceeds of which Rachmaninov turned over to various charities.