St. Ephrem Male Choir - Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (2024)

For the first time in 100 years, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom has been set to music for male choir in its entirety by a Hungarian composer. The spirituality, drama, and theological content of the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine rite have inspired composers for centuries. Thousands of composers, both famous and anonymous, have tried to put the liturgical text to music and grasp its mystical essence, including great predecessors such as Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, and Rachmaninov.
Miklós Mohay has a keen interest in the ecclesiastical art of the Byzantine rite. When composing the Liturgy, he was inspired by both sacred melodies and contemporary music, which he often encountered in performances by the St. Ephraim Male Choir – to whom the piece is dedicated. Mohay intended the large-scale composition in Church Slavonic for a liturgical setting, so the complete 20-movement work is heard in “quasi” liturgical form on the double album, with the addition of the deacon’s and priest’s chants and intonations of the Greek Catholic tradition.
The St. Ephraim Male Choir is among the most respected experts of Greek Catholic sacred music worldwide, but their work also extends to the oeuvre of outstanding composers in Western music history and contemporary music. In the 21 years of its existence, the ensemble has sung and performed many Eastern liturgies and Western masses. In the past decade and a half, BMC Records has released ten albums with the ensemble.