Cappella Romana explores the musical legacy of the ancient civilization of Byzantium- caught between Latin West and Islamic East- with majestic ceremonies for the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, triumphant assertions of superiority by Westerners, and fervent prayers for the healing of religious divisions. Fabled Byzantium ended with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453, inspiring the two poignant laments sung here that give Greek and Latin perspectives on the end of a 1,000-year-old empire.

"...This is the all-male version of Cappella Romana, and Alexander Lingas has his Portland-based ensemble going from strength to strength, perfectly judged balances among the melodists and those singing the ison, or lower drone notes, and executing these sometimes hugely challenging chants with razor-sharp precision and flawless unanimity. But what strikes me the most is the superb tonal quality of the group, rich, full, and velvety smooth in a genre that too often gives way to acerbic sonic ineptitude and soloistic grandstanding which gives chant a bad name. The resonance of the Stanford Memorial Church in California is expertly caught, though you might want to boost the volume a little. This disc is, simply, irresistible." — Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition

This release beautifully showcases the Akáthistos Hymn to the Virgin Mary, set by Ivan Moody. This lyrical masterpiece in 24 stanzas has been treasured for nearly 1,500 years by Eastern Christians. Father Moody’s 1998 setting, composed specially for the ensemble, weaves beloved Greek melodies into Russian choral textures as it progresses from reverent contemplation to ecstatic transcendence. Father Ivan Moody studied music and theology at the Universities of London, Joensuu, and York. He studied composition with Brian Dennis, Sir John Tavener, and William Brooks. His music has been broadcast and performed all over the world. He is an archpriest of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and is Chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Music. This is the world premiere recording of this work.

This release by Cappella Romana is a breathtaking collection of Medieval Byzantine Chant sung from manuscripts made at the Abbey of Grottaferrata in the suburban hills of Rome, which has operated continuously in the Byzantine rite since its founding, before the Great Schism, in 1004. During the Middle Ages, Grottaferrata was the site of an important scriptorium, the surviving manuscripts of which bear precious witness to musical repertories sung in Constantinople before the Crusader sack of 1204.

Led by virtuoso cantor Ioannis Arvanitis, Cappella Romana recaptures on this recording the artistic vibrancy of medieval Italy's Greek minority with ecstatic 13th-century chants. Disc one is devoted to the life and work of the monastery's founders St. Neilos and St. Bartholomew, including kontakia in their honor, and an excerpt of a kanon for St. Benedict that was very likely composed for a Greek-rite all-night vigil at the Benedictine community at Montecassino in Sicily. Disc two features music for Pentecost, beginning with excerpts of its two kanons, the alleluiarion, and the communion verse for the feast. The central work on disc two is the Teleutaion (Final Antiphon) of the kneeling vespers in the medieval cathedral rite, featuring extended psalmody and ecstatic settings of the angelic refrain "Alleluia," foreshadowing the beautified ("kalophonic") chant of St. John Koukouzeles.

The booklet features a substantial essay on the music and its context by musicologist and Cappella Romana artistic director Dr. Alexander Lingas, and complete original texts in Greek with English translations by Archimandrite Ephrem (Lash). Beautiful photography of the Byzantine Abbey of Grottaferrata, taken on Cappella Romana's tour there in May 2006, illustrates the booklet, as well as a sample of medieval Byzantine notation (as opposed to contemporary notation in the received tradition) drawn from the opening verse of the Teleutaion in the Grottaferrata manuscript Psaltikon Ashburnamensis 64. The CDs combined feature over 82 minutes of music. Two CDs (CD1: The Founders of Grottaferrata; CD2: The Feast of Pentecost).

Cappella Romana, a vocal chamber ensemble renowned for its ''robust and intriguing music'' (Washington Post), releases its latest recording ''Live in Greece.'' Its previous release ''Music of Byzantium'' sold over 14,000 copies. A 1000-year journey from Constantinople to California, ancient Byzantine chants are followed by musical encounters with Crusaders and Venetians, including Greek and Latin polyphony from Renaissance Crete. East meets West again at St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles, where Frank Desby founded a tradition, continued by his Californian peers of Greek-American choral music.

