Album - My Days. Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral Choir, Minsk (downloadable version)

“I would like to explain the unconventional idea behind this disc by recalling a noteworthy and hardly accidental thought of our Metropolitan, the Most Reverend Philaret, that he uttered during the opening of the Festival about the interesting and useful reciprocal processes going on here: secular choirs start to be actively interested in performing church chants and doing it the right way, while church choirs improve their performance and become on a par with professional choirs.

We would like to bring one of the aspects of this “reverse” process to your attention: a choir which was created solely for singing in church, even if it consisted of professional musicians, sings secular music for the first time in all the years of its existence.

First of all, this music includes the high Russian classics, as well as the golden heritage of any nation — its folklore. Both have very natural links to the Church tradition, for they have the same roots: the Orthodox Christian references are key to vocal miniatures of prominent Russian composers, to folk songs, and to the works by the greatest Russian poets — Pushkin, Blok, and others who composed lyrics for many of the pieces we perform.

These are followed by several spiritual but non-liturgical hymns: the ones that you will not hear during worship but that nevertheless comfort the faithful emotionally. These songs include “O Most Holy Theotokos,” “Adam's Lament,” “My Days,” and some other songs.

We hope that the inevitable drwabacks of live recording will not leave the listeners without the joy of listening to Russian Orthodox music and poetry.”
Irina Denisova

01. My days. I. Denisova, text by Archpriest Andrei Logvinov. Solo: M. Porohovnichenko, A. Klimovich
02. Ah ty dushechka. Russian folksong, arrangement by 0. Kolovsky. Solo: M. Deyev
03. Elegy. V. Kalinnikov, text by A. Pushkin
04. Behold, what darkness. A. Taneyev, text by Y. Polonsky
05. Where is our rose. A. Dargomyzhsky, text by A. Pushkin
06. The storm wind covers the sky. A. Dargomyzhsky, text by A. Pushkin
07. My sun. I. Denisova
08. Midnight nightingele. A. Kiselev, text by A. Blok
09. Barynia. Russian folksong
10. Along the Piterskaya street. Russian folksong
11. Moscow nights. V. Solovyov-Sedoy, arrangement by I. Denisova
12. Adam’s lament. XVII century spiritual song, arrangement by I. Denisova
13. Only you, the All-pure One. P. Chesnokov
14. O Virgin Thoetokos, rejoice. S. Rakhmaninov
15. O Lord of hosts. Valaam Chant, arrangement by I. Denisova
16. O Most Holy Theotokos. I. Denisova, text by Hieromonk Roman (Matyushin). Solo: A. Klimovich
17. With much grief. I. Denisova, text by Hieromonk Vassily (Rosliakov)
18. Sound of bells. Hieromonk Roman (Matyushin), arrangement by I. Denisova. Solo: M. Deyev, A. Klimovich
19. A song about a horse. I. Matvienko, arrangement by I. Denisova
20. Christ is Risen. Greek-Latin-Russian