Rachmaninoff Vespers (All-Night-Vigil)

This concert marks the centenary of the composition of Rachmaninoff’s choral masterpiece, the All-Night Vigil, which was written in February 1915.

Rachmaninoff had a great love of the chants of the Russian Orthodox Church, many of which form the backbone of the pieces making up the Vigil. For the rest, his own newly-composed melodies are almost indistinguishable from real chants: the composer referred to them as ‘a conscious counterfeit of the ritual’.

Many of the texts for the All-Night Vigil are derived from the Psalms, and it was in the same year that Herbert Howells began to write his first set of Psalm Preludes for organ, a set of evocative miniature tone-poems. As with Rachmaninoff, his post-romantic style is imbued with the stepwise plainchant that Howells grew to know and love from his early association with the recently built Westminster Cathedral. For this reason, Howells' pieces fit snugly into the flow of Rachmaninoff’s work, while providing the listener with a delightful contrast to the unaccompanied choral sound.

The Elysian Singers of London, under the direction of Conductor Sam Laughton is one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs. Known for its adventurous programming and imaginative repertoire, the choir performs across Britain and has recorded a number of acclaimed CDs. In 2004, the Elysians’ CD ‘Cantos Sagrados’ of music by James MacMillan, received a 5 star rating from BBC Music Magazine. Reviewing ‘Songs of the Isles’, the choir’s 2009 Bantock release, the publication praised the choirs’ ‘young, fresh-toned voices, brightly attentive to text’. Television and radio appearances include the first broadcast performances of Górecki’s Miserere and Three Lullabies and the finals of the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition. The choir has performed live on Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’, introducing the première of its latest commission, Timepieces by Ian Stephens, and excerpts from its CD, ‘The Spirit of Christmas Present’. The Elysians’ most recent CD ‘Timepieces’ was released on Meridian in 2014 and showcases works that the choir has commissioned or premiered.