“Full throated, full bodied, full of joy, these singers breathe passionate life into a rare and rarefied repertory. You’ll be willingly transported to their magical island. Bravo.” —Susan Hellauer (Anonymous 4) The Crusades brought to Cyprus French kings, whose imported musical traditions flourished alongside those of their Greek subjects. The vibrancy of their Mediterranean soundscape is captured in this recording, which traverses the diverse range of sacred music heard during the fifteenth century in Nicosia’s Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals: Greek and Latin hymns celebrating the divine patronage of St. Hilarion of Gaza, lavish prayers for French royalty set to Ars Nova polyphony from the codex Torino J.II.9, and virtuosic Byzantine chants by Constantinopolitan and Cypriot composers. Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in its exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. Its name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople (“New Rome”) and its Slavic commonwealth.

Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia is the first vocal album in the world to be recorded entirely in live virtual acoustics. It brings together art history, music history, performance, and technology to re-create medieval sacred sound in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia as an aural virtual reality. With a stunning reverberation time of over 11 seconds, the acoustics of Hagia Sophia were measured and analyzed, and auralized in real time on Cappella Romana’s performance by the Icons of Sound team at Stanford University (iconsofsound.stanford.edu). Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia presents more than 75 minutes of medieval Byzantine chant for the Feast of the Holy Cross in Constantinople, one of the greatest celebrations in the yearly cycle of worship at Hagia Sophia. This deluxe package contains standard- and high-resolution stereo and surround-sound formats including Dolby Atmos™, as well as a bonus track and a 24-minute documentary film. Enrich your experience of the music with in-depth essays, musical examples, and illustrations about the project in a 40-page booklet, which also presents all original Greek texts with translations in English. For a thousand years, Hagia Sophia was the largest enclosed space in the world. Let Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia transport you back in time to medieval sound and ritual in this monumental sixth-century cathedral.

-----

REVIEW:

In the winter of 2010, Ms. Bissera Pentcheva obtained permission to enter what was then the Hagia Sophia museum at dawn, capturing four balloon pops and a wealth of acoustic detail.

The balloon noises, along with maps of the interior, enabled identification of the acoustic fingerprint of the building, including the multidirectional refraction of sound as it bounces off the dome and marble colonnades. Computer simulations were then integrated into a set of microphones and speakers.

Thus the members of Cappella Romana, a vocal ensemble based in Portland, Ore., specializing in Byzantine chant, recorded “The Lost Voices” in an offsite space that persuasively mimicked the acoustics of Hagia Sophia — with its luscious reverberation, cross echoes, and amplification of particular frequencies.

In Byzantine cathedral chant, reverberation was key to invoking the divine presence. She pointed to the exuberant amount of melisma in the repertory, where a single syllable is stretched over multiple notes. In the liquid acoustics of Hagia Sophia, words sung in this way blur.

The recording provides a glimpse of that experience. Phrases chanted in unison leave a ghostly imprint. Rhythmic shudders and grace notes set off blurry squiggles of overlapping echoes. Chords unfurl in reverberant bloom.

– New York Times (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim)

This first release by Próto features over two hours of traditional Byzantine chants for Christmas. Próto is a collaboration of two protopsaltes (“first cantors”): John Michael Boyer, Protopsaltis of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco; and the Reverend Deacon John Rassem El Massih, Protopsaltis of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Their shared vision is excellence in traditional Byzantine Music within the liturgical life of Orthodox Christian parishes, as well as the advancement, development, and composition of traditional Byzantine Music in the English language. A 32-page booklet is included with this release, with full texts in Greek, Arabic, and English. This album has been endorsed by Their Eminences JOSEPH, Antiochian Orthodox Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America, and GERASIMOS, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of San Francisco.

Dr. Tikey Zes (b. 1927) is the most prolific composer of Greek Orthodox liturgical music in America. This highly original Liturgy, which Zes dedicated to Cappella Romana, bears the marks of a composer long engaged with the traditions of Orthodox worship. Cumulatively opulent in it's variety, level of musical difficulty, and ecstatic polyphonic climaxes, this Liturgy achieves a balance of splendor with restraint that is, in an inculturated and dignified musical idiom, thoroughly Byzantine. Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in it's exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. It's name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople ("New Rome") and it's Slavic Commonwealth.

