Dimitri Stepanovitch Bortnianski (1751-1825)
Hymne des Chérubins
Psaume 137, concerto sacré pour 2 chœurs n° 104
Psaume 112, concerto sacré pour 2 chœurs n° 105
Psaume 45, concerto sacré pour 2 chœurs n° 106

Anonyme (Russie, 17e siècle)
Stichère de Pâques

Vasily Polikarp Titov (?1650-?1715)
Hymne des chérubins

Stepan Degtyaryov (1766-1813)
Let all the peoples
Hymne des Chérubins

Artemi Lukyanovich Vedel (?1772-?1808)
Peaceful Light
Psaume 136 "By the waters of Babylon"

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski (1840-1893)
Liturgie de St. Jean Chrysostome, op. 41

Alexander Grechaninov (1864-1956)
Come, let us bow before the Lord
Praise the Lord
Trisagion
Multos annos
Let all the earth praise the Lord
Praise the name of the Lord

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859-1935)
This day all peaples bless the name of the Lord
My soul, bless the Lord

Alexandr Kastalsky (1856-1926)
The Only-Begotten Son
Appeal of the Patriarch Hermogenes to the Insurgent in 1609
Tropary to the Holy Martyr Hermogenes
Thou who wert announced in the psalms 2
nunc dimittis
Since my youth many passion assail me
Tropary for the Feast of the christianization of Russia
Multos annos
Christ is risen

Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944)
The Good Thief
Since my youth
Mother of God
Arise, O God
Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight, op. 24/6
Eternal Counsel, op. 40/2
Let us pray to the holy Virgin, op. 43/5
On the bed of Suffering, op. 45/1
Make haste to intercede, op. 45/4
Psaume 103 "Praise the Lord, O my soul"
Lord, save my people
The Good Thief

Alexander Nikolsky (1874-1943)
Praise the Name of the Lord

Nikolai Golovanov (1891-1953)
Hymne des Chérubins
Six Chants, op. 1

Konstantin Shvedov (1886-1954)
The Great Litany
The Beatitudes
The Creed
It is meet

Nikolai Kedrov (1871-1940)
Our Father

Dobri Hristov (1875-1941)
Praise the Name of the Lord

Alexey Kosolapov (20e siècle)
Confirm, O Lord

Georgy Izvekov (1874-1937)
Relieve my suffering, Mother of God (arr. G. Smirnov)

Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski (1886-1971)
Great doxology (arr. G. Smirnov)

Viktor Kalinnikov (1870-1927)
We sing unto thee

Yan Burakovsky (1965-1982)
Ave Maria

Valery Kalistratov (1942-)
Lord, cleanse me of my sins

Nikolai Karetnikov (1930-1994)
Huit choeurs sacrées à la mémoire de Boris Pasternak

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
les Vêpres, op. 37

Irina Arkhipova, mezzo-soprano
Olga Borusene, soprano
Yuri Korinnyk, ténor
Mykhaylo Tyshchenko, ténor
Yurlov Academic Choir
Stanislav Gusev, direction
National Choir of Ukraine "Dumka"
Yevhen Savchuk, direction
The Orthodox Singers Male Choir
Georgy Smirnov, direction
Rybin Male choir
Valery Rybin, direction
Valery Kalistratov, direction
Nikolai Karetnikov, direction

Que rêver de mieux pour l'aficionado de musique religieuse russe que cette collection de six disques initiée par Brillant Classics de pages liturgiques de tradition orthodoxe proposant les compositeurs attendus (Tchaïkovski, Rachmaninov) mais aussi de nombreux noms beaucoup moins documentés. La Liturgie Op.41 du premier et les Vêpres du second n'apporteront rien de bien nouveau au mélomane sinon l'idiomatique et sage lecture datée de 2001 du Chœur National Académique d’Ukraine « Dumka ». En revanche Les Concertos Sacrés de Bortniansky qui ouvrent le coffret, judicieusement complétés par quelques de compositeurs de la même époque, bénéficient de l'approche autorisée du Chœur Yurlov. Plus exaltants encore, les deux volumes intitulés Chants Sacrés à Moscou reprennent des enregistrements réalisés par le Rybin Male Choir pour le Chant du Monde entre 1990 et 1991. Les œuvres de Gretchaninov, Chesnokov et Golovanov, Kastalsky et Ippolitov-Ivanov sont restituées avec un savant mélange de simplicité et de noblesse. Écoutez seulement les quelques minutes du We sing unto thee signé Kalinnikov. Un pur bijou. On découvrira aussi parmi ces trésors indémodables les noms des représentants « modernes » de cette tradition séculaire, les compositeurs Valery Kalistratov et Nikolai Karetnikov au langage authentique mais émancipé de toute convention. Un coffret passionnant proposé à prix doux ! (Jérôme Angouillant)

A history of Russian Orthodox sacred music from the ‘Moscow Baroque’ to the present day, including many rare and long unavailable recordings. During the past century Russian Orthodox vocal music has experienced two periods of rebirth. The first, which began in the last years of the 19th century, consisted of a return to the popular sources of religious chant in the znamenny chant tradition passed down from its origins in ancient Byzantine chant and maintained by churches and choirs across Russia until the 17th century, when rulers such as Catherine the Great began to look westwards for cultural identity. Composers such as Kastalsky, Chesnokov and Grechaninov repudiated the Italian and French influences which had shaped the work of Classical and Romantic-era composers such as the Sacred Concertos of Bortniansky. repudiated the Italian and French influences which had shaped the work of Classical and Romantic-era composers such as the Sacred Concertos of Bortniansky. This renaissance was foreshadowed by Tchaikovsky’s setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in 1878 – in its time a controversial work, rejected by the Church – and reached its zenith with the two sacred cycles by Rachmaninoff: another setting of the Liturgy and then his religious masterpiece, the Vespers (All Night Vigil) of 1915. Once more suppressed by the 1917 Revolution, an authentic strain of Russian sacred music had to wait until the era of glasnost in the late 1980s and early 90s Rybin Male Choir could once more be formed to sing and record the repertoire that is their country’s musical inheritance, and most of these recordings date from the early 90s, first released on the ‘Saison Russe’ imprint for its renewal. Ensembles such as the of the Chant du Monde label, long unavailable and now reissued here for the first time. As well as the composers mentioned above, the box surveys many lesser-known figures, mostly from the pre-Revolutionary era such as Alexander Nikolsky, Nikolai Kedrov and Konstantin Shvedov, as well as the Six Chants Op.1 by a figure more familiar as an inspirational conductor, Nikolai Golovanov. The Eight Sacred Choruses in Memory of Boris Pasternak represent the work of the dissident composer Nikolai Karetnikov, and the survey comes up to date with the figures of Yan Burakovsky, a tragically short-lived pupil of Alfred Schnittke who died in 1983, and Valery Kalistratov, born in 1942. The set is a unique, compact but comprehensive survey of a musical genre revealed to be much more various than its conventional associations with low basses and dirge-like hymns: an essential acquisition for any choral-music enthusiast.