Search - Ndr Chor Hamburg :: Tchaikovsky: Sacred Choral Music

The NDR Choir, one of Germanys leading professional chamber choirs and its conductor Philipp Ahmann invite the listener to discover a little-known facet of Tchaikovskys musical oeuvre: a cappella choral works for Russian Orthodox services. The internationally popular creator of immortal masterpieces such as Swan Lake and Eugene Onegin presented his first church music composition in 1878: the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The present CD offers a selection of four of altogether thirteen choruses comprising Opus 41. Like the Nine Sacred Choruses which were composed in 1884/85, these works breathe the spirit of Old Russian church hymns; nevertheless, their musical language points the way to the future. These cycles are complemented with the chorus The Angel Cried from the year 1887, a remarkable, richly hued work of art, versatile in its setting and a wealth of sonorous effects.