Led by Greek psaltis Dr. Ioannis Arvanitis, acclaimed scholar and performer of medieval Byzantine chant, the men of Cappella Romana perform music for the feasts of January 1st (St. Basil and the Circumcision of Christ) and of January 6th (Epiphany, or Theophany, as it is known in the East). This collection of chants reflects the urban practice of the Great Church of Christ of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as well as the monastic traditions that developed in Palestine. Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in it's exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. It's name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople ("New Rome") and it's Slavic Commonwealth.

American composer Richard Toensing creates a vibrant musical synthesis of East and West with new settings of ancient Orthodox Christmas texts. Indebted to Slavic traditions, his virtuosic Choral Concerto for unaccompanied double choir and multiple soloists uses the dramatic words of St. Romanos the Melodist (6th c.) to recount the mystery of Jesus' birth. Toensing's more intimate New Orthodox Carols for the Nativity of Christ alternate between exuberant celebration and joyful contemplation as they bridge the gap between Byzantine and American hymnody. American composer and music educator Richard Toensing (1940-2014) received numerous award for composition during his lifetime, most notably from Columbia University, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and BMI.

Discover the world’s earliest music by a female composer: 9th-century nun, poet, and hymnographer Kassianí (Kassía). The same men and women of Cappella Romana who brought you the “Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia” bestseller (43 weeks on Billboard), now sing the earliest music we have by a female composer, including long-suppressed hymns recorded here for the first time. They close with two medieval versions of her beloved hymn for Orthodox Holy Week. Cappella Romana is the world’s leading ensemble in the field of medieval Byzantine chant. Building on its extensive catalogue of this repertoire, Hymns of Kassianí is its 25th release. This is the first of a planned series to record all of Kassianí’s surviving works.

CONTENTS:

1. Lamplighting Psalms, Mode 2 (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 05:32
2. Stichera Prosomoia of Christmas (1st set) (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 10:11
3. Stichera Prosomoia of Christmas (2nd Set) (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 06:53
4. When Augustus Reigned (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 04:51
5. Idiomelon from Great Vespers (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 03:17
6. Tetraódion (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 05:38
7. Idiomelon from Matins (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 03:06
8. Tetraódion (Odes 4 and 5) (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 06:04
9. On Great and Holy Wednesday at Matins, "Lord, the woman found in many sins" (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir) 08:07
10. Kálophonic stícheron, "Lord, The Woman Found in Many Sins" (arr. I. Arvanitis for choir)

REVIEWS:

Cappella Romana is transforming the dry, brittle pages of ancient Byzantine scores into living musical lyricism with a broad international appeal. Their latest album provides a stunning entrée to the work of Kassianí. This album provides a new tool not only for self-examination but for indulgence in the rich sensual heritage of Byzantine singing. Kassianí’s songs demand to be heard, and we are enriched by listening to them, especially in this authentic and deeply expressive collection.

– ConcertoNet (Linda Holt)

The performances transport the listener back in time to experience this music in stunning sound. Notes and additional information in the accompanying booklet help further bring Kassiani’s music to life by the premiere ensemble performing these ancient Byzantine music. More music from the woman canonized as Kassiani the Hymnographer is forthcoming this year. Highly Recommended!

– Cinemusical (Steven A. Kennedy)

A 2021 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Choral Performance!

** Physical package includes CD and Pure-Audio Blu-Ray with high-resolution and surround formats, and video selections of the world premiere concert and complete liturgical performance. **

Benedict Sheehan’s landmark setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in English grows out of the tradition of the great Russian liturgy settings by Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninoff, and Tchaikovsky. Reminiscent of medieval Eastern chant, minimalism, American folk singing, and the high tradition of Western church music, it is also hailed by Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America as “a new milestone for Orthodoxy in America.”

Sheehan’s sweeping and virtuosic a cappella Liturgy represents a fresh and vibrant voice for choral music today.

The Saint Tikhon Choir was founded in 2015 by Benedict Sheehan, the group’s artistic director, and Abbot Sergius of St. Tikhon’s Monastery. It is the first professional vocal ensemble connected with an Orthodox monastery in America, founded with a mission to foster and build up the American Orthodox choral tradition at the highest artistic level.

