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Rachmaninov: Vespers

Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo-soprano), Rafał Bartmiński (tenor), Krzysztof Drugow (bass)

Choir of The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic, Violetta Bielecka

Rachmaninov’s work was first performed to help the Russian war effort in 1915 and it has an intriguingly bracing air in this new interpretation, which won’t be to every taste but which scores...

Rachmaninov: Vespers

Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo-soprano), Rafał Bartmiński (tenor), Krzysztof Drugow (bass)

Choir of The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic, Violetta Bielecka

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Rachmaninov’s work was first performed to help the Russian war effort in 1915 and it has an intriguingly bracing air in this new interpretation, which won’t be to every taste but which scores...

About

Vespers – a cycle of religious services celebrated by the followers of the Orthodox Church on the eve of all feasts and each Little Pascha - i.e. Sunday. Vechernya, povecherye and utrenya are celebrated from evening to dawn. Among numerous composers who have developed the text of Vespers, it is Sergey Rachmaninoff that stands out due to the mastery of form. Carefully selected sounds of discreetly modern harmony render the acoustics of an Eastern Orthodox temple. Changes of cast (from three to eleven voices) and polychorality depict a sui generis theatrical nature of Orthodox church ceremonies whose action evolves on a few levels, in different space points of the temple. It is particularly the sonorous, crystalline registers of female voices that contrast and perfectly combine with the male voices, among which the basso profondo basses, rarely found in the Western culture, have a profound meaning. The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir, also due to its artistic level, guarantees the highest performance level of this kind of music in Poland.

Contents and tracklist

All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 1, O Come, Let Us Worship
Track length2:25
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 2, Praise the Lord, O My Soul
Track length6:24
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 3, Blessed Is the Man
Track length4:27
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 4, Gladsome Light
Track length2:49
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 5, Nunc Dimittis
Track length3:21
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 6, Ave Maria
Track length2:45
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 7, Glory Be to God
Track length2:44
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 8, Praise Be the Name of the Lord
Track length2:00
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 9, Blessed Be the Lord
Track length6:00
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 10, The Veneration of the Cross
Track length3:17
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 11, Magnificat
Track length6:12
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 12, Gloria in Excelsis
Track length6:18
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 13, The Day of Salvation
Track length1:53
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 14, Christ Is Risen
Track length3:05
All-night Vigil, Op. 37 "Vespers": No. 15, The the Mother of God
Track length1:22

Awards and reviews

March 2019

Rachmaninov’s work was first performed to help the Russian war effort in 1915 and it has an intriguingly bracing air in this new interpretation, which won’t be to every taste but which scores high for bright, accurate singing (full marks to the soloists) and sympathetic accompaniment.

July 2018

The dramatic momentum never lets up, and this is an extremely important element in any performance of this work: it is all too easy to emphasise the importance of individual sections at the expense of the sense of the whole, and this Bielecka and her singers are careful never to do.
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