Friends, Georgy Sviridov's "Kondak o mytare i fariseye" (Kontakion about the Publican and the Pharisee) from the "Hymns and Prayers" choral cycle is performed by the Yale Russian Chorus during a concert at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church (New Haven, CT).
The concert began right after the Great Vespers and featured Chorus members performing sacred and secular music from Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as Caucasus traditional music from the repertoire of the Yale Russian Chorus.
Conductor: Gabriel Mesa.
November 11, 2023, Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, New Haven, CT, USA.
❗️ Interesting: The "Kontakion about the Publican and the Pharisee" was introduced into the Yale Russian Chorus repertoire by one of its conductors, Mark Bailey. He also made a fine audio recording of this work in 2010, which can be heard here (audio + score): • Кондак о мытаре и фари...
🎶 The kontakion and the entire album "Mnogaya L'eta: 65 Years of the Yale Russian Chorus" are available for listening on various streaming platforms: band.link/Gtnqu
🎼 Download the score of G. Sviridov's sacred composition "Kondak o mytare i fariseye" on our VKontakte page or in our Telegram channel.
📷 Yale Russian Chorus Alumni Association on social media:
Facebook: / 129422890362
VKontakte: yrcaa
Telegram: t.me/YRCAlumniAssociation
#thepublicanandthepharisee
"Kondak o mytare i fariseye" (Kontakion about the Publican and the Pharisee) is a sacred work from the cycle "Three Stanzas (Monastic) for Male Chorus" (II, 2), part of the larger choral cycle "Hymns and Prayers" by the Soviet composer, pianist and public figure Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov (1915-1998).
This kontakion is sung in Orthodox churches on Sunday, three weeks before the beginning of Lent. It's dedicated to the well-known Gospel parable about how the Pharisee prayed: "God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector"; and how, lowering his eyes, the publican prayed: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:9-14).
The text of this kontakion contains an idea that is close to Sviridov's worldview. Its essence is the opposition of "many-speaking" and humble simplicity as a problem of sacred creativity. Hence the humble laconicism of the choral cycle of "Hymns and Prayers", the selection of only key words for the prayer and the most necessary means for its aural embodiment, the intonational severity, the simplicity and sincerity of the musical statement.
The score of "Hymns and Prayers" is a true masterpiece, the pinnacle of the composer's choral writing, his confession. Created at the end of the millennium, it summed up centuries of experience in Russian and world choral literature and became a kind of "opus summum", the crown of the millennial Russian Orthodox chant tradition. G. Sviridov dreamed that one day his work would be performed in an Orthodox church.
📌 Lyrics:
Let us flee the bragging of the Pharisee,
And let us learn from the Publican the high voice of the humble,
Crying out in repentance:
Savior of the world,
Cleanse thy servants.
#YaleRussianChorus #РусскийХорЙельскогоУниверситета
Friends, welcome to our channel!
The Yale Russian Chorus is the oldest singing group in the New World dedicated to the music of Russia and nearby countries. The YRC was founded 1953 at the height of the Cold War. Founders: Denis Mickiewicz and George Litton.
Singers join while students at Yale, and many stay active throughout their lives. Every year or so we hold a major concert in which students and alumni sing together. Many alumni also join the students on tours to Russia.
Without a doubt, each of us had our own motivation to join the Russian choir. But we offer you a quote from one of the members of our choir, which unites us to some extent and explains a little the meaning of the choir in our lives: "Singing the music of the YRC in the style we sang it, was an antidote to the intellectualism that got many of us into Yale in the first place, but that could be so restrictive to the heart and spirit".
The singers are not Russians, or emigrants from Russia, but are students and former students who share a passion for the music and a belief in the power of music to build connections between people of different countries.
Thanks to KZread, we are pleased to share these recordings with online audiences around the world who share our passion for this music.
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We have toured Russia and Eastern Europe many times, and we really hope that we will be able to hit the road again when the time comes 🌿
➞ To support our mission of choral excellence and cultural engagement, visit yrcalums.org/donate
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