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An alternative, even for those who hate choral music

Chris, you mentioned Rachmaninoff's "Vespers," which certainly is a step up from Grechaninov's "Passion Week." Personally, I'm not much interested in long choral works. It takes something special to pull me in to choral music.

One choral work I can recommend for anyone, even those who hate choral music, is Taneyev's "John of Damascus" (variously titled Joann Damaskin, etc). As much as I admire Rachmaninoff and his cantatas, there is no doubt that Taneyev's "John of Damascus" is the greatest purely choral work (by which I mean, no soloists) ever written in Russian or by a Russian. The lines in the piece are from Tolstoy. "I travel along a path that is unknown to me." The opening movement would bring a resolute atheist to his knees in awe of its sheer beauty. And for those not crazy about choral music, it is blessedly brief (only around 23 minutes).

Taneyev studied with and was a close friend of Tchaikovsky, and became a noted pedagog himself. His students included Gli
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)



Edits: 04/14/15

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