Glory to the Music and Singing. Choruses by the modern Petersburgian composers for mixed choir a cappella

A series of five choir collections issued by the “Compozitor Publishing House • Saint-Petersburg” is arranged to coincide with the 7th International Competition for Young Choral Conductors to be held in Russia for the first time ever. The competition will be organized by the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts and the Center for international cooperation “Inter Aspect” in conjunction with the European Choral Association — Europa Cantat (April 3–6, 2013, St. Petersburg).

This collection titled “Glory to the Music and Singing” for a mixed choir a cappella includes ceuvres of seven leading St. Petersburg composers, which are long acknowledged as important figures in the world of choral music.

The collection includes works by G. Korchmar, S. Yekimov, S. Slonimsky, S. Banevich, A. Korolyov, and Yu. Falik, each of which features a unique composer touch along with a vivid and recognizable choral style.

There are touching and sentimental intonations of S. Banevich’s “Petersburgian Litany”; D. Smirnov’s expressive motives wrapped up in “church acoustics” from the Mandelshtam concert; S. Yekimov’s psalm — rigid, and containing colorful “hacked” recitative for solo voice and, sometimes, dissonant harmonies, the first Soviet “modern” composition for choir of a cappella written by Slonimsky. The part song concert of G. Korchmar, somewhat stylized to remind of Bortnyansky and A. Korolyov’s choral opus, is a powerful, rhythmically elastic, as all of the Brodsky verses...

The collection is topped with “Devils” from the “Pushkin’s Strophes” concert — a bold, masterful, and brilliant work by Yu. Falik, who has become a classical author of St. Petersburg choral music. 

I am convinced that these ceuvres (some of them are published for the first time), will catch your interest and, maybe, will be included into the repertoire of your choral ensemble.

Sergei Yekimov,
artistic director of the 7th International Competition
for Young Choral Conductors,
member of the Union of Russian Composers
and the St. Petersburg Association of Concert Professionals,
associate professor

Contents:

G. Korchmar. GLORY TO THE MUSIC AND SINGING. The part song concert. Verses by unknown author of XVII century (Music text example)
S. Yekimov. THE LORD SAID UNTO MY LORD. Psalm 110
S. Slonimsky. EVENING MUSIC
D. Smirnov. MY SILENT DREAM... From the concerto for mixed choir a cappella “I was born in the ninety-fourth, I was born in the ninety-second...” to the verses by Osip Mandelshtam
S. Banevich. WE WILL TAKE A REVENGE. From the “Petersburgian Litany” for mixed choir a cappella to the verses by Anna Akhmatova
A. Korolyov. WE DON’T DRINK WINE... Verses by I. Brodsky (Music text example)
Yu. Falik. DEVILS. Fragment from the Concerto “Pushkin’s Strophes”. Verses by A. Pushkin
Supplement. English translation of the Russian texts