"Lovers of Russian choir music with a deep, mystical atmosphere will be sorely disappointed by this music. Although the lyrics are Russian and Orthodox, the melodies and vocal arrangements are Italian and some of the pieces sound like a parody of Monteverdi's Vespers of the Virgin Mary.
This is explained in the booklet that comes with the cd. It has apparently a lot to do with Peter the Great's westernization drive. He had Italian composers come over from Venice to alter the traditional church music, which he apparently deemed backwards. The result is beautiful but devoid of depth, except maybe for the fourth track, a hymn to the Virgin Mary, which sounds like a litany and is quite soothing and religious in tone.The rest is for me pure profane music only intended to please the ear."
Exquisite Singing - Interesting Music
Martha Ainsworth | New York City | 09/28/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The music on this CD is a fascinating time capsule. In 1712 Peter the Great moved the Russian capital to St. Petersburg. Opening Russia to the influences of the West, he invited European artists and craftsmen, including Italian composers, to come to Russia, and sent Russian composers to study in Italy, to learn modern techiques. Thus, this 18th century music is recognizably Italian, even that written by the Russian composers like Bortniansky. And yet, the evocative Russian Orthodox texts have inspired a uniquely spiritual depth of expression. The title work, "Now the powers of heaven" by Giuseppe Sarti, is lush and beautiful, and reminded me of the Lotti "Crucifixus".
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is wonderful. I don't normally enjoy music from this period, but their singing was so perfect it captivated me totally. Sopranos had a full sound but not much vibrato; intonation was flawless; expressive but still precise. This is the first recording of theirs I have heard. It won't be the last."
The musical splendour of St Petersburg
Sator | Sydney, Australia | 06/22/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"St Petersburg is famous for the magnificance of its architecture and this CD explore that splendour in music terms. Peter the Great drove Russia into the modern world with his modernisation drive, and without this Russia may have remained in the middle ages and certainly no match against the onslaught of tyrants such as Napoleon and Hitler.
With his modernisation drive Peter the Great brought in Western composers, mainly from Italy where the latest musical fashions were being wrought at the time. Teachers of composition would likely have used examples such as Palestrina, Lassus, Gabrielli and Josquin as examples. The teachers must have been highly conservative for Vasily Titov writes 12-part counterpoint late in the 1600's when this sort of multi-part polychoral writing was going right out fashion - clearly his Italian teachers had little time for the more avant garde trends set by the likes of Monteverdi, fadish madrigalian trends being thus noticeably absent. The results are an extraordinary mixture of Russian Orthodox stylistic tendencies with the compositional principles of the Seconda Prattica, where despite the importation of Western techniques, the very Russian compositional character comes through strongly. Titov is arguably a good a composer as Russia has ever produced.
With later composers such as Bortniansky, there seems to be a greater awareness of the latest Western trends, perhaps even those of the up-and-coming Viennese group of composers such as Haydn, although Italian composers such as Durante were still highly dominant amongst conservative circles at the time. There is certainly a hint of the gallant style entering into the writing.
This is all very rewarding music - except for those who are want to walk through the magnificant architecture of St Petersburg - such as the Hermitage, and the Petershof, bemoaning the fact that Russia didn't remain in the Middle Ages. Some of the comments seen below seem almost reminiscent of those of the oppressive Council of Trent in their Papal condemnation of gloriously rich multipart contrapunctal writing. The importation of the Spirit of the Renaissance and the new Humanism had clearly ushered a new age for Russia.
The choral singing here is truly wonderful with fine tone and intonation throughout, as you would expect with Paul Hillier in charge. The recording is good - clean and clear.
This is a highly recommendable recording."
Spiritually Uplifting -- No Matter What the Musical Style; P
Barb Perk | Yankton, SD USA | 07/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this CD with a foreknowledge of the excellence not only of the performing ensemble and its director, but also of the repertoire of sacred Orthodox choral music via Rachmaninov's Vespers and Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (which came long after the works represented on this disc, but are faithful, overall, to the homophonic and harmonic quality and style of traditional Russian church music). I was surprised, as many other reviewers, to find such polyphony in the works herein, since I was under the impression that the Church forbade such musical devices. However, it seems that with the fall of the Tsar (or, more correctly, his decline, since the Vespers are from 1915 and the Tsar did not abdicate, nor the government fall, till 1917) the Church became more in control of itself and could place such restrictions on composers like Rachmaninov, but in the days of Peter the Great, when some of these works were composed and the style of the rest was developed, the Tsar controlled art and religion and if he wanted a Western style in his country's sacred music, then he could have it. Taken in this light, the "profane" style of some of these works is not shocking and is instead rather delightful; we see the proof of Peter's Westernisation of Russia in his capital, St. Petersburg, and in the art and architecture that flourished under him, but to hear it (and performed so excellently, too!) is a delightful little history lesson.
And aside from the historical implications, which the attached booklet illumines carefully with regard to each composer (it also contains the texts in Slavonic (in Cyrillic lettering, no less), English, French, and German), the whole disc is spiritually enlightening. To say that the polyphony of Sarti, Galuppi, or even Titov is nothing more than profanity is to say that Bach can do nothing to spiritually enlighten either; or to say that such a style is contrary to the prayerful nature of the Orthodox Church is to say that Bach's Magnificat or B minor Mass nixes his contribution to Lutheranism. The polyphony on this disc is indeed plentiful, but fugal counterpoint is reserved for the Alleluia at the conclusion of Sarti's "Now the Powers of Heaven" and the text "O Passover of incorruption, the salvation of the world!" concluding Galuppi's "In the Flesh Thou Didst Fall Asleep." It seems that only the Italians, after all, were interested in such "intellectual" church music--the native Russians hold their own as regards the spiritual style of their music. All of the polyphony, regardless of national origin, is intelligent and beautiful, and ranks with the best of Handel. Additionally, the last part of the disc contains some tracks by Bortniansky and Vedel that exemplify the genre of the "choral concerto"--not precisely equivalent to, but most resembling, the Western concerto grosso. It is another fascinating glimpse into a little known style with which, thanks to this disc, we can become acquainted.
I will not attempt to contend, however, with the point that the more traditional music here is perhaps most uplifting of all, if we must treat the different styles represented as if in contest. Bortniansky's "Let My Prayer Arise" is one of my favourite tracks, and the anonymous hymn to the Virgin Mary is a beautiful setting featuring the help of Vladimir Miller, a Russian basso profondo who brings the basses down to low D's, B-flats, and (if I'm not mistaken) G's, and who will not be unfamiliar to those acquainted with this group's recording of Rachmaninov's Vespers. To close, I will note the excellence of the choir and conductor--the sopranos are never full of vibrato, the basses are strong on low and high notes alike, and the tenors and altos have lovely tone that enriches the harmonies; the soloists are well-chosen and perform beautifully; and overall the group's sense of direction is excellent and firm, thanks largely in part to their regional proximity to the birthplace of these pieces, and also to Paul Hillier's remarkable direction, which brings a new freshness to the performance of Western polyphony and Eastern devotional choruses alike, and conjoins them most marvellously in accordance with the will of the composers and of the Tsar."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
