Ludmila Arshavskaya - Gretchaninov: Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom No. 1 (1993)

Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)
Like his compatriot Rachmaninov a pupil at the Moscow Conservatory of Sergey Taneyev and of Arensky, Aleksandr Grechaninov went on to study in St Petersburg with Rimsky-Korsakov. He was occupied in the 1890s chiefly with church music, and his second setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom was rewarded with a life pension from the Tsar (which was discontinued at the Revolution of 1917). After successful concert tours abroad, Grechaninov settled in Paris in 1925, moving to the United States in 1939.

Stage Works
Grechaninov wrote incidental music for the theatre, and a number of operas, some for children, linked to his work with children’s choirs.

Orchestral and Chamber Music
Generally conservative in his musical language, Grechaninov composed five symphonies, and concertos for cello, for violin and for flute. His String Quartet, Op. 2 won him first prize from the St Petersburg Chamber Music Society in 1893; he went on to write three more string quartets.

Piano Music
Some of Grechaninov’s shorter piano pieces were once a familiar part of children’s keyboard repertoire.

Tracks:

01. The Great Litany
02. The Antiphons
03. The Little Litany
04. Glory… O only begotten Son…'
05. The Little Litany
06. The Beatitudes (3rd Antiphon)
07. O Come, Let Us Worship…'
08. Lord, Save Us…'
09. The Trisagion
10. The Litany of Fervent Supplication
11. The Litany for the Catechumens
12.The Cherubic Hymn
13. The Creed (No.8a)
14. A Mercy of Peace'
15. We Praise Thee'
16. The Hymn of the Theotokos
17. The Litany of Supplication
18. The Lord's Prayer
19. One only is Holy…'
20. Praise the Lord from the Heavens…'
21. Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord'
22. Receive the Body of Christ…'
23. We have seen the True Light…Let out mouths be filled'
24. The Little Litany
25. Blessed be the Name of the Lord'
26. Glory…'
27. And for Many Years'

Personnel:

Directed By – Ludmila Arshavskaya
Ensemble – Cantus Sacred Music Ensemble