Your basket:
There are no items in your basket.
Use the Buy? buttons across the site.
The following discounts will be applied:
over £20 for 10% discount on whole order
over £40 for 15% discount on whole order
over £60 for 25% discount on whole order
(P&P free on almost all orders.)
Bookmark and Share
Click album cover to view larger version
Christ in Majesty.
Russian ikon from the first half of the 15th century
CDA66928


View sleeve notes/artwork (PDF)
Recording details: October 1996
All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: May 1997
Total duration: 76 minutes 55 seconds

'Sensitive readings of the utmost sensitivity and control' (Gramophone)

'Uniformly charismatic performances. Fine engineering and notes too. Highly recommended' (Fanfare, USA)

Ikon
Sacred Choral Music from Eastern Europe
Holst Singers, Stephen Layton (conductor)
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
Three Choruses from Tsar Feodor Ioannovich  Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998)
1
No 1: Molitva 'Prayer' 'Bogoroditse Devo, raduysia 'Rejoice, O virgin Mother of God''  [3'48]
with James Bowman (countertenor)
2
No 2: Liubov sviataya 'Sacred love' 'Tï, liubov sviataya 'Thou, O sacred love''  [3'25]
3
No 3: Pokayannïy stih 'A verse of repentance' 'Okayannïy i ubogiy cheloveche! 'O miserable and wretched man!''  [2'36]
Pesni Bezvremenya 'Songs of troubled times'  Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998)
4
No 1: Osen' 'Autumn' 'Tam neba osvetlionnïy kray 'Yonder the luminous edge of the sky''  [2'09]
5
No 2: Yasnïye polia 'Bright fields' 'Fsiudu yasnost' Bozhïya, yasnïye polia 'All around is God's own brightness, bright fields!''  [1'26]
6
No 3: Vesna i koldun 'Spring and the sorcerer' 'Na vesennem puti f teremok 'On springtime's passage to the maiden cloister''  [4'17]
7
No 4: Ikona 'The ikon' 'Vot On – Hristos f tsepiah i rozah 'Here he is – Christ in chains and roses''  [5'02]
with James Bowman (countertenor)
Liturgy No 2, Op 29  Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)
8
Movement: Kheruvimskaya Pesnya 'The Cherubic Hymn' 'Izhe heruvimï, tayno obrazuyushche 'Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim''  [3'56]
9
Svete tihiy 'Radiant Light'  [3'20]  Victor Kalinnikov (1870-1927)
Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op 41  Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
10
No 06: Tebe poem 'We praise you'  [3'10]
Liturgy No 2, Op 29  Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)
11
Movement: Veruyu 'The Creed'  [4'15]
with James Bowman (countertenor)
Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op 41  Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
12
No 03: Kheruvimskaya pesnya 'The Cherubic Hymn' 'Izhe heruvimï, tayno obrazuyushche 'Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim''  [5'38]
Liturgy No 2, Op 29  Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)
13
Movement: Otche nash 'Our Father'  [5'30]
14
Blazheni, yazhe izbral 'Blessed are they, whom thou hast chosen'  [4'13]  Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
15
Magnificat  [6'27]  Arvo Pärt (b1935)
16
Totus tuus, Op 60 'Maria!'  [11'02]  Henryk Górecki (b1933)
17
Immortal Bach 'Komm, süsser Tod!'  [6'41]  Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) & Knut Nystedt (b1915)
James Bowman regards this disc as the most inspiring he has recently recorded; and the Managing Director of Musica Russica writes: 'I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project ... I hope this will not be the last recording of Russian music by the excellent Holst Singers!'

The tradition of Russian choral music stands today as rich and diverse as at any time in its long history, and this recording brings movements from the Liturgies by Tchaikovsky and Gretchaninov together with seven beautiful pieces by Georgy Sviridov, including three Sacred Choruses which he successfully steered through Communist prohibition under the guise of incidental music for the theatre.

As an appendix, works by Górecki, Pärt and Nystedt show how the Orthodox tradition has affected neighbouring countries (Poland, Estonia and Sweden, respectively); Immortal Bach is a particularly evocative work - a 'free' exploration of Bach's chorale 'Komm, süsser Tod'.