Aleksandr Tikhonovich GRECHANINOV (1864-1956)
All-Night Vigil, Op 59 (Vsenoshchnoye bdeniye) (1912)
Dārta Paldiņa (mezzo-soprano); Kāris Rūtentāls (tenor); Jānis Kurševs (tenor); Jānis Kokins (bass)
Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Kļava
rec. 8-19 February 2021, St John’s Church (Sv. Jāņa baznīca) Riga, Latvia
English notes; Russian text with English translation
ONDINE ODE1397-2 [46:01]
A decade ago, I very favourably reviewed a recording of these Vespers on the Hyperion/Helios label by the Holst Singers under Stephen Layton, remarking upon the authenticity of their sound, especially with regard to their pronunciation of the Russian and the resonance of their basses.
This recording under review might not be Russian but it comes from somewhere much closer and a country with one of the richest of choral traditions; the Latvian Radio Choir here certainly sound at home in the idiom. A choir of only ten female and twelve male voices, they are large enough to have weight and presence at climactic points but still maintain translucency in Grechaninov’s mantra-like melodies with their chromatic melismata on key words such as “Slava” (Glory). Conductor Sigvards Kļava manages the dynamic range exceptionally well, so the choir moves smoothly from proclaiming impressive outbursts to negotiating quiet passages with great delicacy, such when the sopranos come in to sustain a pianissimo D flat, a major third above the A chord on the end of the word “prepodobnïmi” in Svete tihiy (Gladsome light). Intonation is first-rate, especially in the leaps of fourths and fifths which take the listener by surprise once the ear has become accustomed to the prevailing, more orthodox melodic intervals of seconds and thirds, typical of the genre, as do the sudden appearances of more adventurous harmonies which add spice to the predominately upbeat, brilliant, major-key mood.
Just occasionally a middle-range male voice obtrudes slightly too much and the basses, good as they are, do not have quite the inky depth of the oktavists we hear, for example in Sveshnikov’s famous vintage recording of Rachmaninov’s Vespers - but then, nor does any other choir, and their low A at the end of track 8 is still commendable. The choir then moves on to make a grand job of The Great Doxology, the longest, most varied and complex arrangement of the liturgy here, requiring solo voices to intone interjections amid some very dramatic writing, as in the percussive plea “Ghospodi, k Tebe pribegoh” (Lord, I flee to Thee). The brief “swinging bells” finale, “Vzbrannoy voyevode” (To Thee, the Victorious Leader – so Russian, but in fact addressed to the Theotokos - Blessed Mother - rather than a Tsar) makes a fine, rousing conclusion.
The sound and balances are impeccable; the slightly reverberant acoustic and the resultant echo are ideal for lending ambience to this, the most reverential and laudatory of music.
My only quibble is that the older Helios recording I reviewed offered rather more with over an hour’s music, the Vigil being supplemented by three other liturgical pieces, whereas here we are given a mere three-quarters of an hour of music – short measure for a CD these days.
Ralph Moore
