Russian Choral Masterpieces

An original and exciting collection of anthems and other choral pieces written for the Orthodox Church and inspired by the Church in Russia selected by Ralph Allwood. Partly because of the re-emergence of the Church in the former Soviet Union interest in Christian musical sources alternative to the great body of the Anglican and other Western Christian traditions has grown sharply in recent years. Though the works presented here may be unfamiliar they are all masterly. Designed to appeal to choirs of various levels the collection includes a Kontakion and Ikos for the funeral service anthems by Great Russian Romantics: Tchaikovsky Rachmaninov Grechaninov; andcomposers from our age: Stravinsky Schnittke or Arvo Part speaking for a tradition outside the Orthodox Church as well as settings of the Lord's Prayer in both Russian and English by John Tavener.

Rachmaninoff?s music for the All-Night Vigil service ? long known inaccurately as his ?Vespers? ? is a masterpiece in its own right. It draws on centuries-old Orthodox chant and the performance tradition of Russian folk music and embodies the ideal of Russian church music championed by a group of Moscow musicians of the time. In this All-Night Vigil the great composer-pianist-conductor has allied his own imagination skill and experience with the expertise built up at the Synodal School of Church Music ? not least by its choir which gave the first performances at several Moscowconcerts.   This edition has been carefully prepared to present Rachmaninoff?s music in a clear and easily readable format and also offers a new transliteration of the Church Slavonic text. For the first time an audio pronunciation guide is provided online which will prove indispensable for choirs wishing to perform this most beautiful of masterpieces.   In the November/December issue of Choir and Organ Jeremy Summerly writes that this edition of All-Night Vigil is 'a timely publication and it is difficult to imagine it presented better.' He says that the 'introductory material is immaculate and places this culturally complex work in its colourful historical context ' making this a 'legible user-friendly and authoritative edition...a model of its type.'   Editor Stuart Campbell has contributed articles on Russian music to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (second edition) and Die neue MGG. Cambridge University Press published two volumes of his anthology of criticism entitled Russians on Russian Music. He is a tutor for the adult-education units of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and joint musical director (with Svetlana Zvereva) of the chamber choir Russkaya Cappella.