Rachmaninov: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

RACHMANINOFF Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom • Sigvards K?ava, cond; Kärlis Rütentäls (ten); Gundrars Dzi?ums (bs); Latvian R Ch • ONDINE 1151 (SACD: 59:06 Text and Translation) Both of Rachmaninoff’s large-scale a cappella works, the All Night Vigil (Vespers) and The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom , had difficult beginnings. The Vespers (1915), suppressed with all religious music by the Bolshevik after the 1917 revolution, was not recorded until 1965 and then only for Western consumption. The earlier St. Chrysostom Liturgy nearly succumbed to the early controversy it created. Written by Rachmaninoff in July 1910 in a burst of nostalgic enthusiasm, it was inspired by memories of his youthful fascination with the sound of St. Petersburg’s Russian Orthodox choirs. Rachmaninoff captured that remembered sound wonderfully. However, the rich harmonic language of the Liturgy and the almost chromatic progressions in the final choruses were far removed from the app