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Old 09-23-2018, 10:13 AM   #87 (permalink)
Aux-In
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Sergei Rachmaninoff - Vespers (All-Night Vigil), for alto, tenor & chorus, Op. 37



Genre: Classical, Romanticism
Year: 1986
Place of Origin: USSR/Russian Federation
General Pace: Sounds like cathedral music

The Dude: Rachmaninoff = Russian composer guy who would eventually come to the United States, where he continued to perform until his death in 1943. There's tons about him on his Wikipedia page.

The Skinny: The original RYM listing was of the 1998 album version by the Saint Petersburg Capella, conducted by Vladislav Chernushenko. I went with the easier to find 1986 version performed by the USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir, which was conducted by Valeri Polyansky and recorded at Smolensk, Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral. There are some translation issues between releases on the song titles and the spelling of the composer's name.

The Music: Essentially this is church music designed to fill large halls and light up any of the souls it touches. It maintains operatic chants and atmospheric vibes which are contrasted between more thoughtful, slower-paced compositions. This performance gets a little bombastic in places if that's something you prefer in your classical selections. Now, if you want deep-cut analysis, the YouTube comments will be better than my write-up due to the fact that they're posted by people who are more familiar with the in and outs of this type of music.

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