Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil

‘Even in my dreams I could not have imagined that I would write such a work.’

Chamber Choir Ireland celebrates Rachmaninov's 150th birthday with his All Night Vigil, praised as the composer's finest achievement and a 'haunting cornerstone of the choral repertoire' (Classic FM).

This intricate, reflective, and deeply moving work consists of texts taken from Vespers, Matins and the First Hour, as they are celebrated in the Russian Orthodox Church—known as the Vsenoshchnoe Bdenie or the ‘All-Night Vigil’. It is the culmination of a long tradition of Russian church music, and in particular the development of ‘choral orchestration’, summoning an enormous range of colour from the choir, and demanding virtuosity from all voices.

Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil is truly a masterpiece, from a composer at the peak of his creative powers. Though it went largely unheard until the 1960s due to Bolshevik suppression of religious music, it has since earned its rightful place in the repertory, next to his symphonies, concertos and piano works.