Rachmaninoff Choral Music...

[Corno Dolce]

Dear MIMFers,

Here you can listen to and follow along in the score of one of the great if not greatest piece in the Choral repertoire - A special thanks to Vitaly for posting these on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn5dpIECTds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3yAlequsRc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQTzQpTbr4c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIrI9McWyI0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyOXlbaYSCY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5VxiatNsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJrWLIowctM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brh9tRmhOq4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GUC5TmVYJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vcirPrV1lg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orsabFrAOiI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10uorN-R96o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrPMOPm1SW4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0oJl-nyYeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKwYGkaJFCU

Enjoy!

[Contratrombone64]

Rachmaninov's enough to put me to sleep ...

[Kuhlau]

If you're as serious about this work as I am (I currently have over 20 different recordings), then you need to hear it as conducted by Alexander Sveshnikov in the very first recording made in 1965, now reissued on the Russian Melodiya label. The soloist in 'Bless the Lord, O My Soul' is worth the price of the whole CD.

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Kuhlau,

I love the Sveshnikov recording - I had hoped to find it on YouTube but no luck so far. I lent it to a friend but never got it back.

Cheerio,

Corno Dolce

[Kuhlau]

The Sveshnikov is very special, I agree. And Paul Hillier's recording for Harmonia Mundi a couple of years ago is also absolutely essential listening.

Another strong recommendation is this one:

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Kuhlau,

The Sveshnikov had those octavists in the bass section which gave the work a whole other dimension - Once you've heard a couple of bass octavists in a choir its nary impossible to listen to another choir sing it. Thanx for your recommendations....

Cheerio.

CD

[sunwaiter]

i discovered Rachmaninov with the vespers, by the red army if i remember well. i knew at once i would listen to it a lot more. it's always in homeopathic doses, but it seems to set a... well, by my way of hearing it.. a christmas mood. and i'm not a catholic. as powerful and powerful as Gorecki's third, in another genre.

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha sunwaiter,

Homeopathic doses? please dear sir, enlighten me what is meant by that. I have never heard those two words put together like that.

Cheerio,

CD

[sunwaiter]

oh. sorry, it's a french expression. mm let's translate it this way: i listen to the vespers little by little

[Corno Dolce]

Ahhh - I see, thanx.

[Kuhlau]

Sunwater, Rachmaninov's 'All-night Vigil' (to give the 'Vespers' their correct title), is very much Russian Orthodox Church music, far removed from any Catholic influence. Indeed, if you listen to sacred music from the Eastern and Western Christian church traditions, you'll find there's quite a marked difference between them.

[sunwaiter]

Kuhlau, thx for the precision, though it doesn't really affect my way of hearing this music. i said Christmas mood but it could have been a forest, blue fly, football or waterfall mood ... i understand russian orthodoxy doesn't have much to do with some other religion ( except maybe its roots, although i know nothing about it ), but it really doesn't matter to me. but once again thank you for the info.