Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev: St. Matthew Passion (English Version) Russian National Orchestra, Moscow Synodal Choir, Hilarion Alfeyev

• Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev (.b. 1966): St. Matthew Passion:
• 1 St. Matthew Passion: The Council of the Chief Priests 05:17
• 2 St. Matthew Passion: One of You Shall Betray Me 05:16
• 3 St. Matthew Passion: The Last Supper 05:20
• 4 St. Matthew Passion: Jesus at Gethsemane 05:23
• 5 St. Matthew Passion: Jesus Arrested 03:18
• 6 St. Matthew Passion: The Beatitudes 05:23
• 7 St. Matthew Passion: Jesus before the High Priest 05:07
• 8 St. Matthew Passion: Peter’s Denial. The End of Judas 06:29
• 9 St. Matthew Passion: Jesus before Pilate 04:26
• 10 St. Matthew Passion: The Crucifixion 07:11
• 11 St. Matthew Passion: The Death of Jesus 02:29
• 12 St. Matthew Passion: We Hymn Thee 04:21
• 13 St. Matthew Passion: Earthquake. The Virgin Mary’s Lament 07:29
• 14 St. Matthew Passion: The Burial 04:40
• 15 St. Matthew Passion: Sealing the Stone 05:13
• 16 St. Matthew Passion: Thou Didst Descend into Hell 02:23
• 17 St. Matthew Passion: The Resurrection 05:08
• 18 St. Matthew Passion: Thy Death, O Lord, We Proclaim 05:35
• Total Runtime 01:30:28

Info for Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev: St. Matthew Passion (English Version)

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev St Matthew Passion for soloists, choir and orchestra Vladimir Fedoseyev, Conductor Moscow Synodal Choir Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra.

The St Matthew Passion (German: Matthäus-Passion), BWV 244, is a Passion, a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew (in the Luther Bible) to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of classical sacred music.

Moscow Synodal Choir
Russian National Orchestra
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, conductor

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev
is one of the most widely performed of all living Russian composers. Each of his new compositions constitutes a milestone in contemporary musical history.

His ability to imbue his music with profound religious content, to unite diverse cultures and styles, to invent new ways of musical expression while remaining faithful to the centuries-old classical tradition, and to utter most profound themes using a simple and comprehensible musical language, singles him out among present-day composers.

Hilarion Alfeyev was born on 24 July 1966. After graduating from Moscow’s Gnessins School of Music where he studied violin and composition, he enrolled at the Moscow State Artists Conservatory. In 1987 he was ordained as a priest, and since 2002 he has been a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. He has chaired the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate since 2009, when he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop, and in 2010 he became a Metropolitan. He is the author of more than a thousand publications on theology, history and musicology, including thirty books which have been translated into more than twenty languages. His musical compositions include pieces for a cappella chorus, chamber works and monumental oratorios for soloists, choir and symphony orchestra.

His most widely performed work, the St Matthew Passion (2006), has received worldwide recognition. Following its premiere in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in March 2007, it has been performed more than seventy times in different countries by the most distinguished soloists, choirs and orchestras. Invariably it receives standing ovations from audiences at each concert. Equally well–received have been Metropolitan Hilarion’s subsequent works: a Christmas Oratorio for two choirs and symphony orchestra (2007), the symphony Song of Ascent and the more recently completed Stabat Mater.

The Russian National Orchestra
was founded in 1990 and today is recognized as one of the world’s top orchestras. Of its debut at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote, “They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.”

The Russian National Orchestra’s towering artistic achievement is grounded in a passionate commitment to excellence and innovation evident in all that it does. The RNO is a frequent guest in the music capitals of Europe, Asia and the Americas. The founding orchestra of Napa Valley Festival del Sole, the RNO also performs at prominent venues such as the Edinburgh, Shanghai and Chopin festivals, and the BBC Proms.

The RNO has made many recordings for PENTATONE, including one of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Beintus’s Wolf Tracks. Conducted by Kent Nagano and narrated by Sophia Loren and Bill Clinton, the disc received a 2004 Grammy, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra to win the recording industry’s highest honor. The RNO’s Shostakovich cycle on PENTATONE is widely acclaimed as “the most exciting cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies to be put down on disc, and easily the best recorded.” (SACD.net)

The orchestra maintains a full Moscow season and has established the annual Grand Festival, which opens the Russian capital’s cultural season each September. Unique among the principal Russian ensembles, the RNO is a private institution funded with the support of individuals, corporations and foundations throughout the world. In recognition of its artistry and path- breaking structure, the RNO was the first non-governmental orchestra to receive grant support from the Russian Federation.

The Synodal Choir
one of the oldest professional choirs in Russia, was founded in Moscow in 1721. The choir dissolved during Easter 1918, but it was revived in the spring of 2009 with help from Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. The renewed Synodal Choir is based on the choir of the famous church located in Bolshaya Ordynka, which recorded and propagated Russian sacred music on gramophone records. The choir works with the best Russian orchestras and participates in important international church projects. Honored Artist of Russia, Alexey Puzakov, is artistic director of the choir.

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