Customer Reviews

Sacred Treasures III: Choral Masterworks from Russia and Beyond

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Its just like the first Sacred Treasures! Just so heavenly! Sacred Treasures I and III are a must! Again the Orthodox faithful sing just like an angelic choir! If you love choral music, this is the one! Just enjoy a piece of heaven!

Unlike so many "choral compilation" CDs, there is not a track on this album that falls victim to "schlock." Although it is an example of excellent Romantic Russian sacred music, the real highlight of the album is Gunnar Eriksson's ad lib arrangement of Bach's Komm Susser Tod. The Erik Westberg ensemble executes this performance with all the mystery embodied in the text...creating celestial overtones without bordering on New Age. As far as I know, this is the only recording of Eriksson's arrangement.If you like Bach, buy this album. If you like choral music, buy this album. If you like Russian choirs, buy this album. If you want to be spiritually revived, listen to track 5 (and then the rest of the album!)

I have a number of choral and chant CD's, and I have to say that this one is my favorite. I think I like it even more than Sacred Treasures I. Sacred music can often seem perfunctory, but the music on this CD doesn't suffer from that problem.

The disc covers a wide cross-section of historically important pieces, from ancient Greek Orthodox chant through the early 20th Century choral masterpieces of Rachmaninov. There's also the added surprise of a modern fantasy setting of Bach's Apollonian masterpiece "Komm Susser Tod" ("Come Sweet Death") by Scandinavian composer Gunnar Eriksson. And the Komitas-penned "Sourp Sourp" (Holy Holy) might be the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

The sacred music from Russia has always held a special place for me. If you haven't heard Russian sacred music and want to dip your toe in the water, you owe it to yourself to get this CD (and Sacred Treasures I). Warm and serene, this music glows.

I'd like to remind potential buyers that about a third of the chants on this cd are from Rachmaninoff's Vespers and Divine Liturgy. If you already have those cds, maybe you should think twice before buying Sacred Treasures III, which is definitely inferior to Sacred Treasures I, although still very beautiful (especially the first and second tracks).

Fans of sacred choral music or Russian choirs in particular will find this third volume expands upon the prior two, capturing Russian sacred choral music and providing a blend of choirs and works. Pieces by Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov and others are featured in a haunting presentation of beautiful choral melodies and classical influences.

Superbly and majestically sung and recorded. Disagree with another reviewer on track 5; I don't think this one fits at all with the theme and spirit of the album. Track 12, The Lord's Prayer is perhaps the pinnacle - though not the most complex, surely the most reverent and spiritual. This one, plus (even more so) Peter Tchaikovsky's Cerubimic Hymn on Sacred Treasures I, back-to-back, are nothing short of stunning, overwhelmingly moving, bring-you-to-tears examples of why music of the Russian Orthodox Church is an unparalleled experience never to be forgotten; especially to the believer. Lots of other first rate selections as well.

If you know music, but particularly have some understanding of the Orthodox sense of sprirituality and have Slavic blood, this will hit you down to the DNA.

This Awesome recording along with the first Saced Treasures of Bortniansky, Chernikof, Gretchaninov, Rachminanov, Tchaikovsky, this more recent Sacred Treasures III, includes far more!!!

Receiving yesterday's Parcel Post, I stayed awake until nearly 1:00AM, listening to 14 spiritually refreshing, glorious, and gorgeous Russian Choral Chants. My top ones are still singing in my aura..."Lord Have Mercy, KOMM SUSSER TOD, Peaceful Light, Grant Us This, O Lord, OUR FATHER, Praise The Lord, O My Soul, BLESSED ART THOU O LORD (Kiev Chant)." Most of these 7 are conducted by Valery Polansky in his magnificent choral style!

Even while singing under Robert Shaw in Atlanta Symphony Chorus there were seldom such chorally satisfying, experiences of awesome, enrapturing, ethereal sounds as these Russian Orthodox Choirs. The St. Petersburg Chamber Choir and USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir-Valery Polyansky Conductor, as intimately matchless! Voted a multitude of Golden Stars fondly from Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood, "Barbara377" (Fayetteville GA United States)

This CD reminds me once again why Russian liturgical music is one of the treasures of the world: beautiful, profound, awe-inspiring, uplifting.

For the most part, the pieces are well chosen and the performances excellent. I am delighted to see that many of the tracks are from the classic recording of the Rachmaninoff Vespers made in the early 1970s by the USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir directed by Valery Polyansky, and released in the USA by Angel-Melodiya. I wore out my copy of the LP years ago; although it has been reissued on CD, it's out of print and very hard to find. So it is wonderful to see a generous selection from that recording available on this disk.

Listen to track 11, "Praise the Lord O My Soul", sung by the chamber choir and mezzo Irina Arkhipova. You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved as she sings "Slava Ghospidin" (Praise to the Lord). And listen to how the basses descend to B-flat at end. It just doesn't get any better than this.

I agree with the previous reviewer--Sacred Treasures III is everything Sacred Treasures I was. It will blow you away.

I am the producer of this CD and also of the first CD in the Sacred Treasures series called "SACRED TREASURES: Choral Masterworks From Russia" as well as "SACRED TREASURES IV: Quiet Prayers", "SACRED TREASURES V: From a Russian Cathedral, and "CELTIC TWILIGHT 7: Sacred Spirit", "MUSIC OF GRACE: Amazing Grace" and "SACRED SONGS OF MARY". In each case, my intention was to bring together the very best performances of exceptionally beautiful, slow and peaceful sacred music. Most of the pieces on this compilation (as on the other compilations mentioned above) are filled with lush harmonies sung by large mixed choirs. All the selections are deeply nourishing to the soul.

In many cases, I chose to use excerpts from longer pieces, omitting the exultant huge crescendos and very fast sections that are typical of Russian sacred music, presenting only the slow and quiet verses. Different types of music serve different needs, and in today's stressful and fast-paced world, one of the most important and often neglected needs is for time out from that world--to "lay aside all earthly cares" (as the text to a Russian "Cherubic Hymn" prescribes) and to rest in a magical, quiet space of slow, peaceful, beauty. That peaceful beauty is available to you on all of these compilations, including this one, "SACRED TREASURES III"...