Some bassy Russian choral music at the Concertgebouw tonight (3.5/5)

The All-Night Vigil is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff, his Op. 37, written and premiered in 1915.

The piece consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff’s finest achievement^[1] and “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church”.^[2] It was one of Rachmaninoff’s two favorite compositions^[3] along with The Bells, and the composer requested that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral.^[3]

Note: The title of the work is often translated as simply Vespers, which is both literally and conceptually incorrect as applied to the entire work; only the first six of its fifteen movements set texts from the Russian Orthodox canonical hour of Vespers.

The fifth movement Nunc dimittis (Nyne otpushchayeshi) has gained notoriety for its ending, in which the low basses must negotiate a descending scale that ends with a low B-flat (the third B-flat below middle C). When Rachmaninoff initially played this passage through to Kastalsky and Danilin in preparation for the first performance, Rachmaninoff recalled that:

Danilin shook his head, saying, “Now where on earth are we to find such basses? They are as rare as asparagus at Christmas!” Nevertheless, he did find them. I knew the voices of my countrymen…

Apple cider making at home in Kansas

Wish I were there