ABOUT THE RECORDING

Sheehan’s Liturgy is the first of four planned releases on Cappella Records produced by multi-GRAMMY® Award winner Blanton Alspaugh and the engineering team at Soundmirror. Soundmirror’s outstanding orchestral, solo, opera, and chamber recordings have received more than 100 GRAMMY® nominations and awards, with releases on every major classical label.

This is also the first release of The Saint Tikhon Choir on Cappella Records. The Choir recently recorded a collaboration on Naxos with three other choirs and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s conducted by Leonard Slatkin, which debuted at #1 on Billboard. They also previously recorded the sacred works of Benedict Sheehan for Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press.

The 2-disc deluxe set features both CD and PureAudio Blu-ray™ media with high-resolution 2.0 Stereo and 5.0 Surround versions (DSM192K/24bit), recorded in DSD and downloadable to audio servers and devices. The Blu-ray™ also contains three video performances: two concert selections from the world première performance and the complete liturgical première sung at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. The accompanying booklet provides an extensive essay by the composer, the full text of the Divine Liturgy, and beautiful photography.

BENEDICT SHEEHAN

"This profoundly moving and powerful music bears witness to how ancient Greek and Latin liturgical traditions were richly embellished during the Renaissance on the islands of Crete and Cyprus, all within the shared cultural space of Venetian rule. First performed by Cappella Romana at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht (Netherlands). Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in its exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. Its name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople (“New Rome”) and its Slavic commonwealth. “A sound world of unique beauty.” (Gramophone) “You’d have to have ice water in your veins to not be moved.” (Willamette Week)

GRAMMY®-nominated conductor and composer Benedict Sheehan leads The Saint Tikhon Choir in his new setting of the Eastern Orthodox Vespers in English. Inspired by the great All-Night Vigil setting by Rachmaninoff, Sheehan’s composition expands the genre with full settings of Psalms. Each verse is treated with deep musical pathos to express a full range of human emotion. Vespers also features virtuosic vocal solos, including the first for basso profundo in English. Soloists include Fotina Naumenko, soprano; Helen Karloski, mezzo-soprano; Timothy Parsons, countertenor; Paul D’Arcy, tenor; Jamal Sarikoki and Michael Hawes, baritones; Jason Thoms, bass; and Glenn Miller, basso profundo.

Encounter this music that projects a vision of hope and light for all. The Saint Tikhon Choir was founded in 2015 by Benedict Sheehan, the group’s artistic director, and Abbot Sergius of St. Tikhon’s Monastery. It is the first professional vocal ensemble connected with an Orthodox monastery in America, founded with a mission to foster and build up the American Orthodox choral tradition at the highest artistic level.

On November 17, Cappella Records is proud to present its 32nd release: the world-première recording of Daniel Knaggs' Two Streams, performed by the Grammy Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir led by Robert Simpson, with string ensemble Kinetic and world-class soloists. With musical threads dyed in Medieval, baroque, and contemporary colors, Knaggs' 2021 cantata weaves a breathtaking tapestry, an exploration of love and mercy that gives profound meaning to the transitory nature of life. Two Streams is structured around the words of Polish nun Maria Faustina Kowalksa (1905–1938). From a poor family that struggled during the years of the First World War, she joined the Congregation of Sisters of Mercy where she received heavenly messages to share with the world, inspiring this sublime music by Daniel Knaggs.

At the end of the fourteenth century, musical worlds collided in England as Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos spent Christmas at King Henry IV’s royal court. For the first and only time, florid chant, polyphony, royal ceremonial, and imperial acclamations from both kingdoms and rites echoed antiphonally in London’s Eltham Palace. Cappella Romana’s performance is illuminated by the latest research on historically informed performance of medieval music. Cappella Romana tells this musical story of cultural contact in international crisis with clarity and beauty.

Travel back to a Christmas like no other before or since, with music for the Nativity of Christ not heard in centuries. Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in its exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. Its name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople (“New Rome”) and its Slavic commonwealth. A Byzantine Emperor at King Henry’s Court is Cappella Romana’s 30th release.

