Composer: Piotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Performer: Latvian Radio Choir
Conductor: Sigvards Klava
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ondine
Release: 2020
Size: 862 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
All-Night Vigil, Op. 52
01. No. 1, Bless My Soul, O Lord
02. No. 3, Kathisma. Blessed Is the Man
03. No. 4, Lord, I Call to Thee
04. No. 5, Gladsome Light
05. No. 6, Rejoice, O Virgin
06. No. 7, The Lord Is God
07. No. 8, Polyeleion. Praise the Name of the Lord
08. No. 9, Troparia. Blessed Art Thou, O Lord
09. No. 10, From My Youth
10. No. 11, Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ
11. No. 12, Common Katavasia. I Shall Open My Lips
12. No. 15, Theotokion. Both Now and Forever
13. No. 16, The Great Doxology
14. No. 17, To Thee, the Victorious Leader
15. Hymn to Cyril and Methodius
16. Legend, Op. 54, . No. 5
17. Jurists’ Song
18. Angel vopiyashe The angel cried 1887
This album presents a sequel for the award-winning album (ICMA Choral disc of the year) of Tchaikovsky’s sacred choral works by the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Sigvards Kļava. These two albums together form the composer’s complete sacred works for the choir. The All-Night Vigil Op. 52 for mixed choir, also known as the Vesper Service, was written between May 1881 and March 1882. It was first performed by the Chudovsky Chorus conducted by Pyotr Sakharov in Moscow at the concert hall of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition on 27 June 1882. Tchaikovsky described the work as ‘An essay in harmonisation of liturgical chants’. For this work the composer carefully studied the tradition of musical practice in the Russian Orthodox Church, which could vary considerably from one region to another. This beautiful, yet rarely recorded work is accompanied by four other choral works all written during the same decade: Hymn in Honour of Saints Cyril and Methodius as part of commemorations of the 1000th anniversary of the death of Saint Methodius, A Legend, originally coming from the collection Sixteen Songs for Children, Jurists’ Song, for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St Petersburg, and The Angel Cried Out, a beautiful traditional Russian Orthodox Easter hymn and Tchaikovsky’s final choral work.