Album Notes
After the Christianization of Kievan Rus (now the territory of Ukraine) from Byzantium in the 10th century the culture on these grounds did not begin anew, but its new page was opened. Together with Baptism, Byzantium brought its musical tradition to Ukraine but through the process of assimilation into Ukrainian alongside with the partially kept prior archaic layers of Ukrainian folklore and melodies, there agreeably appeared its first original sacred songs, as authored by anonymous monks. This disc presents four unique Ukrainian monodies (track 1,2, 6,12) of the XV-XVI centures. The monodies are performed in solo form with isometrics and resilient pedals, which are able to change their sound levels. This differs to the strict Gregorian style, as these monodies are more individual and freedom loving, yet not straying from their prescribed borders and framework.
In the XVII century the plentiful musical spheres of Ukraine underwent a revolution - when in a change to the many years of one tone monodies came the multi-voiced, or polyphonic song , from which began the epoch of Ukrainian Baroque. The most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian baroque were Mykola Diletsky (1630? - 1690?) and Simeon Pekalytsky (1630-?)
M.Diletsky (track 10) was born in Kyie. He obtained brilliant education at the Vilnius Jesuit academy attaining the honorary title of Academic. Diletsky created the first Eastern European theoretical dissertation on "The Grammar of Music", in which he presented the origins of musical theory, composition and aesthetics.
S.Pekalytsky (track 14) was composer, singer, choral conductor and director of many well known church choirs in Chernihiv, Lviv and also the Moscow Court kapella.
Epoch of Classicism is the golden era of Ukrainian music. In a change to the monumentality of Baroque came refinement, intimacy, tenderness and the suave. The works of such eminent masters like Berezovsky, Bortiansky and Vedel took the Ukrainian choral culture into a new orbit, which even until now continue to be received as a specific aesthetic ideal, and organically supplementing and complimenting the history of European classicism.
Maksym Berezovsky (1745?-1777) - academic of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy, student of the famous padre Martini, the creator of classicism in Ukraine. The influence of Berezovsky within musical culture is so great, that two nations – the Ukrainian and Russian, both see him as the creator and founder of their professional musical schools.
Dmitry Bortiansky (1751-1825) also received a brilliant education in Italy. Upon his return to Russia Impire Bortinansky was appointed to the post of Kapellmeister, and in agreement - the first director of the Petersburg choral kapella. He developed Berezovsky's originally founded genre of the cyclical choral concert, and organically united the traditional Ukrainian and Western-European choral cultures.
Artem Vedel (1767-1808) - the most enchanting star of Ukraine, an eminent composer, beautiful choral conductor, dazzling singer (tenor), and violin virtuoso. So much talent in one person and yet a life filled with a tragic fate. At the age of 32 and full of creative thoughts he was arrested on falsified political charges and imprisoned in an institution for nine dreadful years. His creative legacy was not fully preserved, and yet the elements and parts uncovered as of today cannot fail to impress: 28 choral concerts, 2 Divine Liturgies, The All-Night Vigil.
In the XIX century Ukrainian choral culture elevated itself to a new levels of quality. It was period of Ukrainian Romanticism which ties itself to the boisterous wave of national rebirth. The choral creations of this era are full of glorious feelings, sensitivity and the influence of national folklore. Ukrainian romanticism created a whole pleiad of well-known composers represented on this disk: M.Verbytsky, M.Leontovych, K.Stetsenko, Y.Yatsenevych.
Of course, it’s not possible to present all the richness of the centuries-old tradition of Ukrainian choral music on one disc but we hope that acquaintance with other recordings of the Chamber Choir Kyiv, the discography of which includes more than 50 CDs, will help you to uncover all the beauty of Ukrainian sacred music.