Record of the day: “Chants de la Liturgie Slavonne”

“Chants De La Liturgie Slavonne” (Cd Harmonia Mundi HMA 190567)

Listening to music performed during Orthodox religious ceremonies is an extraordinary experience, which can be fully shared even by those who do not profess any faith.
The Greek and Slavic traditions draw directly from the Byzantine rite, transmitting to us over the centuries melodies of dazzling beauty, whose expressive charge allows them to transcend the practical religious use for which they were born to make them land directly in the realm of immortal music.
Of course the best way to appreciate this repertoire is to listen to it live in an Orthodox church, but records like

this can partially make the intense emotion, difficult
to be put into words, that this music provokes when listening.

The choir of the Benedictine Monks of the Union directed by Gregoire Bainbridge, formed by singers with splendid voices, offers us at the beginning several “Heirmi” (that is, the incipits) of the various Odes that make up the vast form of the Canon (made up of nine parts of identical metric structure); the second part is dedicated to songs used during the Easter liturgy, such as the “Great Canon” of St. Andrew of Crete and the “Beatitudes according to St. Matthew”.

The hieratic and harmonic-free character of the music immediately communicates to the listener a sense of dazzling
majesty, similar to that found in the depictions present in the mosaics of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna or in the architecture and icons present in the church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and in the Church of the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.
The solemn melodic iterations of this style have directly influenced twentieth-century composers such as Stravinsky (just think of pages like “Ave Maria”, “Credo” and “Pater Noster”) and Rachmaninov (the “Liturgies of St.

Giovanni Crisostomo”) still reverberating today in the work of contemporary authors such as Arvo Pärt and John Tavener, who are also dedicated to a musical style that tends to cancel the temporal scansion to embrace an eternal dimension devoid of traditional points of reference.

But don’t think of it as a boring or difficult listen; you are immediately captivated by the special beauty of these compositions, capable of moving and involving both classical music enthusiasts and fans of popular music.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.