A New Setting of Eastern Orthodox Vespers

from the Amazon.com Web page for the recording being discussed

This past Friday Cappella Records, which specializes in recordings of Eastern Orthodox liturgical music performed by the Saint Tikhon Choir, released a new album of music for the Vespers service composed by Benedict Sheehan. The advance material described this music as “Inspired by the great All-Night Vigil setting by Rachmaninoff.” Readers that have been following this site for a while may recall that, almost exactly have a decade ago, this site discussed the Musical Concepts reissue of a Russian recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 37, whose title in English is All-Night Vigil, on its alto label.

In Sheehan’s version all of the liturgical texts have been translated into English. I have to confess that I was easily drawn into Opus 37, simply because, as I put it, it “is so remote from what one expects from Rachmaninoff.” Apparently, Rachmaninoff himself declared it to be one of his favorite compositions. When I learned of that preference, I decided it was significant, particularly since it had absolutely nothing to do with his virtuosity as a pianist. He even left instructions that the fifth movement, based on the Kievan chant setting of “Now let Thy Servant depart” be sung at his funeral.

That text surfaces as the tenth movement in Sheehan’s setting, which also draws upon that Kievan chant. (At least two other Russian composers preceded Rachmaninoff in drawing upon the same chant: Alexander Gretchaninov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Apparently, the chant is as familiar to Russian composers as the “Dies irae” chant is to those in the Western world!) Sheehan called his movement a “vocal concerto for basso profondo;” and the recording features the solo work of Glenn Miller. While I have been an atheist for about 40 years, I have to say that I tend to feel that “concerto rhetoric” tends to act at cross-purposes to liturgical practices, perhaps suggesting that Rachmaninoff was more sincere in his devotions than Sheehan was.

Indeed, Cappella Records seems to be a cottage industry for promoting liturgical music of Eastern origins and reflecting on those origins through new compositions. Ultimately, I could not warm up to Sheehan’s efforts. Rachmaninoff seldom works his way to the top of any category list; but where this liturgical repertoire is concerned, I would say that his Opus 37 composition and its choices of original sources continues to maintain his place at the top.