In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Serge Rachmaninoff, PaTRAM* Institute Male Choir invites you to experience the extraordinary beauty of his choral tour de force, the All-night Vigil, composed in 1915.

The Vigil is a traditional Russian Orthodox evening worship service. Combining the offices of Vespers and Matins, it is celebrated on evenings in advance of Sundays and major feast days. Rachmaninoff’s setting of fifteen fixed texts appointed for Saturday evening services relies principally on traditional chant melodies. The ‘Rachmaninoff in the Holy Land’ project brought together experienced choristers from around the globe to unite as PaTRAM Institute Male Choir.

The album was recorded in the Russian Orthodox Convent Monastery Church of the Ascension, set amidst an olive grove atop the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem. Inspired by Alexander Gretchaninoff’s arrangement of ‘Glory to God in the Highest’ (hymn 7), the Choir turned to adaptations by Dmitrii Lazarev and Benedict Sheehan for male voice choir of the remaining hymns. Lowering the key of many of the pieces (to fit better with male voices) allowed the eight bass octavists featured on the recording to give an exceptional depth to the Choir’s sound.

*Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute

For his latest release on Sony Classical, pianist Lucas Debargue turns to one of the unsung treasuries of the piano repertoire: the works of Gabriel Fauré.

In a remarkable undertaking, Debargue has recorded every note of his compatriot’s piano music, all on a newly designed piano rarely heard on record until now. Throughout each recording, he retraced Fauré's musical path, from his earliest works to his final compositions. "Recording it," says the pianist, has "transformed my life both as a person and as a musician."

Debargue’s recording of Fauré’s complete piano works is a major recording event of the Fauré anniversary, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1924. A comprehensive set of sleeve notes notes includes the pianist’s own commentary on each piece, an analysis of Fauré’s approach to writing for the piano, and full details of the Paulello Opus 102 instrument he plays on the recordings.

Cappella Records proudly announces the release of Frank La Rocca’s “Requiem for the Forgotten - Messe des Malades”, performed by Benedict XVI Choir and Orchestra, directed by renowned international conductor Richard Sparks.

“Requiem for the Forgotten” commemorates the displaced and the homeless, constructing a musical sanctuary for the soul while championing the inherent dignity of every person, particularly those who have been forsaken. Drawing upon his Ukrainian heritage, La Rocca’s setting of a poem on Ukrainian priest Andrei Ischak (martyred by the Bolsheviks) deeply resonates with those enduring oppression today. The composer’s late sister Carin, who valiantly confronted the challenges of multiple sclerosis, gave inspiration to the “Messe des Malades” (Mass for the Sick). It underscores the universal need for healing, capturing the composer’s personal journey as well in every note. Infused with an ethical power towards empathy, this music moves us to use our own gifts in a more excellent way for a broken world.

Benedict XVI Choir’s début recording of these works is sung by some of America’s finest singers, many GRAMMY®-nominated. Sung in Latin and English. Booklet includes all translations.

Among Simon Rattle's first concert programs as the new chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony. The performances marked the beginning of a new chapter in Mahler interpretation, for Rattle, like his predecessors Jansons, Maazel and Kubelík, is an ardent admirer of the composer. BR-KLASSIK has now released the live recording of the concerts.

Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony is perhaps the darkest work he ever wrote – its nickname is "The Tragic". And there is something almost destructive about the final movement. "But strangely enough," says Simon Rattle, "it is also a very classical symphony. Yes, it is extreme, but for long stretches it is less wild than other works of his – although of course it does convey a harrowing message. But it's like a lot of great works: there are always different ways of reading them. I've been conducting the Sixth for forty years now, and over time I’ve come to realise that it also contains hope."

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra can with justification be regarded as ‘Sibelius’s own orchestra’, as it was this orchestra, usually conducted by the composer, that premièred most of his major works. On this disc of three such pieces, the orchestra is conducted by Susanna Malkki; the recording follows on from their three acclaimed albums devoted to the music of Bartók.

Although they were all later revised, the three works on this recording all originated within a very short period in Sibelius’s career: the years 1893–96, a time when he was beginning to establish himself as a composer and a time of national awakening.

One of his most popular works, the Karelia Suite is drawn from a series of tableaux that evoked events in the history of Karelia, the region where Finland and Russia meet. In late 19th-century Finland, the promotion of Karelian folk culture was both fashionable and politically relevant. The short suite Rakastava [The Lover] is a subtle reworking of a work for male voices based on lyrical poems from the collection Kanteletar; Sibelius often conducted it in concert. Sibelius often drew inspiration from the Finnish national epic Kalevala, and episodes from this poem provide the subject matter of Lemminkainen, a substantial four-movement suite (including the captivating Swan of Tuonela) that recounts the adventures of a daredevil hero, a sort of Nordic Don Juan.

REVIEWS:

Mälkki and the orchestra remarkably conjure the dark, swirling soundworld of ‘Lemminkäinen in Tuonela’ (the Hades of Finnish legend). And the concluding ‘Lemminkäinen’s Return’ canters along in roistering style.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Susanna Mälkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra produce wellcrafted, beautifully detailed accounts on a par with rival versions – including the Helsinki orchestra’s own with Segerstam (with warm Ondine sound) from the mid-1990s.

-- Gramophone

Singer Asmik Grigorian has chosen to record both versions of Richard Strauss's ultimate masterpiece, composed in 1948: the version with orchestra and the much rarer version with piano. For her, this work is associated with the idea of solitude, but not an unhappy solitude, rather a journey towards infinity: "Now all my senses long to sink into slumber. And the soul, unguarded, longs to soar up in freedom, so that, in night’s magic circle, it may live deeply and a thousandfold." writes Hermann Hesse in Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep), the third song in the cycle. For this unique coupling, Asmik is joined by two long-time accomplices: conductor Mikko Franck, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and pianist Markus Hinterhauser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. The combination of the two versions opens up new sensations: after the well-known abundance of Strauss's orchestration an incredible sensitivity is revealed by the piano version.