Rachmaninov: All-night Vigil, Vespers Latvian Radio Choir & Sigvards Klava

• Sergei Rachmaninow (1873–1943): All-Night Vigil, Op. 37
• 1Beginning song: Come let us worship02:31
• 2Psalm 103 (104), O praise the Lord06:26
• 3Blessed is the man06:09
• 4O Joyful Light03:20
• 5Song of Simeon: Lord, now let your servant depart03:19
• 6Hail, O Virgin Mother (Ave Maria)03:07
• 7Hexapsalms: Glory to God on high02:33
• 8Psalm 134-135 (135-136), O praise the name of the Lord02:12
• 9Glorifying song of the Resurrection: Teach me O lord in the way of truth07:25
• 10Hymn of Resurrection: We have seen the resurrection02:58
• 11Magnificat: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord07:20
• 12Great Doxology: Glory be to God on high08:30
• 13Resurrection hymn (Troparion): This day of salvation has com to the world01:35
• 14Resurrection hymn (Troparion): When you had risen03:33
• 15Thanksgiving hymn of Virgin Mary: O victorious leader01:32
• Total Runtime01:02:30

Info for Rachmaninov: All-night Vigil, Vespers

This release of Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil follows several acclaimed releases from the Latvian Radio Choir under its Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Sigvards Kļava. Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (ODE11515) and the All-Night Vigil are two supreme examples of choral writing in the Russian Orthodox tradition, featuring music of uplifting spiritual strength.

The All-Night Vigil is composed for unaccompanied voices but Rachmaninov created a work of such richness that it can be described as “choral orchestration”, demanding a wide vocal range from the singers.

The Latvian Radio Choir is regarded as one of the top professional chamber choirs in Europe. Their repertoire extends from the Renaissance to the present day, but always focussing on exploring the capabilities of the voice and seeking to push its limits.

Sigvards Kļava, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Latvian Radio Choir since 1992, is one of Latvia’s most prolific choral conductors. He has conducted many premières of new choral works by Latvian composers.

“You would need to go far to hear a richer, more rounded alto section than this. They are supported by a wonderfully firm bass line...you want to single out each section for particular praise: the gloriously clear-toned and vital sopranos an the ardent, sweet-voiced tenor section.” (International Record Review)

“Klava's interpretation doesn't give the sensation of dragging...He carefully draws out every dramatic nuance from this choral feast. His two dozen singers produce a well-nourished tutti and sound like a much larger group...There is a wonderfully kaleidoscopic (though carefully graded) palette of vocal colours throughout...The Latvians' unanimity of attack is well-nigh perfect...This is a sublimely beautiful yet rapturous recording.” (Gramophone)

“the Rachmaninov of Latvia's outstanding professional choir presents a golden mean between the uniquely open-throated but not always pitch-perfect Glinka Choir of the hallowed St Petersburg tradition, and the more reserved tones of English choral contenders...this performance is a remarkable achievement” (BBC Music Magazine)

Latvian Radio Choir
Sigvards Kļava, conductor

Sigvards Kļava
began working with the Latvian Radio Choir in 1987 and was appointed its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director in 1992. As one of Latvia's most prolific choral conductors, Sigvards Kļava has collaborated with every leading choir and orchestra in the country, performing the great works of the standard repertoire in addition to conducting most premieres of new choral works by Latvian composers. He has recorded over 20 CDs with the Latvian Radio Choir. Sigvards Kļava has also been Chief Conductor at a number of Latvian and Nordic song festivals. He is a co-founder of the Latvian New Music Festival ARENA and serves as a member of its artistic board. He teaches young conductors at the Choral Department of the Latvian Academy of Music and the Choral College of the Riga Lutheran Cathedral. Sigvards Kļava appears as a guest conductor with leading European choirs. He has received the Latvian Great Music Award and the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers Award.

Einojuhani Rautavaara
(born 9 October 1928) is internationally one of the best known and most frequently performed Finnish composers. He is by nature a romantic, even a mystic, as is often apparent from the titles of his works: for example Angels and Visitations for orchestra or his double-bass concerto Angel of Dusk. Despite Rautavaara's label of "mysticism" he is a complex and contradictory figure whose works cannot be categorized in stylistic terms.

At the age of seventeen Rautavaara began studying the piano and later went on to study musicology at Helsinki University and composition at the Sibelius Academy. From 1951-53 he was a pupil of Aarre Merikanto receiving his diploma in composition in 1957. In 1955 the Koussewitzky Foundation awarded Jean Sibelius a scholarship in honour of his 90th birthday to enable a young Finnish composer of his choice to study in the United States. Sibelius selected Rautavaara who spent two years studying with Vincent Persichetti at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and also took part in the summer courses at Tanglewood given by Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland. In 1957 Rautavaara continued his studies with Wladimir Vogel in Ascona, Switzerland and a year later with Rudolf Petzold in Cologne. Rautavaara has taught and lectured at the Sibelius Academy as the professor of composition. Since 1988 he has made his living as a composer in Helsinki.

Rautavaara's earliest works revealed close ties to tradition but also his desire to renew it. They were followed by an extreme constructivist and avant-garde phase (as in the serially organized fourth symphony "Arabescata", 1962) after which Rautavaara turned to hyper-romanticism and finally mysticism. Since the early 1980s, Rautavaara has adopted a sort of post-modern musical language in which modern and traditional elements of varying degrees of constructivism or freedom are combined with one another.

Rautavaara has composed eight symphonies, the most frequently performed of them being the Angel of Light, his seventh symphony. Symphony No. 8, The Journey was premiered in April 2000 by The Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch. Other important groups of works include concertos for different solo instruments, among them the three piano concertos, the popular Violin Concerto (1977), the Harp Concerto (2000) and the Clarinet Concerto (2001-02). Rautavaara has also written a large body of chamber music as well as choral and vocal works including All-Night Vigil for a cappella chorus. One of Rautavaara's most popular works is Cantus arcticus, concerto for birds and orchestra, in which the straightforward orchestral part is juxtaposed with the sounds of birds recorded by the composer himself. Rautavaara's latest orchestral works, published by Boosey & Hawkes, include and Manhattan Trilogy (2004), Book of Visions (2005), Before the Icons (2005) and A Tapestry of Life (2007).

Apart form his symphonies (ODE 1145-2Q) and concertos (ODE 1156-2Q), the central pillars of Rautavaara's extensive oeuvre are his operas. With Vincent (1985-87) and The House of the Sun (1990) Rautavaara has scored a notable international success. Aleksis Kivi (1995-96) was premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1997 and it has been performed in Cosenza, Italy and Minneapolis, U.S.A since then. The latest stage work is Rasputin (2001-2003), an opera about the life of mystic and healer Grigory Rasputin.

Booklet for Rachmaninov: All-night Vigil, Vespers