Rachmaninov Vespers

Sergei Rachmaninov is best known for his works for piano and for orchestra. He also composed one of the greatest works in the choral repertoire: the hour-long, unaccompanied All-Night Vigil, often called his “Vespers.” Written in 1915, it incorporates ancient Russian Orthodox chant melodies into a complex weaving of impassioned choral voices. Here is the most beautiful blossom in the final flowering of the great Russian choral tradition at the turn of the twentieth century.