Steinberg: Passion Week, Op. 13 The Clarion Choir & Steven Fox

• Maximilian Steinberg (1883 - 1946): Passion Week, Op. 13:
• 1Passion Week, Op. 13: Alliluiya (Alleluia)01:58
• 2Passion Week, Op. 13: Se Zhenih griadet (Behold, the Bridegroom Comes)03:36
• 3Chertog Tvoy (Thy Bridal Chamber) [Kievan Chant]01:47
• 4Passion Week, Op. 13: Chertog Tvoy (Thy Bridal Chamber)02:52
• 5Passion Week, Op. 13: Yegda slavnii uchenitsï (When the Glorious Disciples)04:58
• 6Stranstviya Vladïchnia (The Master's Hospitality) [Znamenny Chant]02:00
• 7Passion Week, Op. 13: Stranstviya Vladïchnia (The Master's Hospitality)03:17
• 8Vecheri Tvoyeya taynïya (Of Thy Mystical Supper) [Znamenny Chant]02:44
• 9Passion Week, Op. 13: Vecheri Tvoyeya taynïya (Of Thy Mystical Supper)03:58
• 10Passion Week, Op. 13: Blagoobraznïy Iosif (The Noble Joseph)04:44
• 11Passion Week, Op. 13: Razboynika blagorazumnago (The Wise Thief)02:32
• 12Ne rïday Mene, Mati (Do Not Lament Me, O Mother) [Znamenny Chant]02:16
• 13Passion Week, Op. 13: Ne rïday Mene, Mati (Do Not Lament Me, O Mother)02:47
• 14Voskresni, Bozhe (Arise, O God) [Znamenny Chant]00:56
• 15Passion Week, Op. 13: Voskresni, Bozhe (Arise, O God)06:36
• 16Passion Week, Op. 13: Da molchit fsiakaya plot (Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence)07:51
• Total Runtime54:52

Info for Steinberg: Passion Week, Op. 13

Passion Week is a long-lost choral masterpiece composed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s favourite student, heir apparent and son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. A product of his interest in the sacred and mystical, it is a tour de force of the systematic use of medieval Church Slavonic chant melodies and shares with Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil the colourful use of choral textures. Steinberg’s settings are complex and rich, with a diverse and sometimes daring harmonic palette, offering eleven movements of distinctive and expressive content that reveal an artist’s search for identity at a time of increasing hostility to religion.

„…conductor Steven Fox has chosen just the right voices who have the strength and the ability to project an appropriate “slavic” sound, most notably bass Philip Cutlip.

…the success of this recording has to be attributed to this excellent chorus, 30-plus voices who collectively project a serious love for this music with a vibrant, shimmering tone, perfectly judged dynamics, and consistently fine balance and intonation.“ (David Vernier, ClassicsToday)

„Passion Week is a long-lost choral masterpiece composed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s favorite student, heir apparent and son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. A product of his interest in the sacred and mystical, it is a tour de force of the systematic use of medieval Church Slavonic chant melodies and shares with Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil the colorful use of choral textures. Steinberg’s settings are complex and rich, with a diverse and sometimes daring harmonic palette.“ (Lisa Flynn, WFMT (Chicago)

Clarion Choir
Steven Fox, direction

Steven Fox
is Artistic Director of The Clarion Orchestra and The Clarion Choir and Founder of Musica Antiqua St Petersburg, which he established as Russia’s first period-instrument orchestra at the age of 21. Recognised as a leading conductor of his generation, he has recently appeared as a guest conductor with San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, L’Opéra de Québec and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. From 2008 to 2013 he was an Associate Conductor at New York City Opera, and he has served as an Assistant Conductor for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Program and Juilliard Opera. Steven Fox is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was named an Associate in 2010. He has led master- classes and clinics at Dartmouth, Juilliard and Yale, where he served as preparatory conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum.

Clarion Choir
Established in 2006 to complement The Clarion Orchestra, The Clarion Choir has become one of the leading professional vocal ensembles in the United States. With members equally at home on the solo stage and in ensemble singing, The Clarion Choir has performed in many of the great halls and festivals of North America, including the Lincoln Center White Light Festival, The Tully Scope Festival, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Frick Collection, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, the Quebec International Festival of Sacred Music, The Twelfth Night Festival, and Bargemusic with The Knights chamber orchestra. The Clarion Choir premièred Passion Week in a critically- acclaimed performance in October 2014, shortly before this recording was made.

Booklet for Steinberg: Passion Week, Op. 13