Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil is a haunting cornerstone of the choral repertoire, and an overwhelming listening experience. The Alton-based choir Luminosa is delighted to be performing this work, along with Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, and Michael Higgins’ O Salutaris Hostia.
The All-Night Vigil is arguably Rachmaninov’s finest achievement, written within two weeks in early 1915. He was looking to write something more introspective than usual: not for liturgical use but as a war benefit concert.
The All-Night Vigil asks the congregation to contemplate the light of the coming dawn as emblematic of Christ’s Resurrection. Rachmaninov followed the church’s tradition of basing ten of the fifteen sections on chants, with the remaining five being more free-form. In particular, the Kiev chant resonates most poignantly today. The whole work is full of exquisite harmonies, full of light and shade: a radiant masterpiece.
The first performance took place in March 1915, when it was warmly received by critics and audiences alike. However, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the rise of the Soviet Union, led to government condemnation of sacred music. Consequently, no other composition marks the end of an era so completely as this quiet, reflective and deeply moving work.
The concert will also feature Luminosa Chamber Voices who will perform Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. Written in 1997 following the death of his mother, this beautiful work explores music’s power to preserve and remember, and the depth of human capacity to love. Lauridsen presents sacred Latin texts in five movements with luminous shifting harmonies, perfectly expressing a timeless sense of serenity.
Michael Higgins will provide sensitive, atmospheric piano accompaniment. Luminosa is also honoured to be performing his exquisite O Salutaris Hostia (an arrangement of Elgar’s Nimrod) which he composed during the Covid lockdown.
Conducted by their dynamic artistic director, Rebekah Abbott, Luminosa will perform this exceptional music with the textual variety and sustained luxuriance of sound for which the choir is now well known. There will be also a surprise addition to the concert experience which will enhance the evening’s message of hope and light.
If you love choral music and appreciate compositions that lift you from the mundane, you should not miss Luminosa’s spring concert.