Recording of Russian sacred music wins Grammy for third time in ten years

February 15, 2016

High quality recordings of Russian Orthodox sacred music have proven popular in recent years. At this year's 58th Annual Grammy Awards the award for "Best Choral Performance" was bestowed for a recording of Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil. It is the third time in ten years that such recordings have taken home a Grammy.

The famous Kansas City Chorale, now with a combined total of nine nominations and five wins, was presented the Grammy for its choral performance of All Night Vigil in collaboration with the Phoneix Chorale during the ceremony on February 15 at the Staples Center, reports Fox4KC.

Artistic Director of both ensembles, Charles Bruffy received the award for the new album Rachmaninoff: All Night Vigil which was recorded by fifty-six singers at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Kansas City, Kansas. Before recording, an ensemble of singers also performed live in Phoenix and Kansas City.

The musical score used for the Grammy-winning recording was provided by Musica Russica, the largest publisher of Russian choral music outside of Russia. On the recent award, Musica Russica founder and president Dr. Vladimir Morosan said, "Congratulations to Charles Bruffy and the Kansas City and Phoenix Chorales! For the third time in the last ten years, recordings of Russian Orthodox sacred music have won Grammys. We are thrilled that choral artists are bringing this music to life, using our editions and making the world a more beautiful place!"

At last years' ceremony the award for "Best Choral Performance 2014" went to the group Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Johnson, for its recording Sacred Spirit of Russia which is a collection of works by Alexander Gretchaninov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Kastalsky and others. The scores used by Conspirare are also published by Musica Russica, and were selected and coached by Dr. Vladimir Morosan.

The combined Kansas City and Phoenix Chorale's also won the Grammy for "Best Engineered Album, Classical" in 2007 for their recording of Grechaninov's Passion Week, also with scores published by Musica Russica.