(The) Powers of Heaven - Orthodox Chant
A successful transplant of Orthodox staples to a smoother, Western idiom
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Baldassare Galuppi, Artemy Vedel, Giuseppe Sarti, Anonymous, Vasily Polikarpovich Titov, Nikolai Pavlovich Diletsky
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 10/2003
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMU90 7318
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(The) Hymn of the Cherubim No. 7 |
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Sacred Concertos, Movement: No. 24, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills |
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Sacred Concertos, Movement: No. 27, I cried to the Lord with my voice |
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Sacred Concertos, Movement: No. 32, Lord, make me to know mine end |
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Let My Prayer Arise, No 2 |
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer
Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Now the Powers of Heaven |
Giuseppe Sarti, Composer
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Giuseppe Sarti, Composer Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Glory/Only-Begotten Son |
Vasily Polikarpovich Titov, Composer
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor Vasily Polikarpovich Titov, Composer |
In the flesh Thou didst fall asleep |
Baldassare Galuppi, Composer
Baldassare Galuppi, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Praise the Name of the Lord |
Nikolai Pavlovich Diletsky, Composer
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Nikolai Pavlovich Diletsky, Composer Paul Hillier, Conductor |
By the rivers of Babylon (Psalm 136) |
Artemy Vedel, Composer
Artemy Vedel, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
O Most Holy Maiden Mary |
Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Paul Hillier, Conductor |
Author: David Fanning
It is the more untamed music by less familiar composers on this CD that really takes the breath away. Especially haunting in its oft-repeated archaisms is the anonymous O Most Holy Maiden Mary. Remarkable, too, are the wildly revolving sequences of Diletsky’s Praise the Name of the Lord and the Venetian-influenced antiphonal writing of Vasily Titov’s Glory/Only-Begotten Son.
Questions of authentic performance style in this repertory are vexed. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir make a more cultivated, ‘Western’ sound than some may be familiar with, or even respond to; nor can they match the fervour of Orthodox choirs that have sung this music down the generations. On the other hand that fervour can itself sound very forced and manufactured these days. Taken on their own terms the Estonians sound fully engaged, and Paul Hillier has them producing beautifully homogeneous tone throughout a wide dynamic range.
As in the first volume of this series (11/02), recording quality is warm but clear. Close-up listening reveals some traffic noise, and a couple of items start at a slightly different pitch from the end of the one before. But those are tiny defects, and on the plus side Marika Kuzma’s essay is as succinct and helpful a summary of the essence of Orthodox polyphony as I have come across.
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