These a cappella
Psalms of Repentance
, also known as
Penitential Psalms
, were composed in 1988 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the conversion of the Kyivian Rus to Orthodox Christianity by Volodymyr the Great. They are about as spare and traditional as anything
Alfred Schnittke
ever wrote, yet they are still imbued with his entirely original musical personality. Access to the texts (in transliterated Russian and English) in the physical booklet is recommended here, for
Schnittke
's text-setting is quite sensitive, and his system for it is unique. The music is generally tonal, but it becomes harmonically denser at critical text junctures. The performances by the
Cappella Amsterdam
under director
Daniel Reuss
are ideal. The choir bulks up a bit to 33 members, and
Reuss
gets a thicker vocal tone from his group, a bit reminiscent of Russian choral singing. However, they do not sound like a Russian choir, just as
is as much Western as Russian, and his musical models in the
, such as they are, are more Viennese than Russian Orthodox. It is a virtuoso performance that captures the shades of meaning in the psalm texts, to which
seems to have responded in a personal way. These pieces have occasionally been recorded before, but this reading, with superb sound from the Pieterskerk in Utrecht, is ideal, and the music is recommended to all choral singers. ~ James Manheim