Kaspars Putnins, Netherlands Radio Choir - Rachmaninov: Vespers (2014) / AvaxHome

All-Night Vigil has been recognised as a supreme achievement in the music of the Russian Orthodox Church. Together with the choral symphony The Bells, it is one of Rachmaninov’s favourite compositions. As a coupling the Netherlands Radio Choir have chosen to record one of Rachmaninov's earliest works, composed in 1893 and unpublished in his lifetime. The Theotokos, Ever-Vigilant in Prayer is a hymn to the Virgin – ‘the one who gives birth to God’ – and clearly aims to exploit the skill of a first-class choir, with its varied textures, tempos and wide range of dynamics.

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor: Kaspars Putnins
Orchestra/Ensemble: Netherlands Radio Choir

Reviews: The rituals and traditions of the Orthodox Church formed an essential part of Sergei Rachmaninov's musical and cultural background. As a young boy in St Petersburg he'd accompany his grandmother to the city’s churches, later remarking: 'I took less interest in God and religious worship than in the singing, which was of unrivalled beauty, especially in the cathedrals.' Phrases reminiscent of liturgical chant appear in Rachmaninov's music from the First Symphony of 1895 to the Symphonic Dances of 1940, and from the time of its first performance in 1915, his All-Night Vigil has been recognised as a supreme achievement in the music of the Russian Orthodox Church. Together with the choral symphony The Bells, it was also the composer’s own favourite among all his works. Often referred to as ‘Rachmaninov’s Vespers’, its fifteen movements in fact make up an All-night Vigil service, consisting of not only the Vespers, but also the liturgical offices of Matins, Lauds and Prime. When composing it, Rachmaninov carefully observed the general principles of Orthodox church music, but seems to have realised that the practical difficulties of his Vigil made liturgical performances unlikely. The choral writing makes huge demands on even the most skilled choirs: in the course of the work Rachmaninov shows astonishing resource in exploiting every possibility offered by changes of texture, timbre, register and weight. It is here performed by the highly regarded Netherlands Radio Choir, one of the largest and most versatile professional choirs in the world, conducted by Kaspars Putni?š. As a coupling they have chosen to record one of Rachmaninov's earliest works, composed in 1893 and unpublished in his lifetime. The Theotokos, Ever-Vigilant in Prayer is a hymn to the Virgin – ‘the one who gives birth to God’ – and clearly aims to exploit the skill of a first-class choir, with its varied textures, tempos and wide range of dynamics.

Tracklisting:

1. Beginning song: Come let us worship 00:02:40
2. Psalm 103 (104), "O praise the Lord" 00:04:05
3. Blessed is the man 00:04:09
4. O Joyful Light 00:02:45
5. Song of Simeon: Lord, now let your servant depart 00:03:23
6. Hail, O Virgin Mother (Ave Maria) 00:02:55
7. Hexapsalms: Glory to God on high 00:02:09
8. Psalm 134 - 135 (135 - 136), "O praise the name of the Lord" 00:02:07
9. Glorifying song of the Resurrection: Teach me O lord in the way of truth 00:05:56
10. Hymn of Resurrection: We have seen the resurrection 00:02:31
11. Magnificat: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord 00:06:21
12. Great Doxology: Glory be to God on high 00:06:18
13. Resurrection hymn (Troparion): This day of salvation has come to the world 00:01:38
14. Resurrection hymn (Troparion): When you had risen 00:02:48
15. Thanksgiving hymn of Virgin Mary: O victorious leader 00:01:25

EAC

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 14. March 2015, 17:58

Netherlands Radio Choir, Kaspars Putnins / Rachmaninov - Vespers

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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2 | 2:43.48 | 4:07.04 | 12273 | 30801
3 | 6:50.52 | 4:11.25 | 30802 | 49651
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6 | 17:16.72 | 2:57.70 | 77772 | 91116
7 | 20:14.67 | 2:11.15 | 91117 | 100956
8 | 22:26.07 | 2:08.71 | 100957 | 110627
9 | 24:35.03 | 5:58.25 | 110628 | 137502
10 | 30:33.28 | 2:32.42 | 137503 | 148944
11 | 33:05.70 | 6:23.13 | 148945 | 177682
12 | 39:29.08 | 6:20.25 | 177683 | 206207
13 | 45:49.33 | 1:41.05 | 206208 | 213787
14 | 47:30.38 | 2:49.05 | 213788 | 226467
15 | 50:19.43 | 1:37.01 | 226468 | 233743
16 | 51:56.44 | 8:23.33 | 233744 | 271501

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\temp\BIS-SACD-2039 - Rachmaninov - Vespers\Rachmaninov - Vespers.wav

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9FF38ECB
Copy CRC 9FF38ECB
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

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==== Log checksum F43300714FDDD76E6894C1FEE28E0400C95653672F930D8FE81974259B3A9F49 ====

Thanks to the original releaser

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