Music for Holy Week - Moscow Synodal Choir

[Ein Heldenleben]

The singing in this is amazing. Those basses...

[Frances_iom]

The singing in this is amazing. Those basses...

I don't see why we don't hear more from these truly excellent choirs, the technical sound quality was also excellent - likewise why do we have to put up with the potboilers from New York when surely we could hear live broadcasts from the Bolshoi (do they still sing only in Russian translation as they did 30+ years ago when I was a regular most Orthodox christmases? but even if they did there is such a wide range of excellent Russian language operas that would benefit from native Russian speaking voices)

[gradus]

I don't see why we don't hear more from these truly excellent choirs, the technical sound quality was also excellent - likewise why do we have to put up with the potboilers from New York when surely we could hear live broadcasts from the Bolshoi (do they still sing only in Russian translation as they did 30+ years ago when I was a regular most Orthodox christmases? but even if they did there is such a wide wide of excellent Russian language operas that would benefit from native Russian speaking voices)

I was going to start pruning the roses but had to listen once this choir started to sing, I hope that R3 can manage to broadcast more of their performances live in future, they are remarkable.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I don't see why we don't hear more from these truly excellent choirs, the technical sound quality was also excellent - likewise why do we have to put up with the potboilers from New York when surely we could hear live broadcasts from the Bolshoi (do they still sing only in Russian translation as they did 30+ years ago when I was a regular most Orthodox christmases? but even if they did there is such a wide range of excellent Russian language operas that would benefit from native Russian speaking voices)

I don’t know why Russian sounds so wonderful when sung and I don’t understand a word of it but the diction in that performance was something to hear ! Can’t get the voice of that mezzo soloist out of my head - surely she’s an opera / lieder singer ?

[Cockney Sparrow]

I don’t know why Russian sounds so wonderful when sung and I don’t understand a word of it but the diction in that performance was something to hear ! Can’t get the voice of that mezzo soloist out of my head - surely she’s an opera / lieder singer ?

Yes! Thanks for the recommendation. Quite something, the writing and the performance (the solo is about 28 minutes after the start). It seemed her name was Varvara Federova (listening to the announcement) but that's probably incorrect - no trace on Google........ Ian Skelly has said the choir have performed in the UK - now I'd like to hear them live!

I have a continuing fascination with the mezzo Klara Korkan's contribution to the Sveshnikov Rachmaninov Vespers ("All Night Vigil") recorded in 1965. The part doesn't call for vocal pyrotechnics but somehow her contribution seems completely sincere - I find it very affecting. Sveshnikov himself graduated from the Moscow Synodical School (b1980). It seems recording the Rachmaninov was a labour of love and in the political climate must have been quite an achievement - the recording was for years only released outside the USSR. (Klara Korkan emigrated to Israel).

[ardcarp]

Things not quite in the same league in Bulgaria, maybe?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Things not quite in the same league in Bulgaria, maybe?

I think it’s fair to say that the Moscow choir set a standard that very few choirs in any genre could match including some of our more famous and much touted British names. As my wife said they sang like they really meant it ...

[oddoneout]

Things not quite in the same league in Bulgaria, maybe?

It's not for everyone is it? As it happens it was fortuitous that I'm not a fan of the gargle school(for some reason I was reminded of seasonal amphibian activities) and that I had already heard the Wells CE because it meant I could get out for combined exercise and picking up some shopping I couldn't finish yesterday without missing anything I wanted to hear.
I agree about the Synodal choir offerings; it's not usually the kind of thing that engages me especially but this I did listen to and enjoy. I was singularly unprepared today having forgotten to change the clocks last night and not having looked at the day's listings ahead of time, so not realised it was an EBU day. That was a good way to get back on track again though.

[ardcarp]

I've just re-listened to the Moscow Synodal Choir. Very fine singing indeed. I suppose each tradition of religious music has a style that is considered appropriate to church performance. The Russian Orthodox church seemed especially specific about what was acceptable. (I guess monody was the main sung medium before about 1800, so perhaps we are discussing a 19th century style which continued into the early 20th century, yea even through the Revolution, albeit in secret.) I remember being astonished when I first sang the Rach Vespers years ago at how un-Rachmaninov it sounded! The Russian tongue certainly provides those characteristic vowel sounds...and there must be something in the water that nurtures those bassi profundi.

[DracoM]

Moscow Synodal Choir. Very fine singing indeed - yes.
Sorry, but I fear that for me much of the rest of the day has been repetitive of so much based in much the same periods of music / cultural contexts - and thus predictable.