Programme:
Rachhmaninov. “All-Night Vigil” (Всенощное бдение, op. 37)

“All-Night Vigil” is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of composer Sergey Rachmaninov and also one of the highest achievements of the music of the Russian Orthodox Church. The work was composed in the winter of 1915 as a cappella choral work. One third of it is the composer’s original music which is combined with Orthodox sacred music of different traditions.

The work contains texts of three worship services, known in the Roman Catholic Church as “Evening Prayers”, “Morning Prayers” and “The First Hour”. Rachmaninov’s personal favourite was the fifth part of the piece using the exceptionally low vocal bass (basso profundo) typical of Russian sacred music.