Crouch End Festival Chorus: Rachmaninov's Vespers

Crouch End Festival Chorus’s season ends with two performances of Rachmaninov’s glorious setting of the Vespers, with the first here at Southwark Cathedral.

Rachmaninov’s Vespers was first performed 100 years ago in 1915, and consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninov’s finest achievement and "the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church".

The piece was one of Rachmaninov’s two favourite compositions of his own, along with The Bells, which was performed by Crouch End Festival Chorus under Edward Gardner at the 2014 BBC Proms. The composer requested that the fifth movement of the Vespers be sung at his funeral.

David Temple says: “Many unaccompanied choral works are better suited to chamber choirs but Rachmaninov’s Vespers is on a grand scale and should sound magnificent with symphonic choral forces. Though we have performed excerpts in the past, this will be the choir’s first performance of this iconic work in full. The extra element of excitement for me is to perform this in two glorious venues, Southwark Cathedral and the chapel of St John's College in Cambridge."