Music News

Galina Grigorjeva’s choral work at the Christmas concert of BBC Singers

On December 12, concert entitled A Russian Christmas took place in London St. Paul’s Knightsbridge, where BBC Singers under the direction of Latvian conductor Kaspars Putninš performed the Russian Orthodox music. The program consisted of works from the Tsarist courts of the 17th century till now by composers like Dmitri Bortniansky, Georgi Sviridov, Alexander Gretchaninov, Vasily Titov, Alexandr Kastalsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Pavel Chesnokov, Andrejs Selickis and Galina Grigorjeva whose choir concerto Svjatki was performed after the indroduction from the conductor himself.

The basis for the six-movement Svjatki (Winter Holidays – the twelve days of Christmas) is folkloric texts related to the Christmas holidays, and fortunetelling on Christmas night. Intertwining in the text are heathen as well as Christian rituals. Not a single quote is used in the music, but rather an attempt is made to convey the special character of the rhythm and meter of the Russian language.

The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, the recording is available here to the end of this week.

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