REVIEW:

What is most striking here is that Cappella Romana, although deeply immersed in Byzantine ways of singing, also accomplishes a very different and distinctive sound for the English pieces, adding an appealing bit of gravel in the texture. As with other Cappella Romana recordings, this one was splendidly recorded at the Madeleine Parish in Portland, Oregon. With detailed booklet notes exploring the various issues involved, this is a unique and fascinating medieval release.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

On the snow-swept island of Skiathos, a miraculous Christmas Eve unfolds. Weaving together spoken word with song, this recording brings to life To Christ, at the Castle by the Dostoevsky of Greece, Alexandros Papadiamantis. Papa Frangouli and his flock brave treacherous seas and cliffs to reach a neglected sanctuary, where they kindle fires that illuminate ancient frescoes. But as the Divine Liturgy begins, shipwrecked sailors cry for rescue, demanding another act of courage. Composed by Kyriakos Kalaitzidis following the eight modes of Byzantine chant and sung in rhyming, fifteen-syllable Greek verse by author Vasiliki Nevrokopli, Christmas at the Castle tells an epic story: how a broken promise and unexpected adversity lead to redemption and celebrations of unforeseen grandeur on Christmas Eve.

Cappella Records proudly announces the release of Frank La Rocca’s “Requiem for the Forgotten - Messe des Malades”, performed by Benedict XVI Choir and Orchestra, directed by renowned international conductor Richard Sparks.

“Requiem for the Forgotten” commemorates the displaced and the homeless, constructing a musical sanctuary for the soul while championing the inherent dignity of every person, particularly those who have been forsaken. Drawing upon his Ukrainian heritage, La Rocca’s setting of a poem on Ukrainian priest Andrei Ischak (martyred by the Bolsheviks) deeply resonates with those enduring oppression today. The composer’s late sister Carin, who valiantly confronted the challenges of multiple sclerosis, gave inspiration to the “Messe des Malades” (Mass for the Sick). It underscores the universal need for healing, capturing the composer’s personal journey as well in every note. Infused with an ethical power towards empathy, this music moves us to use our own gifts in a more excellent way for a broken world.

Benedict XVI Choir’s début recording of these works is sung by some of America’s finest singers, many GRAMMY®-nominated. Sung in Latin and English. Booklet includes all translations.

World Premiere Recording. Cappella Records proudly announces the release of Ukrainian War Requiem by multiple Grammy�-nominated composer Benedict Sheehan, performed by Axios Men's Ensemble and the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton, Canada, directed by Michael Zaugg. The recording was released at the three-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022). Benedict Sheehan's Ukrainian War Requiem is a powerful tribute to Ukraine's enduring spirit, honoring lives lost in war through music. Rooted in the tradition of the panakhyda (a memorial service for the dead), it blends ancient Ukrainian prayers, Latin texts, and Jewish melodies, symbolizing Ukraine's complex past, present, and future. Performed by the Axios Men's Ensemble and the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada under Michael Zaugg, this work commemorates the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, democracy, and faith. The Ukrainian War Requiem stands as a vigil for the fallen and a celebration of Ukraine's resilient heritage.

Frank La Rocca extends the genre of the festal Missa solemnis in his Mass of the Americas, a sublime setting of the Traditional Latin Mass for choir and orchestra. La Rocca weaves a rich tapestry with serene Gregorian chants, folk melodies from 18th-century regions of México, and florid praises in Nahuatl, the language spoken by Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego in 1531. Cultures past and present are joined musically as a witness to faith, hope, and reconciliation in this masterpiece of liturgical art.

Ukrainian American folklorist and singer Nadia Tarnawsky leads the women of Cappella Romana with special guest folklorists from Ukraine, Inna Kovtun and Hanna Tishchenko, to perform this unique offering of Ukrainian wedding songs. The songs sung in preparation for the wedding employ the vocal techniques of village singers, while the chants and choral works sung during the wedding ceremony itself reflect the sublime style more prevalent in church singing. From the engagement through the crowning of the young couple, the rituals of a traditional Ukrainian wedding are accompanied by songs. Traditionally performed by the women belonging to the families of the young couple, these songs help bring forth good health, prosperity, and many children. These songs were collected by Nadia Tarnawsky in Ukrainian villages, often from women over 80 years old, before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Discover here a performance unlike any other of John Tavener’s Ikon of Light, his landmark setting of the Prayer to the Holy Spirit by the great medieval mystic St. Symeon the New Theologian. Scored for choir and string trio, it is a radiant meditation on the Uncreated Light. Six Orthodox composers collaborated to create Heaven and Earth: A Song of Creation, written for Cappella Romana and its unique musical capacities. Each section of this ecstatic setting in English of the Psalm of the Cosmos (103 lxx) seamlessly unites into a transcendent work Byzantine chant, lush Slavic harmonies, Renaissance counterpoint, Georgian-inspired polyphony, and more. Vocal ensemble Cappella Romana combines passion with scholarship in its exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West. Its name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople (“New Rome”) and its Slavic commonwealth. Heaven and Earth is Cappella Romana’s 27th release.

