RODION SHCHEDRIN [b.1932]

The Sealed Angel

 

Clare Wills (oboe)

The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber

The Choir of King's College London / David Trendell

 

Two of Britain's finest young choirs join forces and cross a continent to take on the sublime expressiveness of Rodion Shchedrin's 'Russian liturgy', an astonishing statement of faith composed in the early days of perestroika. Shchedrin's choral tableaux juxtapose tenderness with bracing sonic impact, and are shadowed throughout by the plangent voice of a solo oboe representing the soul of the Russian people. This ground-breaking choral partnership committed the work to disc following acclaimed UK première concert performances at the Spitalfields and Oundle festivals in the summer of 2008. In 1992 President Boris Yeltsin awarded Shchedrin the Russian State Prize for The Sealed Angel.

 

"The music really comes alive ... Superb performances" Church Music Quarterly, September 2007

 

"The choir of Gonville & Caius show themselves once again as one of Cambridge's most accomplished" Gramophone

 

Delphian DCD34067