Tucson Chamber Artists will close out its season this weekend with Rachmaninoff’s “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom,” one of two major unaccompanied choral works the Russian composer penned.
The professional choir performed Rachmaninoff’s other one, “Vespers,” three years ago, and the audience response far exceeded TCA Music Director Eric Holtan’s expectations.
“It’s an exquisite piece of music ... but I was blown away by the audience response. We sold out those concerts in 2012,” he said. “I wanted to do (Rachmaninoff’s) other big, a capella piece.”
Rachmaninoff wrote the “St. John Chrysostom” in 1910, basing it on the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom that is regularly used in Eastern Orthodox Church services. His intention was that the work be used for church services, but the church said the piece’s emotional impact was inappropriate in a worship setting, Holtan explained. But the “St. John Chrysostom” was ideally suited for a concert setting.
The piece, though, is rarely performed, which makes it a prime candidate for the TCA, a group that has carved a reputation for championing music comfortably outside the standard repertoire.
Holtan will lead a 32-voice strong choir in four performances. Tucson bass Arizeder Urreiztieta will sing the role of the Deacon, who chants holy petitions throughout the work.
“You get a glimpse of a very powerful, worshipful experience,” said Urreiztieta, who has performed the role several times with ensembles in New York. “It’s quite powerful.”
This will be Holtan’s first performance of the piece. After consulting the Very Rev. Philip Nixon of Tucson’s Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church on East Fifth Street, where TCA will perform Saturday, Holtan made some arrangement tweaks. He eliminated a few songs that were meant to follow the order of worship, including the response to the consecrating of the eucharist and the reading of the gospel.
“One of the things that I learned — and I learned a number of things — is that there is a place in this liturgy where some extra hymns would be inserted,” Holtan said. “As it turns out, we are going to take two of the pieces from (Rachmaninoff’s) ‘Vespers’ that serve in that place and we are going to insert them into the liturgy. So listeners are going to get a little of the ‘Vespers’ again ... including ‘Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos (Ave Maria)’.”
“You’re getting the best of both worlds,” added Urreiztieta, who admitted that in all the times he’s performed “St. John Chrysostom” he has never done a complete version “because we’ve always cut something from it.”
Holtan said performing the work is “a profound musical and spiritual experience. You get the flavor of something really holy and special when you are around this music.”