The Eastern Orthodox understanding of repentance doesn’t dwell on morose sorrow for past transgressions. Instead it focuses on deliverance and optimism: repentance, from the Greek metánoia, is a change of mind, a fundamentally positive redirection. This recording presents Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox choral works for the first time as a service (or office) of supplication (Greek paráklesis, Slavonic molében). The office is built around the singing of a Byzantine poem called a kanon, on this occasion three odes from Pärt’s monumental Kanon Pokajanen (Kanon of Repentance).

Compositions by Pärt likewise comprise the other elements of this office: a Gospel reading marks the center of the service (The Woman with the Alabaster Box) completed by psalmody, Orthodox hymns, and fervent prayers. Pärt’s transcendent “Prayer after the Kanon” eventually gives way to silence, to the prayer of the heart. Cappella Romana transforms hearts and minds through encounters with the sacred musical inheritance of the Christian East and West, bringing to life these ancient and diverse traditions, especially of Byzantium, and their interactions with other cultures. Cappella Romana is devoted to the stewardship of this precious jewel of world culture. Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance is Cappella Romana’s 31st release.

REVIEWS:

In this album, the stars, the galaxies, all the wonders of a distant universe seem to touch us through the medium of sound. Whether or not one is knowledgeable about Eastern sacred music, this is an album of supreme artistry to cherish, heed, and enjoy.

Under the direction of Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana’s Odes of Repentance is a selection of Arvo Pärt’s Orthodox works woven into a service of public and private prayers of supplication and renewal. While Pärt is widely identified with works having an Eastern spiritual flavor, his pedagogical background derives from Western classical music and the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic church. However, since his conversion to Orthodoxy some 50 years ago, the public has come to associate Pärt with music as inspired by Eastern Christianity.

Odes consists of 12 spellbinding tracks which give voice to the human yearning to be cleansed of past mistakes and to make positive changes in one’s future life. As the excellent booklet notes in Church Slavonic and English tell us, these prayers are less an expression of sorrow than they are an affirmation of rebirth. This renascence is expressed eloquently through Pärt’s music in an imaginative flow of melodies, modal harmonies, unexpected twists and turns, and the composer’s unique tintinnabuli technique.

What I found most absorbing in this recording was the variety of musical utterances, the splendid multiplicity of sounds, rhythms and tremors. Something new is lurking around the corner of every measure, sometimes as puzzling as our own contemplated destinies.

The album begins with an Ode from the Triodion and two Slavic Psalms (Psalm 131, “Lord, my heart is not haughty” King James Version [KJV] and the Doxology Psalm 116). The Ode is the first of three in this recording from the Triodion, a liturgical book used in the Eastern Church during Lent. Seven selections from the Kanon of Repentance shine at the heart of the album.

These tracks could not be more different. Slow staccato notes tiptoe under a silvery upper register in the third track while an almost Western sensibility shapes the sound of the fourth (did I hear a touch of Mahler?). The swinging rhythms and unexpected pauses of Kanon Ode 9 remind us that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore”, but, rather, in a world that sometimes stretches far beyond the Western orientation of many listeners.

The album also includes a sung “reading” from the Gospel of Matthew, “The Woman with the Alabaster Box” (“There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.” KJV). Pärt’s music floats effortlessly from the ensemble and melts into the next selection, scattered with little discords.

This is Cappella Romana’s 31st album. While the group specializes in the sacred music of the Christian East and West, it is known largely for its stewardship of the music of Byzantium and the works of Arvo Pärt. Those of us raised in Western cultural traditions have missed much if we have ignored or been deprived of the legacy of Eastern sacred music, old or new. There is a core of authenticity in Pärt’s work that has endeared it, even in his lifetime, to millions around the world.

-- ConcertoNet