Strastnaya Sedmitsa (Grechaninov)

Strastnaya sed'mitsa (Страстна́я седми́ца ; The Passion Week) Op.58 is a 1911 Russian-language choral work by Alexander Grechaninov.^[1] The work shows the influence of Wagner rather than Russian nationalist musical trends.^[2]

Recordings

• Grechaninov: Strastnaya sedmitsa Russian State Symphonic Cappella Valéry Polyansky 1999
• Grechaninov: Passion Week, Op. 58 Phoenix Bach Choir & Kansas City Chorale, Charles Bruffy 2007

References

1. Nick Strimple - Choral Music in the Twentieth Century 1574673785 -2005 Page 131 "Strastnaya sedmitsa (Passion Week, 1911) is unusual in reflecting not a single service but a collection of thirteen pieces selected from a number of different offices of Holy Week, from matins of Great and Holy Monday through the vesperal liturgy of Great and Holy Saturday. Written for a choir of up to twelve parts, with numerous written low B-flats and even a written low A for bassi profundi, it reflects the type of "choral orchestration" prevalent in the a cappella writing of the late Moscow School composers. "
2. Marina Frolova-Walker - Russian music and nationalism: from Glinka to Stalin 2007 -- Page 290 "Grechaninov, for example, began to expand the harmonic palette of his church music in ways that owed much more to Wagner than Russian nationalism, particularly in his non-chant-based works, such as Strastnaya sed'mitsa (The Passion Week)..."