Tchaikovsky's All-Night Vigil, Op. 52, is not often performed. It might be hard to guess the composer listening to it cold, for there is not much that is Tchaikovskian about it. The work consists of Russian Orthodox chant melodies (from several different traditions, interestingly), with mostly plain diatonic harmonizations that diverge only slightly into polyphony and chromaticism. Tchaikovsky termed it "an essay in harmonizing liturgical chants." Nevertheless, the work exerted a considerable influence, for it broke the ...
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Tchaikovsky's All-Night Vigil, Op. 52, is not often performed. It might be hard to guess the composer listening to it cold, for there is not much that is Tchaikovskian about it. The work consists of Russian Orthodox chant melodies (from several different traditions, interestingly), with mostly plain diatonic harmonizations that diverge only slightly into polyphony and chromaticism. Tchaikovsky termed it "an essay in harmonizing liturgical chants." Nevertheless, the work exerted a considerable influence, for it broke the hold of the purely Italianate Dmitry Bortnyansky over Russian church music, and the Vespers settings of Ippolitov-Ivanov, Rachmaninov, and others can be traced to the example of this work. The Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava has recorded other sacred music of Tchaikovsky on an earlier album, which may be preferable for those wanting just one, but this release is well worth hearing and will fill many a hole on Tchaikovsky shelves or hard drives. The Latvian Radio Choir is a...
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