Musical arrangements of Archpriest Sergei Glagolev

[Michael Astley]

Has anybody any experience of the music of Fr Sergei? I have only very recently encounterd his name and what I have seen of his music appears to be truly splendid: truly elevating the heart.

Some of his music may be seen here (http://www.jacwell.org/Liturgical%20Music/fr_sergei_glagolev.htm). The Holy Saturday/St James Liturgy cherubikon is especially haunting and the Alleluia (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuZ-pI4dk0&feature=related) is the perfect heralding of the Gospel at the Liturgy. I also like the Trisagion (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GZwuZv9_xic&NR=1).

Does anybody know if his work is available in a published collection?

Thank you.

Michael

[Michael Astley]

I think that I have just answered (http://www.orthodoxpsalm.org/newsevents/article4.html) my own question.

Michael

[Anthony Stokes]

I think that I have just answered (http://www.orthodoxpsalm.org/newsevents/article4.html) my own question.

Michael


Michael,
that is a good collection. There is a CD by Cappella Romana directed by Vladimir Morosan titled "Lay Aside All Earthly Cares" that goes with the book.

I use a modified version of Fr. Glagolev's "Anaphora" and we also use the "All of Creation" for St. Basil Liturgies. I've used his Alleluia No. 1 at a hierarchical liturgy, but you need at least 10 people to cover the parts effectively.

We are about to use the Cherubic Hymn that is in G minor, and we might use the Psalm 103.

The only complaint that I hear is that some of it sounds too "Protestant." One of my choir members said that the Psalm 103 for Vigil made her think of an Episcopal Church.

Oh, and I really like his setting of St. Symeon's Prayer, although I'm not sure that it fits into liturgical use very well. I've done it in a concert setting of Orthodox music before.

Hope that helps. If you like his music, I definitely recommend the CD - http://www.musicarussica.com/discdet.lasso?-database=musrus_cds&-response=discdet.lasso&-layout=CD_detail&-RecID=35504&-search

Sbdn. Anthony

[Michael Astley]

Thank you, Subdeacon Anthony.

The CD is due to arrive on Monday, so I'm thoroughly looking forward to that. I have ordered the book, but this will take longer.

Thank you, as well, for your summary of some of the pieces. I take care of the Orthodox music for events of the local branch of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius. So far, for the Liturgy, we have used the compilation including many compositions of the Reader Ephrem Baker, a member of this forum. However, I would to extend our repertoire a little and I very much like what I have heard of Fr Sergei's work. It is good to hear from somebody who has actually used it.

There are a good many samples on the PSALM site, so I shall have a look at these until the sheet music arrives.

Thank you, again, for the comments.

In Christ,
Michael

[Michael Astley]

I am pleased to say that we shall begin to use some of Fr Sergei's music at my parish. I used his setting of the Phos Hilaron recently at Vespers and we plan to use his "One is Holy", and the Sunday "Praise the Lord from the Heavans" which we had previously intoned. I have also been asked to find a new setting of Receive the Body of Christ, for which I think we'll not use Fr Sergei's setting because there is a beautiful setting by Reader Ephrem Baker, (of this forum), which I have used before and which I think would work well at my parish.

In Christ,
Michael