Bavarian Radio Chorus / Peter Dijkstra

With his masterfully composed Vespers Liturgy for choir a cappella, Rachmaninov transports the listener into a musical world of admirable depth and inwardness. Inspired by old modes, he created one of his most beautiful works. The »All-Night Vigil«, composed in 1915 for a benefit concert in Moscow in aid of war victims, takes up the fascinating tradition of Orthodox chants and reflects it profoundly. At the same time, Rachmaninov created a musical monument to his childhood memories and the religious soul of his homeland – a homeland he would soon leave. Rachmaninov himself described listening to his vesper liturgy as »an hour of the happiest satisfaction«.