Sacred Treasures Volume 1

Sacred Treasures Volume 1

Masterworks from Russia

This collection is an in-store favorite amoung our shoppers.
Sung by the finest Russian and Bulgarian choirs, this extraordinary collection of transcendent prayers and hymns highlights a timeless Russian tradition of faith and devotion. For sheer beauty, there is little to match it anywhere in the world. The solemn ecstasy in the music of the Russian Orthodox Church can trace its roots back to the earliest days of Christian worship, via the great Byzantine Empire of the Near East. It presents an uncompromising search for peaks and depths of expressive fervor, aloof from all gimmicks. That was true of the music's multi-cultural roots as monastic chant, and was maintained as it evolved into full choral harmony in the late Romantic period.

This survey of Orthodox music is not intended to be historically inclusive. Nor is it programmed to fit Russian liturgical services. What is offered is a selection extracted from the liturgical music of the 19th and early 20th centuries and focusing on the world of angelic inner quiet.

Much of what you hear sounds suspended in mid-air. Tempos are broad, and rhythmic features never much apparent. The music seems to levitate, floating effortlessly from piece to piece while showing very little sense of urgency. These scores seek nothing beyond a beautiful existence. Like true faith, it simply is. In that sense, there is something akin to the emotions experienced while hearing modern ambient music.

Item #20170

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$16.99

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