DIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO AND WESTERN AMERICA: December 14, 2007
The Cathedral Choir of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Records Music For a Documentary Series on Russian Composers

On November 13, 2007, at the request of the Conductor of San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas, the Cathedral Choir of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” under the direction of VV Krassovsky, recorded liturgical music for a documentary series on two Russian composers: Peter Tchaikovsky and Dmitri Shostakovich. The films will show the influence of spiritual and national music in the works of these composers. The Choir performed the troparion to the Cross, Spasi, Gospodi, liudi Tvoya [Save, O Lord, Thy People] and Bozhe Tsarya khrani [God Save the Tsar], melodies that are used in Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture.” Shostakovich himself recorded in his memoirs that a part of his Fourth Symphony was influenced by funerary songs. For this reason, the choir sang the funerary litany of Archangelsky and Vechnaya pamyat' [Eternal Memory]. The intonations and petitions were sung by Protodeacon Nicholas Triantafillidis, a Cathedral clergyman. It is expected that these films were be shown in the spring of 2009 on American television.