Eastern Orthodox liturgical music

does anyone else like this stuff? the russian stuff is plangent and suffused with a sort of impossible longing, as you'd expect via various national stereotypes, though this makes the joyful moments all the more vivid

the byzantine/greek stuff seems further estranged from western tradition, such as 'easter on mount athos' wherein the monks of said peninsula celebrate the paschal rites with srsly heavy extended chants, dronily monodic in parts, rather minimal with occasional chimes

further recommendations sought!

4,798 new answers by morning

thanks for ensuring it's not in bold now, anyway

Hey, I'm keeping an eye on this too but have nowt to add, except that I once went to a Russian Orthodox sunday morning service in a poky church in Knightsbridge hoping to hear some of this stuff - don't think there was any though, just a lot of bowing and scraping and clouds of incense. Fortunately noone spoke to me or paid me any heed as I lurked, don't know how I'd've explained myself.

I'm not very familiar with this music, but I have enjoyed the Syriac liturgical recordings made by Ghada Shbeir.

might have a look

i got some ethiopian orthodox choral music but didn't particularly like it

Here's one of her recordings (which already seem somewhat difficult to find on CD):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Passion-Chants-Syriaques-Ghada-Shbeir/dp/B0013O1VL4

The only flavour of this that I know anything about is Georgian Orthodox polyphonic singing via the Anchiskhati Choir CD that Soul Jazz put out last year. It's one of my favourite things to listen to on a quiet morning. I don't really have the vocabulary to describe the music, but this is representative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZBfZ6IatB8

the alto singer has a rly piercing voice in that, kinda off-putting, maybe it's the youtube qual tho

I hear what you mean (though it didn't bother me the first time I listened) - the recorded songs have a much better balance.

One of the greatest experiences of my life was walking into a cathedral in Petersburg, in silence and suddenly, this astonishing music began - but from behind a screen, and it echoed and swirled around the church, till it seemed to be coming from everywhere and no where. After some minutes - hours? - a priest came up to me and began talking quietly in Russian: eventually he grasped the incomprehension, and in English said 'welcome' and smiled and walked off. Nearly made a believer outta me.

wow!

Choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Paris

<3

you can have this for hours every sunday on ERT World, a greek tv channel

a bottle of smooth lidl western gold bourbon, a pint of calpol, a coupla xanax and six hours of greek orthodox choral music -- life doesn't get much better than this

you bought the bucky

stern

I first registered this kind of thing in my head at the end of Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev.

In my list of things to check out.

agree with calpolaris (about the goal to reach a state of trance/highness/'being closer to god')

a bottle of smooth lidl western gold bourbon, a pint of calpol, a coupla xanax and six hours of greek orthodox choral music -- life doesn't get much better than this

― calpolaris (nakhchivan), Saturday, 27 November 2010 03:03 (2 years ago)

RT is broadcasting the Moscow Christmas mass. The commentator is nuts and extremely intrusive but it's interesting to hear it annotated.

http://rt.com/on-air/orthodox-christians-mass-moscow/

I'm quite interested in hearing this, myself. Although, I think it'll probably sound like Supergrass, just without the (underrated) bass work of Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey's drumming.

Again, pure perfection. I could not fault this track at all.

Seeking recommendations of Russian orthodox choral recordings.

Have you heard Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil? If not, try the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir's recording.

Also worth checking out:

'The Orthodox Singers' Male Choir, dir. Georgy Smirnov – Basso Profondo from Old Russia

Rybin Choir Moscow, dir. Valery Rybin – The Great Slavonic Orthodox Liturgy

And pretty much anything by Anatoly Grindenko and the Russian Patriarchate Choir.

For the anguished pomo take: Schnittke's Psalms of Repentance as performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, yet again.

I'm also gonna leave this here 'cause that's too much Russian propaganda for one day and it's relevant to the thread's initial premise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUzLJOC0mdg

I'm quite interested in hearing this, myself. Although, I think it'll probably sound like Supergrass, just without the (underrated) bass work of Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey's drumming.

― The term “hitler racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Friday, November 27, 2015 11:29 AM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Again, pure perfection. I could not fault this track at all.

― sarahell, Friday, November 27, 2015 11:33 AM (five years ago)

Checking out the Rachmaninoff and the Schnittke today. Thanks!

Just got a record that might fit in this thread. It's Hungarian; the Istvánffy Chamber Choir performing Constanzo Porta's Missa Mortuorum.