Friday Performance Pick – 8

Pavel Chesnokov: Spaseniye Sodelal

If you’re looking for Russian choral music, there are lots of places you might go before checking out boys choirs in Atlanta. I went to all those other places (well, many of them). But I settled on this performance by the Georgia Boy Choir for several reasons.

First, let’s say something about the music. If you have sung in choirs or know something about choral music, you may already know this work under the English title “Salvation Is Created.” Choirs everywhere are attracted to Russian choral works, and Chesnokov (1877-1944) has a prominent place among composers of this rich and expressive music. Anybody who reads Professor Carol’s posts or takes her courses will understand what’s special about Russian choral music. It has deep roots in Russian Orthodoxy and is part of the national identity. Composers in the 19th century trying to create a Russian nationalist style naturally turned to their traditional church chant. You hear it in the works of Glinka, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky. The melding of late Romanticism and Orthodoxy culminates most notably in Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil (1915).

Unlike these well-known Russian composers though, Chesnokov did not produce symphonies and operas. Instead, he devoted himself to choral music, and he earned some of the most prominent posts in Moscow. The most interesting of these was at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: he was its last choirmaster before the church was destroyed by Stalin. Now if you don’t know the history of that Cathedral, you will find it fascinating. Watch also this short video clip from a documentary made years later featuring the man who had been tasked with filming the church’s destruction. Chesnokov, of course, also witnessed the church’s demolition, and was so disturbed by it that he ceased writing music altogether.

Of the many online video performances of this work, I was drawn to this one by the the Georgia Boy Choir both because of the musicality of the performance and the quality of the production. The style demands a wide range of expression—exuberance as well as extreme control. That’s not easy to achieve with young voices alone. You can get a sense of how hard they work and see what’s involved at their website. Maybe there’s a similar organization where you live that deserves your support.

Finally, this weekly Performance Pick series will go on hiatus for December while we focus on Professor Carol’s Advent Calendar. This work seems like a fitting transition into Advent with its text:

Cпасение coдeлaл еси посреде земли, Боже. Аллилуия.
Salvation is created, in midst of the earth, O God, O our God. Alleluia.