Grechaninov was a prominent member of an extraordinary creative movement known as the ‘new Russian choral school, which included such figures as Rachmaninov and Nikolsky, among others. These composers created one of the largest and most colourful bodies of unaccompanied sacred choral literature in modern times, including numerous complete settings of such Orthodox services. Among these composers Grechaninov stands out as one who sought to imbue choral composition with the same grand forms and dimensions as those employed by contemporary composers of symphonic music.

 

The seven days known as Passion Week represent an entirely unique period in the liturgical year of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church: a time of great liturgical intensity in which worshippers are invited to re-live, “in real time”, the dramatic events in the life of Jesus Christ. It is out of this vast amount of hymnographic material that Aleksandr Grechaninov selectively drew the thirteen settings that form his Passion Week, opus 58. Each setting can be regarded as a musical highlight from the particular service in which it occurs. Musically speaking, Grechaninov regarded Passion Week as “exhausting all the technical means which the unaccompanied chorus can render.” It takes the listener through a broad range of emotional and spiritual experience, and enlarges both the musical forms and the choral forces in terms of range and complexity of texture.

 

Grechaninov’s choral writing is more rich and opulent in this work than anything composed on Russian Orthodox sacred texts at any time during the preceding two centuries. It is especially impressive to be heard by such accomplished choirs and continued familiarity with this work will surely establish it as one of the great choral masterworks of the twentieth century.

 

Charles Bruffy is one of the most highly respected and sought-after choral conductors in America; the Phoenix Bach Choir is rapidly increasing its national and international presence.