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Orthodox choir music of the 20th Century
Krzysztof Penderecki (born in 1933): Kheruvimskaya pesn/Song of the Cherubim
Chamer Choir Lage Artis
conductor: Boris Abalyan
Composed in 1986, Penderecki's "Song of Cherubim" for mixed a capella chorus SSAATTBB and lasting slightly over seven minutes in duration is a setting of an Orthodox liturgy hymn text. Like the at times spine-chilling Utrenia, this work also evokes feelings of the ancient church, a laudatory atmosphere with compressed intensity just below the surface. Sung in Church Slavonic, this hymn of praise by the cherubim (a class of angels ranking just below the seraphim) opens with a scale-wise theme in slow triplet meter, the first line interweaving beautifully and mysteriously with its imitation--"Let us the cherubim mystically repesenting." At the end of the phrase, the first voice sustains on a note making a centrally pitched drone for the second voice to work against. The tenor voices then state the melody again, underscored by low harmonic chanting in the basses--" ... and unto the life-giving Trinity and thrice-holy chant intoning." In gently rocking parallel harmonies, the upper voices join in against a sustained pedal point in the basses--" ... and now lay aside all earthly care." The singing is taken over by the idea of chant, and we hear the last lines in a style between the Orthodox Church chants and the Gabrieli opposed choir imitations. The harmonies begin to freely move about and the rhythm begins to be loosened as the harmonies become more dissonant--"That we may receive the King of all." Alternated chanting in with the groups in different key centers, then takes over--" ... by the angelic hosts invisibly attended." The concluding "Alleluia" is not at all the conventional enthusiastic bombast that is usually expected but instead is very eerie and self-contained, suggesting infinite dimensions of space and time. ~ All Music Guide
Krzysztof Penderecki (born in 1933): Kheruvimskaya pesn/Song of the Cherubim
Chamer Choir Lage Artis
conductor: Boris Abalyan
Composed in 1986, Penderecki's "Song of Cherubim" for mixed a capella chorus SSAATTBB and lasting slightly over seven minutes in duration is a setting of an Orthodox liturgy hymn text. Like the at times spine-chilling Utrenia, this work also evokes feelings of the ancient church, a laudatory atmosphere with compressed intensity just below the surface. Sung in Church Slavonic, this hymn of praise by the cherubim (a class of angels ranking just below the seraphim) opens with a scale-wise theme in slow triplet meter, the first line interweaving beautifully and mysteriously with its imitation--"Let us the cherubim mystically repesenting." At the end of the phrase, the first voice sustains on a note making a centrally pitched drone for the second voice to work against. The tenor voices then state the melody again, underscored by low harmonic chanting in the basses--" ... and unto the life-giving Trinity and thrice-holy chant intoning." In gently rocking parallel harmonies, the upper voices join in against a sustained pedal point in the basses--" ... and now lay aside all earthly care." The singing is taken over by the idea of chant, and we hear the last lines in a style between the Orthodox Church chants and the Gabrieli opposed choir imitations. The harmonies begin to freely move about and the rhythm begins to be loosened as the harmonies become more dissonant--"That we may receive the King of all." Alternated chanting in with the groups in different key centers, then takes over--" ... by the angelic hosts invisibly attended." The concluding "Alleluia" is not at all the conventional enthusiastic bombast that is usually expected but instead is very eerie and self-contained, suggesting infinite dimensions of space and time. ~ All Music Guide
