Performers: Patriarch Tikhon Choir

Conductor: Vladimir Gorbik

Running Time: 38:47

Language: Selections in Church Slavonic and English

Description: “Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations” is the first album of the Patriarch Tikhon Choir, a 30-voice mixed choir that brings together vocalists and choral musicians from the United States, Canada, and Russia. The Choir is dedicated to Saint Tikhon (Belavin), who is uniquely honored for his labors, accomplishments, and vision in these three lands. The singers, who, in addition to performing on the concert stage, routinely sing Orthodox liturgical services, impart an essential spiritual element to their interpretation of Orthodox sacred music.

The recording includes works from the Orthodox All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy ranging from austere, centuries-old Znamenny Chants to sumptuous polyphonic works by such Russian masters as Dmitry Bortniansky, Alexander Gretchaninoff, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Also featured on the program are compositions and arrangements by contemporary Orthodox composers, Benedict Sheehan and Sergei Trubachev. In keeping with the choir’s multi-cultural approach, the CD includes selections in Church Slavonic and in English.

The ensemble is under the direction of Maestro Vladimir Gorbik, one the most prominent church musicians in Russia today. Since 1996 he has served as the choir director at the Moscow Representation Church (Metochion) of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. He has made more than a dozen outstanding recordings of sacred music, embodying the finest repertoire and interpretive traditions of the Moscow School and the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Critics have hailed Vladimir Gorbik’s “consummate choral artistry”--a depth of expression and subtlety seldom encountered in modern-day recordings of Russian sacred music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Petar Dinev Bless the Lord, O My Soul

2. Boris Ledkovsky Blessed Is the Man

3. Vladimir Morosan, arr. Lord, I Have Cried

4. Benedict Sheehan, arr Saturday Prokimenon

5. Walter Obleschuk, arr. Vouchsafe, O Lord

6. Alexander Gretchaninoff Lord, Now Lettest Thou

7. Sergei Rachmaninoff Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos

8. Archpriest Dmitry Allemanov From My Youth

9. Sergei Rachmaninoff To Thee, the Victorious Leader

10. Deacon Sergiy Trubachov Many Years to Thee, Master

11. Benedict Sheehan Trisagion