Justin Appel
Dear Friends,
This last week, I have been listening to Russian choral music, and it occurred to me today that I should share a piece that has moved me particularly. This is a movement from Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil.
The text is an extract from Psalm 103/104, Blagoslovi, Dushe Moya (Bless the Lord, O My Soul). I have always felt some awe about this psalm in the context of Vespers. The psalm is filled with moving imagery from the natural world, describing God’s power and wisdom concerning everything he has made:
‘Thou art become exceeding glorious’
‘who covers thyself with light as with a garment’
‘The deep, like a cloak, is its mantle’
In the context of darkness and stillness, the powerful language of this psalm evokes a wonderful mixture of power and presence, of flaming glory with intimate love, of teeming diversity together with abundant grace. It’s hard not to be moved by these words into a place of contemplation.
But Rachmaninov takes the beauty of this psalm further. He expresses the text in the maternal voice of an alto soloist, who sings the traditional ‘Greek’ chant above rumbling low harmonies, and amidst mellifluous, angelic upper voices.
I’ve shared this particular video because of the clarity and presence of the choir’s sound, but also for the beauty and profundity of the accompanying footage from Vespers on Holy Friday at the Cathedral in Moscow. Notice the black vestments, and with what care the altar party carries the epitaphios (burial cloth embroidered with an image of Christ’s crucified body) around the altar and down to the tomb-table, surrounded with flowers. The ritual action speaks for itself.
This confluence of imagery, Vespers context, and memorial action communicate volumes about deep theological topics, like the Incarnation and Redemption, but it also speaks directly to the mind and heart.
I hope you find this video moving and refreshing.
Yours in Christ,
Justin