RACHMANINOFF All-Night Vigil, op. 37 (arr. Gretchaninoff/Lazarev/Sheehan) • Ekaterina Antonenko, cond; Igor Morozov (ten); Evgeny Kachurovsky (bar); Alexis V. Lukianov (bs); PaTRAM Institute Male Ch • CHANDOS 5349 (SACD: 70:13 )

Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil (Chandos) presents the Russian composer’s a cappella choral masterwork in an arrangement for male choir. The performers are the PaTRAM (Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute) Male Choir, under the direction of Ekaterina Antonenko. Rachmaninoff scored his All-night Vigil (often referred to as Vespers) for mixed chorus, with alto and tenor soloists. In this recording, the alto solo in the work’s second movement (“Bless the Lord, O my Soul”) is performed by a baritone. Three composers contributed to the male choir version heard on the Chandos recording. As conductor Antonenko explains in her liner notes: “The starting point for this recording was Number 7 of Rachmaninoff’s All-night Vigil—Six Psalms—arranged by Alexander Gretchaninoff for a male choir. Gretchaninoff preserved almost the entire score by Rachmaninoff, transposing it a fifth lower.” The remaining movements of the All-night Vigil are arranged by two contemporary composers, both born in 1980; Dmitrii Lazarev (mvts. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9) and Benedict Sheehan (mvts. 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). Antonenko describes their contributions: “In most cases Dmitrii Lazarev preserves Rachmaninoff’s original keys, with minimal adjustments to the texture of the movements…Following Gretchaninoff, Benedict Sheehan strives to preserve fully the texture of Rachmaninoff’s scoring, placing it in a comfortable key for a male choir.” In the Chandos recording, the PaTRAM Male Choir includes 8 octavists, with Alexis V. Lukianov highlighted in a solo capacity. Indeed, it is Lukianov’s sonorous, noble, and sepulchral call to prayer that inaugurates this All-night Vigil.

Readers will decide whether they want to hear Rachmaninoff’s work in such an arrangement. I can report that the singing on this recording is glorious in every respect. The tonal beauty and richness of the PaTRAM Male Choir, its superb intonation, and wealth of colors and dynamics are sublime. And the fervor the Choir and soloists invest in the score is moving and inspirational. The recording, made in the Russian Orthodox Convent Monastery Church of the Ascension on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, has all the majestic resonance, color, and definition one could desire. There are full texts and translations, as well as several fascinating essays. A superb choral release. Ken Meltzer