The Penitential Psalms for mixed choir a cappella were first performed on Boxing Day 1988, in the concert hall of Moscow University, by the USSR State Chamber Choir under the direction of Valery Polyansky. They deal with the motif of original sin and refer to the story of the treacherous murder of Vladimir’s sons Boris and Gleb, later canonised and revered as martyrs, which their older half-brother Svyatopolk perpetrated in 1015 in the course of bloody conflicts over the succession. This masterpiece of exceptional density and rigour, at once contemporary and timeless, is performed here from the composer’s autograph manuscript, which includes significant divergences from the published edition.

In the autumn of 1983, at the Moscow premiere of the Faust Cantata, Polyansky had asked Schnittke to write a new a cappella piece for his ensemble, a request that was initially declined. It was only after repeated urging that Schnittke relented, and the very next day after this renewed plea, he thrust into the surprised conductor’s hand the manuscript of three choral movements setting prayers used in Russian Orthodox devotions – not without berating Polyansky, tongue-in-cheek, as a ‘dreadful fellow’ for his tenacity. In comparison with the Penitential Psalms, the Three Sacred Hymns are more strongly rooted in the Romantic tradition of Russian sacred music, such as Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil.