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Artist: Canticum Festum - Kurt Sander

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Canticum Festum - Kurt Sander:

Liturgy in Church Slavonic

Orthodox Recordings is delighted to present our premiere release, Liturgy in Church Slavonic, sung by Canticum Festum under the direction of Liubov Shangina. This recording transforms the original 2108 score by adapting the text into Church Slavonic, the richly sonorous language used by much of the Eastern Orthodox church today. With this new adaptation, comes an unmistakable genealogy to the sacred masterworks of the Orthodox past, namely those of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Gretchaninoff.

Yet, despite this new Slavic attire, there is something distinctively “American” about Sander’s compositional style. His Liturgy employs a richness of modal harmony and sonority that places it definitively in the 21st century; it is built upon musical themes that are recognizably “American,” yet have an objective and universal quality to them; and it utilizes those distinctive motives to achieve a degree of thematic unity never previously heard in an Orthodox sacred choral work.

Kurt Sander’s compositions have been performed by outstanding ensembles in 14 countries on five different continents. Much of his choral and instrumental work takes its inspiration from the sublime dimensions of the Eastern Orthodox faith and its rich artistic traditions. The English version of his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was a 2020 Grammy nominee for Best Choral Performance and received numerous accolades from critics and listeners alike.

Canticum Festum (Latin for “Celebration of Song”) was formed in February 2011 by participants of various professional, amateur and student choirs from music colleges and universities all around Moscow, Russia. The choir is acclaimed for its skill in a cappella choral singing, seeking first and foremost to communicate the meaning of the works in its repertoire, ranging from masterpieces of the Western European Renaissance to contemporary compositions, sacred and secular. It has won awards and acclaim across Russia and Europe.