In the wake of the beloved Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s untimely passing in November 2017, tributes, memorials and musical event dedications have flowed non-stop. But none thus far has matched the sheer scope, power and sonic splendor of this all-Russian performance of Verdi’s blockbuster Requiem Mass…

Gregorian is a German band headed by Frank Peterson that performs Gregorian chant-inspired versions of modern pop and rock songs. The band features both vocal harmony and instrumental accompaniment…

This Christmas CD includes Estonian, Russian, and Ukrainian unaccompanied liturgical music, hymns, and carols written for the Orthodox Church, which (except for the 1990 piece by Arvo Pärt, and Mykola Leontovych's "A Song of Good Cheer," known in the West as "Carol of the Bells") were suppressed during the Soviet era and have only since then come to light. The music is for the most part written in a late Romantic tonal idiom in the choral tradition of Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov, and while some pieces have the Slavic gravity associated with Orthodox liturgical music, some have a simpler, folk-like flavor.

Missa Solemnis (1920-21) is a monumental, hour-long work for choir, a quartet of vocal soloists, organ, piano, and celesta. The work was premiered in 1923 at Engelbrekt Church in Stockholm but has since been seldom performed. The work is now available on album for the first time. This recording is part of the Swedish Musical Heritage project sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The goal of the project is to increase access to and promote the performance of hidden treasures from the Swedish repertoire. Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble is one of Sweden’s leading choirs. The ensemble reaches a large audience thanks to a large number of commissioned works, an extensive audio catalog, and an international reputation. Andreas Hallén (1846-1925) was one of the most important persons in Swedish musical life from 1870 until his death. He was known contemporaneously as an orchestral, opera, and choral conductor in Gothenburg, Malmö, and Stockholm, as well as a critic and ultimately as professor in composition.

Like so many British composers Dyson, even before he died in 1962, suffered neglect through writing in a conservative idiom that critics were all too ready to label 'out of date'. Originally written for the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford in 1939, its first performance was-cancelled because of the outbreak of war, and it was only given its premiere in Hereford a decade later.