Review

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Three Hymns from Vespers, Opus 37:

Arranged by Evan Becker

2 B-flat trumpets, horn in F, trombone, tuba

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2019
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Rachmaninoff’s “All Night Vigil” or more commonly known “Vespers” is a monument to the Russian Orthodox musical tradition. Composed in 1915, it represented the last in a line of Vigil settings by Russian composers—Tchaikovsky’s being the best known. The atheism promulgated by the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 brought this powerful work into disfavor. Based upon Orthodox chant, this fifteen-movement work represents the pinnacle of the acapella tradition of the Russian choir. Evan Becker has set three of these movements for brass quintet.

“Come Let Us Worship” is the opening prayer of the vigil. The chant-like music features step-wise motion and dramatic dynamic changes. The brass parts are smooth and sustained and stay mostly within the staff. The first trumpet player will need strong chops. The part rises above the staff and contains long phrases at loud dynamic levels.

The second setting is “Rejoice, O Virgin,” the sixth movement of the vigil, and an Orthodox version of the hymn to Mary, the mother of Christ. The movement begins quietly and remains so until a powerful crescendo near the end. Based upon an actual chant, the long, flowing, modal melody repeats several times.  The trumpet parts have the melody for the first half of the movement. The chant migrates to the second trumpet and horn parts in the second half underneath a soaring, sustained countermelody in the first trumpet and trombone parts.

The final arrangement in this publication is a setting of the final movement of the Vigil, “Hymn to the Mother of God.” This movement is a brief but joyful counterpoint to the previous movement. Its melodic motion is still step-wise, but the tempo is fast. The dynamic levels rise to a breathtaking fortissimo until without warning the final cadence arrives with a sudden decrescendo. The first trumpet part is once again the most challenging, rising above the staff to high b².

Becker expertly reduces the eight parts of the choral score for the brass quintet. The arrangement requires a strong first trumpet player to recreate the effortlessness of the choral sound in the instrument’s upper register. The other parts remain within the staff, but each contains rewarding melodic material. The music is sublime and will challenge and inspire an advanced-intermediate level quintet.