Full-Blooded Russian Voices

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Every so often, a Russian performing group rides through town and brings out what seems to be the entire Russian émigré community, filling one of the largest halls to capacity. Its program typically offers a serious or traditional first half followed by arrangements of favorite tunes from the war years or Soviet cinema. As the tunes grow more familiar, culminating in ever-popular bonbons such as Moscow Nights or Ochi Chornaya, the audience becomes ever more enthusiastic. Friday’s performance at Davies Symphony Hall of Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery Choir, under the direction of Nikon Zhila, was such an occasion.

For devotees of the choral art — particularly Americans, who rarely hear good, large male-voice choirs comprised of fully trained voices — the concert was a treat, as well. This 40-voice male choir sounds fantastic in its genre, singing with polish and consistently perfect intonation. It offers a full-voiced, bright, and versatile but unmistakably Russian tone. The choir, even at its quietest pianissimo, easily filled the 2,743-seat Davies Hall.

Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery Choir

If I were to offer any complaint, it would be to find fault with the too-popular programming (popularity here being defined as the audience’s ability to sing along to every tune from 1960s Soviet cinema, as the woman behind me could and did). This was probably a necessary step on the tour organizers’ part to attract the émigré crowd, but it deprived the audience of hearing this choir in its core genre: the performance of daily services at one of the most revered Russian religious institutions. Thus for me, the best performances of the evening were of the first four selections — arrangements of sacred Russian chant. The program notes requested that the audience hold its applause until after these selections; the resulting lack of wild clapping and whistling avoided some of the State-of-the-Union atmosphere that characterized the remainder of the evening.

Especially moving was Livosky’s Cherubic Hymn, which used the text from the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, rather than the more familiar Liturgy of St. John Chrystostom. The choir began with a dark and intense inner gesture and gradually unfolded its sound into an enthusiastic alleluia. Russian choirs are less given to visible emotion than American ensembles, and the stoicism the men displayed came off as markedly spiritual. Also notably different was the choir’s unison Russian Orthodox “znamennie” chant, Stichera on the Dormition of Theotokos. Unlike the case with Latin chant, the tradition of performing ancient Russian melodies focuses on rhythm and accent. Director Zhila clearly tried to bring out this vigor, both in his direction and in his choice to leave the tenors out of the three-minute chant.

Popular Tunes Spotlight a Polished Technique

The remainder of the program began auspiciously with the familiar Cossack folk song Akh ty st’ep shirokaya (Oh the steppe, how wide), made famous in the 1970s by the touring Don Cossacks chorus. It was a nice change to hear this beautiful piece sung in tune. The simple arrangement allowed individual sections to show off their tone. Even more impressive in the same plaintive vein was Fyodr Stepyanov’s choral arrangement of Abaz’s Utro tumannoye (Misty morning), a 19th-century salon romance to a text by Ivan Turgenev. The song allowed the choir to show off its high tenors with the lightest and most beautiful pianissimo high lines. Even professional American choirs would resort to falsetto for this type of singing, but the Russians possess sufficient technique to pull it off.

Six of the choir’s members stepped out in front of the choir to perform solos. Regrettably, there were no chances to hear from the vast repertory of Russian sacred music with soloist, but the choral arrangements of folk songs and popular works did show off the individual voices that influence the quality of the ensemble. In particular, bass Dmitry Beloselsky was outstanding. In 2005, I toured with a choir accompanying famed baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, which sang some of the works performed by the Monastery Choir. Beloselsky’s performance of Novikov’s moving ballad Dorogi (Roads) was superior to Hvorostovsky’s. I hope his career goes far.

In the past decade, I have heard a number of touring choirs from the former Soviet states, and all offered similar programs to Sretensky’s. The recently reunited Russian Orthodox Church sponsored this all-Russian program, offered to a largely Russian audience. Although I would consider this choir to be one of, if not the best, choir of this type I have heard in person, I am curious about its true range. How would it sound singing Bach? These voices are so good, they deserve the challenge.

Thomas Busse, www.tbusse.com, is a professional tenor.

Comments

I understand the desire to hear the choir without audience participation but it is so joyous, lively, and festive. I have come to expect it with this type of concert.

The opportunity to participate also helps the elderly Russians feel heard when the language barriers in their daily lives can make them feel isolated.

Posted by Marina on September 19, 2007 at 11:04 am
Dear Mr. Busse,
Thank you for a thoughtful and informative review. I heard the group in Washington, DC and certainly lost some sleep recalling the sound. Your disappointment that there was not more religious content echos that of NY Times critic. It is too late for you to know this now, but the choir sang in the major Russian Orthodox churches on their tour. This was their major agenda. I heard them during a vesper service at Washington’s St. John cathedral, a relatively small and very accoustic space. Awsome and chilling. I believe they also sang in the big Orthodox cathedral on Geery Blvd. I am told that they really don’t like to sing church music in concert. Their next stop is Australia. I don’t know if this makes you feel any better. Thank you again for your writing.
Sincerely, Vladimir Ekzarkhov

Posted by Vladimir Ekzarkho on September 20, 2007 at 1:00 pm