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CD Details: Orthodox Shrines of the Russian North : The Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Cat. no. D025 Date Listed ?		Title:	Orthodox Shrines of the Russian North : The Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord
		Performers:	Male Choir of the Valaam Institute
		Conductor:	Igor Ushakov
		Recording Type / Total Time:	DDD / 62:26:00
		Label and Number:	RCD RCD 29004
		Issue Date:	1995
		Price:	$16.98
		Rating:	***

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	Orthodox Shrines of the Russian North: The Tikhvin Monastery		Russian Calvary: Triptych of Spiritual Songs: Part II
	Russian Calvary: Triptych of Spiritual Songs: Part III

REVIEW
For those who can't get enough of such music and who love the Russian male chorus sound, these four disks represent a gold mine! Like their previous series "Russian Calvary," this new series by the Male Choir of the Valaam Institute for Chant Studies is based on a well-conceived idea: to spotlight the chant traditions of the great cradles of northern Russian monasticism and spirituality. Each of the monastic centers featured in this set of four disks had its own manuscript repositories wherein were preserved codified bodies of chant for all the services of the liturgical year. Some of these were unison and some were polyphonic, written in an indigenously Russian linear style, somewhat resembling organum. In the 19th century some of the unison codices were published in staff notation and, in turn, served as raw material for polyphonic arrangements by 19th- and 20th-century composers. It is this rich musical material that the Valaam Institute Choir taps, rendering the music in highly professional and polished fashion. Unison chants alternate with polyphony. Once again we marvel at the profound bass voice of soloist V. Miller. Once again we are treated to the luminous chant arrangements of S. Trubachov. Only on the fourth disk, the Konev Monastery, does the repertory depart from the focused theme, diverging into the sonorous late 19th-century compositions and harmonizations of Chesnokov, Nikolsky, Smolensky and Kedrov, but this is a delight in itself. (A highlight is V. Miller's rendition of Chesnokov's Concerto for Basso Profundo solo and chorus, "Do not reject me in my old age.") As in the previous series, the English titles on the disks are exremely awkward; the notes (R and E) tell us mostly about the monasteries and virtually nothing about the music. These shortcomings are insignificant next to the musical richness of this set.

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