The Pasadena Master Chorale (PMC) will perform Rachmaninoff's "All-Night Vigil" at Altadena Community Church on Sun., June 17, at 4 PM.
Comprised of 15 movements, the All-Night Vigil is based largely on Russian Orthodox chants. It is also very rarely performed, owing in part to the demands it places upon the choir.
“The Vigil is a technical and emotional tour de force,” says Jeffrey Bernstein of Altadena, artistic director of PMC. says. “Sung without instruments and lasting just over one hour, the piece evokes many moods and stretches the choir to its limits of range and endurance.”
“Rachmaninoff composed the All-Night Vigil in just over two weeks,” explains Bernstein, who will also lead PMC in a performance of the epic work on Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church in Pasadena. “It reminds me of Handel’s Messiah, in the speed with which it was composed, as if divinely inspired. It’s a towering achievement.”
Yet difficult as it is to perform, the All-Night Vigil is a deeply moving, intimate – and ultimately irresistible – work.
“On the most joyous and proclamatory sections of the text, like the word Alleluia, where other composers would allow the chorus to crescendo and soar, Rachmaninoff does the opposite,” Bernstein explains. “At such points marking deep faith, Rachmaninoff writes very low, soft and beguiling passages, suggesting an internal joy. This is what makes the piece both alluring for PMC to perform and compelling for the audience to hear.”
Tickets for Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil are available for $28 per person. Purchase them by visiting the Pasadena Master Chorale’s website, www.pasadenamasterchorale.org, through any Chorale member, or at the door. Complete details on concerts, ticket prices and venue locations can be found on the website as well. Recorded information is available by phone at 626.208.0009.
Altadena Community Church is located at 943 East Altadena Drive in Altadena. First Congregational Church is located at 464 East Walnut Street in Pasadena
The Pasadena Master Chorale also gratefully acknowledges that this performance of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil was funded (in part) by a grant from the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
