The Clarion Choir: Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil
Pentatone

Celebrating the 150th year of Sergei Rachmaninoff's birth, the Clarion Choir and Artistic Director Steven Fox present a seminal treatment of the composer's All Night Vigil, Op. 37 “Vespers” (1915). Recorded at NYC's Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in January 2020, the choir's rendering mesmerizes for the full measure of its seventy-four minutes. Adding to the authenticity of the performance, many movements are preceded by the original Kiev and Znameny chants the composer used as a basis for his own writing. All-Night Vigil is the fourth release from the vocal ensemble, following recordings of Maximilian Steinberg's Passion Week and two by Alexander Kastalsky, Memory Eternal and Requiem.

Fox is considered one of the premiere experts on Rachmaninoff's choral music, making the ensemble's version an all the more vital acquisition for devotees of the composer. Fox's first exposure to the work occurred twenty-five years ago when the then Dartmouth College music major experienced a life-changing term at St. Petersburg State University. Captivated by the composers' works he heard during the visit, he asked his teacher upon returning home which Russian choral work he should conduct as part of his Senior Fellowship project, the answer, of course, All-Night Vigil. That first time conducting the piece proved transformative and also led to Fox revisiting the work many times since.

Doing so has facilitated an awareness of the finer details of the work, including an appreciation for how different each movement is from the next. Such contrasts notwithstanding, the work registers as an enrapturing, cohesive creation that has the capacity to stop time for the fully engaged listener, especially when the general tone of the material is hymnal. Vladimir Morosan's liner note contention that Orthodox sacred music is “a conduit of prayer rather than a means of entertainment” is clearly borne out by the piece.

To create All-Night Vigil, Rachmaninoff chose fifteen psalms and hymns that form the foundation for the Resurrectional All-Night Vigil, a three-hour service delivered in Russian Orthodox churches on Saturday evenings. Ten originate from unison chant melodies dating back at least two-and-a-half centuries; the other five movements include chant-like melodies Rachmaninoff created himself. While the flow of the work is seamless and fluid, it comprises two parts, the vesperal material (the first six movements), which focuses on the themes of Creation and the Incarnation of Christ, and the matins part (movements seven through fifteen), which has to do with Christ's Resurrection. The polyphonic grandeur of the composition allows the lustrous hues of the thirty-two singers—nine sopranos, seven altos, seven tenors, and nine basses—to blossom. Many a part features the ensemble as a whole, whereas others place a soloist (or two) at the forefront. Mention must be made of tenor John Ramseyer, whose presence elevates three movements, including the glorious “Lord, now lettest Thou” and the rhythmically charged “Blessed art Thou, O Lord.”

March 2023