Search - Tchaikovsky, Korniev, St. Petersburg Chamber :: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom / Sacred Choral

Given his usual penchant for homogenizing the Russian elements in so much of his music, it is a happy revelation to hear Tchaikovsky's setting of the "Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom." It is one of the four eucharistic services of the Russian Orthodox Church, the equivalent of a Roman Catholic Mass or Anglican Holy Communion service. This is one of his vocally most interesting and least western-sounding scores. It is given a strong, idiomatic reading here by the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir under Nikolai Korniev. Along with the "Liturgy," there are seven of Tchaikovsky's "Nine Sacred Choral Works," of which the first, "Cherubic Hymn No. 1: 'Izhe cheruvim'i'" is a particularly ravishing little gem, artfully blending the choral lines in an irresistibly Slavic tune. --Sarah Bryan Miller