Russian and Ukrainian Chants (16th~17th Century)

It's hard for the listener to know exactly what he or she is hearing on this disc, apparently featuring performances compiled from recordings made many years ago on the Everest label. No performers are listed anywhere, and the brief notes, abstracted more or less randomly from an old LP jacket, aren't very informative. The buyer will want to know, however, that "chant" isn't the right word to describe this music, which does not resemble single-line Gregorian chant, or, for that matter, the Russian Orthodox church music Western listeners are likely to have heard. Instead the music is richly polyphonic, with as many as 12 voice parts in several of the pieces. This style apparently represented an early phase of Western influence on Russian music, as composers tried to emulate the monumental choral compositions of the late Renaissance, and the singing of the large unnamed choir is quite powerful. Most of the pieces are in a solemn, ponderous style, but a few, including the Three Ukrainian Chants (actually the least "chant-like" of all), are livelier, with animated folk-like melodies. The disc offers intriguing listening to lovers of unaccompanied choral music, but a bit of information to go with the music would have enhanced it a lot. — James Manheim.