Russian Xmas [Import]

Anatoly Gridenko (Artist), Russian Patriachate Choir (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Opus 111
• ASIN: B00000C2BR
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,068 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Great Compline: Prophecy Of Isaiah: God Is With Us - Tone 6

2. Great Vespers: Lucernarium Psalms And Stikhiras - Tone 2: Lord, I Have Cried To You

3. Great Vespers: Lucernarium Psalms And Stikhiras - Tone 2: Bring My Soul..., Your Kingdon, O...

4. Great Vespers: Lucernarium Psalms And Stikhiras - Tone 2: If You Should Regard Iniquities...

5. Great Vespers: Lucernarium Psalms And Stikhiras - Tone 2: Glory..., What Shall We Offer You...

6. Great Vespers: Lucernarium Psalms And Stikhiras - Tone 2: Both Now..., When Augustus Reigned...

7. Great Vespers: The Vesperal Hymn: O Mild Light

8. The Litia: All The Angels Exult - Tone 6

9. Mattins: Invitatory Psalm: The Lord Is God - Tone 4

10. Mattins: Troparion - Tone 4: Your Nativity, O Christ Our God (Monodic)

11. Mattins: Troparion - Tone 4: Your Nativity, O Christ Our God (Polyphonic)

12. Mattins: Troparion - Tone 4: Megalynarion: We Magnify You, O Christ, Giver Of Life

13. Mattins: Troparion - Tone 4: Stikhira After The Gospel: Glory To God In The Highest: Tone 6

14. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 1: Christ Is Born, Give Glory (Monodic)

15. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 1: Christ Is Born, Give Glory...

16. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 3 To The Son, Born Before The Ages

17. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 4: Rod Of The Root Of Jesse

18. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 5: Since You Are God Of Peace

19. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Ode 6: The Sea Monster Spat Forth Jonah

20. Mattins: Heirmoi Of The Canons of Mattins - Tone 1: Kondakion: Today The Virgin Gives Birth...

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it if you can find it, January 17, 2004

By 

Lyle Crawford (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Russian Xmas (Audio CD)

It is a real shame that "Russian Christmas: Vigil of the Nativity of Christ" in no longer available, but it is absolutely worth finding if you possibly can. I waited/searched for almost a year before I was finally able to secure a copy from the Netherlands. It was worth waiting for. And as Vernier says, this is a "Christmas" CD in name only. Whatever musical connotations that has for you can safely be set aside.

My other favourite Russian Orthodox chant recordings are "Suprasl: Orthodox Mosiac" (see my review) and "Panikhida: Orthodox Requiem", which together contain some of the most challenging and beautiful music I know of. "Russian Christmas" is very much like a cross between these, as it contains both 16th century Suprasl monody and the otherworldly, even unsettling, polyphony of the 17th century. The recording quality is quite good (the best you'll find for this type of music), and the notes are helpful, as they contain a clearly worded glossary of relevant terms and a good description of the program by Anatoly Konotop, the musicologist primarily responsible for the salvaging of the Suprasl manuscript.

Konotop writes: "The basic intention of the compiler of this CD has been to give the listener a chance to become acquainted with unknown examples of early music drawn from the Feasts of the Russian Orthodox Church, and to demonstrate the high degree of professionalism of the Russian schools of chant in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in order to show the importance and specific character of the Russian tradition of composition in the historical process of the development of European musical culture" (p.5).

The chance and the lesson are very much appreciated. The result is nothing short of magnificent. It will likely not be easy to find a copy of this CD (unless it gets reissued), but I recommend that you spare no trouble or expense to do so.