Alexander Grechaninov’s Passion Week (1912) for unaccompanied choir was virtually unknown until it was first recorded in the 1990s. It is now recognised as ‘a milestone in Russian choral music’ (Gramophone).
Passion Week offers a moving meditation on Christ’s capture, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. The texts, in Church Slavonic, come from the Orthodox Holy Week services, while the music pays tribute both to traditional Eastern European chants and to the luscious harmonic language of late Romanticism. Highlights include the dialogue between male and female singers in ‘In Thy Kingdom’, the funeral march of ‘The Noble Joseph’ and the quiet exultation of the concluding ‘Let All Mortal Flesh’, with its promise of eternal salvation.
Lose yourself in Grechaninov’s hypnotic sound in a late-night concert given by the ‘fabulous’ (The Telegraph) Edinburgh Festival Chorus and their director James Grossmith. Beanbags are provided for extra-comfortable seating.
