Album Notes

At the age of five Pavel Chesnokov began to sing in his church choir and at seven to study at the Moscow Synodal College of Church Singing, which awarded him a gold medal in 1895. During his years in the college, Chesnokov's inclination for musical composition showed itself. Much of his creative life was connected with this College, where he worked for twenty-five years. After college, Chesnokov studied under S. Taneyev and at the Moscow Conservatory under M. Ippolitov-Ivanov. He was director of the Moscow State choir and the Academic Choir and a professor of the Moscow Conservatory. Chesnokov composed more than fifty works for choir, both sacred and secular. Chesnokov's scores are marked with richness of melodies and perfect expression of choral singing.
This CD features secular compositions of the composer's: "Glimmering Dawn", "Night", "Forest" and "Bludgeon" with folk Russian air, and arrangements of folk songs "'Tis Not a Flower In the Field" and "I Was Planting My Garden Myself".
Sergei Taneyev dedicated himself fully to the service of Russian musical culture as an outstanding composer, pianist, and conductor, a pedagogue in all spheres of music. He is the author of about seventy works for choir a capella and three cantatas. His cycle written on Ya. Polonsky's lyrics is a masterpiece where the choir sounds like a "vocal orchestra".

P. Chesnokov
(1877 - 1944)

1. Glimmering Dawn, Op. 28 - 2:05
2. Forest, Op. 28 - 4:50
3. Night, Op. 31 No. 1 - 1:50
4. 'Tis Not a Flower in the Field, Op. 29 No. 3 - 2:27
(Incidental Music to A. Ostrovsky's Comedy "Poverty Isn't a Vice", folk words)
5. I Was Planting My Garden Myself, Op. 55 No. 3 - 4:16
(folk words)
6. Bludgeon, Op. 31 No. 3 - 5:30

S. Taneyev
(1856 - 1915)

7. Dawn, Op. 8 - 3:10
8. Adeli, Op. 24 No. 2 - 1:50
9. Serenade (1877) - 1:37
10. Pine-Tree (1877) - 1:47
11. Stars, Op. 15 No. 1 - 4:50
12. The Alps, Op. 15 No. 2 - 3:03
from the Cycle On Ya. Polonsky's Lyrics, Op. 27
13. From the Grave (No. 1) - 3:52
14. Evening (No. 2) - 2:09
15. Ruins of the Tower (No. 3) - 4:12
16. On Board (No. 5) - 3:55
17. Prometheus (No. 8) - 5:40

Total time - 57:03

Valentina Kozyreva, soprano
Anatoli Aleksandrovich, tenor
The Leningrad TV and Radio Chorus
Conductor, Grigori Sandler