Free at Last

In June of 1991, just months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, I stood hand-in-hand with my comrades in Luther College’s Nordic Choir, testing the acoustics of the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin with Pavel Chesnokov’s darkly ecstatic “Salvation Is Created.”

I remember the golden light filtering through the frescoed columns, our voices resonating richly between the cold stone floors and the gilded onion domes, the guards half-heartedly trying to silence us. This church, the seat of power of the Russian Orthodoxy for more than seven centuries, had been largely silent since the Russian Revolution in 1917. It reopened to the public the Easter prior to our visit. After we sang, an old Russian woman wearing a black head scarf took my hands in hers and squeezed hard. Tears were streaming down her face. I learned in that moment just how powerful music can be, particularly for those who have not been free to hear it.

The Russian Patriarchate Choir of Moscow, sponsored by VocalEssence, brings the raw power and dark beauty of Russian sacred music to the Twin Cities this month. Though much of the music will be familiar to choral-savvy Twin Citians (think Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Grechaninov), performing it was outlawed for decades under the Soviet regime.

The twelve male singers, along with their director, Anatoly Grindenko, are also dedicated scholars who were among the first in the late Soviet era to decode ancient Orthodox manuscripts that had long floated in obscurity. The group has been lauded for not only rediscovering the Byzantine roots of Russian Orthodox chant, but also for the powerful sense of energy and beauty that typifies their performances. The American Record Guide describes listening to their recordings as “listening to a long lost, urgently needed muse.” 

VocalEssence’ Philip Brunelle says to let the “moment just take you. There is great beauty and serenity and calm that in our wild world we seek and don’t often find.” Nov. 3. Basilica of Saint Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Mpls., 612-624-2345