Although generally known as the ‘Vespers’ in English, Rachmaninov’s great contribution to the history of Russian sacred music is, in fact, a setting of the services of Vespers, Matins and the First Hour as they are celebrated in the Russian Orthodox Church and known as the Vsenoshchnoe Bdenie, the ‘All-Night Vigil’. The services of Matins and the First Hour are those of the following day, sung directly after Vespers (which is begun approximately at sunset) ‘by anticipation’. This procedure is characteristic of the Russian rather than the Greek Church, since in the latter the Divine Liturgy is celebrated directly after Matins, served early in the morning. In cathedral and parish churches the Vigil is generally celebrated in an abbreviated form (lasting, nevertheless, for two hours or more) on Saturdays and the eves of major feasts – it is only in monasteries that it is celebrated fully, thus meriting its name.

• Wykonawca Corydon Singers
• Data premiery 2010-07-01
• Nośnik CD

Since early mediaeval times, the characteristic church services held in the Catholic Church have incorporated the prayer times of the Officium on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, particularly the Matins. These services were originally held in the early hours of the morning but were in later centuries transferred to the afternoon of the previous day. Each of these Matins consisted of three nocturnes in which Psalm recitations alternate with readings from the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah and texts by the theological teacher St Augustine and responses. Over the course of time, the settings of these texts became progressively more elaborate in their polyphony. The popularity of these Matins in Catholic Europe, particularly up to the end of the eighteenth century, was however not limited to their frequently rich musical design; the names given to these services such as “Pumpermetten” or “Finstermetten” accompanied by the customs of hammering on the church pews or the gradual extinguishing of the candles are testament to a great folk tradition. August the Strong’s conversion to Catholicism created a demand for ceremonial church services to cele-brate Holy Week at the court chapel in Dresden and Jan Dismas Zelenka was commissioned to compose the appropriate music. Zelenka wrote six Lamentationes Jeremia Prophetae ZWV 53 (of which only the firs lamentation is included on this CD) and the 27 Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta ZWV 55.The Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 under the direction of Vaclav Luks have produced a pair of extensive CDs with the firs complete recording of the nine nocturnes of Holy Week within their liturgical context with all lessons in church modes, the Gregorian antiphons and the entire collection of 27 responses from the Responsoria pro hebdomada sancta ZWV 55, conjuring up a comprehensive impression of the celebrations of Holy Week at the Dresden court chapel during the 1720s.

• Wykonawca Collegium Vocale , Collegium 1704
• Data premiery 2012-03-01
• Nośnik CD

It is not known when or for whom William Byrd wrote his monumental ‘Great Service’, but we can be sure that he would approve of this new recording from Westminster Abbey.The second half of the sixteenth century was a heady time for the post-Reformation Church of England. Out of the ashes of the Catholic tradition a new—and decidedly Anglican—musical enthusiasm arose, and with it three distinct styles for settings of the Canticles, so central to Cranmer’s vision for the liturgy: ‘short’ services presented their texts efficiently and simply, while ‘verse’ services complicated proceedings with the addition of soloists and more intricate textures; ‘great’, or ‘full’, services extended this development to create musical structures of astonishing diversity, and at the very peak of the genre comes William Byrd’s masterpiece, widely regarded as the finest unaccompanied setting of the service ever made.The ‘Great’ Service is here presented in its correct liturgical order (with the inclusion of the frequently omitted Kyrie) and is complemented by six of Byrd’s finest anthems and two organ voluntaries from My Lady Nevells Booke, a collection of Byrd’s keyboard music put together in 1591.

• Wykonawca O'Donnell James , Quinney Robert
• Data premiery 2006-03-07
• Nośnik CD