Praise the Lord in 25 words or less

December 18, 2007 Brian Cavalier music cd

Album: Praise the Lord- the Orthodox Sacred Music of the Late 19th and the Early 20th Centuries
Composer: S. Rachmaninov, P. Tchaikovsky, A. Grechaninov, P. Chesnokov, A. Lvov, A. Archangelsky, M. Balakirev, K. Shvedov
Artist: Chamber Choir KIEV
Conductor: Unknown

Rating: ★★★★★

Expressive singing, huge dynamic range, excellent Slavonic diction, and possibly the finest male voices I've heard make this a must-own.

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Find it at Amazon.com | iTunes

This is an amazing collection of many Russian Orthodox "standards", and the choral performance itself certainly deserves 5 stars. There are also some less frequently heard selections, which is a very welcome bonus.

I waffled a bit on giving the CD 5 stars overall, though, so I figured I should mention the reasons briefly. First, I believe that some of the selections, while impeccably performed, seem slightly out of place sonically when listening to the overall sound of the album. Track 3, Rachmaninov's "To Thee We Sing", is an example. It doesn't seem to fit in the otherwise well-chosen flow of tracks 1 through 5. If you listen on random, you may never notice this kind of thing.

Second, there are some direction choices that do not make sense to my ears. As one example, on the final track, Tchaikovsky's "Praise the Lord from the Heavens", the second half of the Alleluia section is sung in double tempo (or at least significantly higher tempo). To my ears, it does not work, and is especially noticeable as the closing sound of the entire album.

I am, of course, picking nits. This album is the finest performance of Russian Orthodox master works in my collection.

Nativity Season Concert

The St. George Orthodox Church Choir will be joining six other choirs for a Christmas Concert on Friday, December 14 at 7:30pm at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the South Hills. It will be a truly Pan-Orthodox event with choirs from the Greek, Carpatho Russian, Ukranian, OCA, ROCOR, Serbian, and Antiochian Archdiocese singing Liturgical and seasonal music from their traditions, and then joining together as one choir for the final piece.

Thanks to Holy Trinity Orthodox Church for organizing and sponsoring the event and to Holy Cross for hosting.

Christ is Born!

Masses et Motets de la Renaissance in 25 words or less

Masses et Motets de la Renaissance - Musique Sacrée de la Renaissance - Century 8

July 19, 2007 Brian Cavalier music cd

Album: Masses et Motets de la Renaissance - Musique Sacrée de la Renaissance - Century 8
Composer: Byrd, Monteverde, Palestrina, Tallis, and others
Artist: Various
Conductor: Various

Rating: ★★★★☆

Light, beautiful countertenor and soprano voices shine, and are the reason for listening to this pleasing, if somewhat typical, tour of the genre.

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Find it at Amazon.com | Liturgica.com

S. Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in 25 words or less

Moscow Chamber Choir - S. Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

May 18, 2007 Brian Cavalier music cd

Album: S. Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
Artist: Moscow Chamber Choir
Conductor: Vladimir Minin

Rating: ★★★★★

A world-class performance. The dynamics, the blend, the balance! I was nearly brought to tears by “The Lord’s Prayer” the first time I listened.

0.3

Find it at Amazon.com

Taste the Fountain of Immortality in 25 words or less

Valaam Brotherhood Choir - Taste the Fountain of Immorality

April 16, 2007 Brian Cavalier music cd

Album: Taste the Fountain of Immortality
Composer: Traditional Valaam, Znamenny, and other Chants
Artist: Valaam Brotherhood Choir
Conductor: Unknown?

Rating: ★★★★★

Excellent musical settings, both simple and sophisticated, and extraordinarily pure, precise male voices create harmony that must be heard to be believed.

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Find it at Liturgica.com

Lay Aside all Earthly Cares in 25 words or less

Cappella Romana - Lay Aside all Earthly Cares

Feb 22, 2007 Brian Cavaliermusiccd

Album: Lay Aside All Earthly Cares
Composer: Father Sergei Glagolev
Artist: Cappella Romana
Conductor: Alexander Lingas

Rating: ★★★★☆

A heavenly album of inspired compositions, excellently performed. New, yet ancient. Dynamic, yet practically singable. Exciting, yet absolutely prayerful.

0.3

A quick note about this review. The “25 words or less” part was inspired by my friend Jeff who posts 25 word or less movie reviews. I've been wanting to write Orthodox music reviews for a while, but always found myself being too wordy. I'm hoping that limiting myself will allow me to actually get some reviews done. Thanks, Jeff!

This review is also formatted as an hReview. I really like microformats, and was inspired by this review and this subsequent post by John Hicks to format my music reviews as hReviews. Thanks to those examples, it was easy to get an hReview up in Blogger.

Christos Razdajetsja!

Merry Christmas to all of our old-calendar Orthodox family and friends celebrating Christmas this weekend!