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Scene from: Holy Russia

Composer: Various
Conductor: Archimandrite Mattheus

This is the first televised journey into the monasteries and churches of Russia. The programme features two great Orthodox choirs - the Moscow Chamber Choir and the Choir of Trinity St Sergius Monastery which perform hymns of the Russian Church with the blessing of the Patriarch. This is accompanied by rich visual images of the Russian Orthodox churches of Moscow and the legendary cities of the Golden Ring with their splendid and magnificent interiors and beautiful hand-painted icons.

The Choir of Trinity St Sergius Monastery comprises 50 monk voices and the Moscow Chamber Choir, a mixed choir of 44 voices. The pieces recorded reflect the relative strengths and character of the two choirs with the Moscow Choir singing the 4/8 part works from the Titov, Bortnyansky and Rachmaninov repertoire, and the Monastery Choir performing the liturgical works more closely and traditionally associated with male voice choirs.

The programme pattern reflects the celebration of Russian Orthodox Christmas starting at the Cathedral of the Epiphany on Christmas Eve (January 6th) - The Vigil - and following with the Midnight Mass - Christ is Born. The vision expands to embrace other working and museum churches and monasteries in Moscow and its districts - with magnificent visual treasures. Appropriate Moscow Choir recordings accompany the vision and follow the appropriate liturgical order of Mass. There is a further visit to a Mass at St Nicholas of the Weavers before leaving Moscow for the Golden Ring.

This comprises a dazzling succession of holy places forming a half-moon shape from North East to East of Moscow. These ancient monastic towns include Sergiev Posad (formerly Zagorsk), Rostov, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Pereslavl, Suzdal and Vladimir. The exteriors are magnificent and the interior frescoes, icons and decoration outstanding. The choirs accompany the journey of discovery with the vision carefully complementing the music and reflecting the liturgy.

We return finally to Moscow for a visit to the Mass for the pre-communion Allelujah, the Communion hymn and the Patriarchal blessing in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. This programme not only reflects the liturgy but reveals the splendour of Russian Orthodox music and the holy places in which it was and can increasingly be heard. Recorded in Russia in January 1994.

Catalogue: 4509966272

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