The Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow is the principal church of the Russian Orthodox Church. After being detonated in 1931 under Soviet rule, it was rebuilt at great effort and expense during the 1990s. Patriarch Kyrill I was enthroned there in 2009 and has continued to celebrate the liturgies of high holidays in the Cathedral ever since.

The Patriarch Choir of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, under the direction of Ilya Tolkachev, consists of professional singers, and represents the face of Russian Orthodox music today.

The first CD of the Patriarch Choir presents new liturgical and concert compositions composed by Natalia Haszler and the choral director Ilya Tolkachev. These draw upon the long tradition of liturgical choral works of the Russian Church, leading us into the world of classical Russian sacred chants with powerful chords and dark basses. However, the tradition is scrupulously expanded through new sounds and chord formations, adding new touches of colours.

With the compositions of the German Natalia Haszler, the Russian Orthodox Church is, for the first time, opening itself to works, now being performed in the liturgy, by a woman composer who is not from Russia.