Heavenly Music
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I have received the CD of Fr. Sergei Glagolev’s chants which I blogged about earlier. I am very pleased with it, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The the structure of the melodies follows the rhythms of English language, but the harmonies involve subtle dissonance. This brings to mind similarities to Arvo Pärt or John Tavener. The music is for liturgical celebration, so the pieces are much more straightforward than Tavener, whose work is primarily written for choral performance and only inspired by liturgy. Pärt’s compositions are sometimes long as well, but he also writes for liturgical celebrations, so the comparison is more apt.
There seem to be two distinct types of pieces: Those in which the congregation is expected to sing along, and those in which it is not. For example, the Cherubic hymn, whose function in the liturgy is to cover a very long prayer by the priest and evoke a sense of unity with the angelic powers, uses long, willowy rhythms and is heavy on the dissonance. The melody is difficult to discern. The communicated effect is, “Listen, don’t try to sing along.”
On the other hand, many pieces are more singable and seem to invite the assembly to sing along. For example, several communion hymns (koinonika) have been included. The koinonikon is a psalm verse, such as “Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the highest” or “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance; he shall not fear evil tidings,” which praise God with either a theme from the day, or the theme of communion, or both. Fr. Sergei’s koinonika settings make use of easily distinguished melodies, much more consonant harmonies, and quick rhythms which mimic the effect of spoken English. The increased singability of these pieces invites the assembled faithful to join in.
My one gripe — and it is pretty distracting in an otherwise exceptional compilation — is the use of the Slavonic pronunciation of “Alleluia”: ah leh loo EEEEEE ah. Quite grating and distracting in a CD where everything else is in English.
However, I am very pleased on the whole, and I am happy to further commend this collection to your listening pleasure.