CD, стоящие на полке рядом : Sacred Music (Orthodox)      

"Madrigal" (Sofia) conductor Stoyan Kralev

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Liturgical works as a musical genre are generally few, nevertheless they constitute an essential share in the works of the first Bulgarian composers. Along with such prominent authors such as Emanouil Manolov and Dobri Hristov whose work includes almost all musical genres a number of other composers - Anastas Nikolov, Hristo Manolov, Peter Dinev, - also worked chiefly on the field of church music. The works of the first generation of composers above all served daily needs, both in their secular and church music for the Bulgarian Orthodox church. The genre of liturgy played an important role for the entry of European influence in Bulgarian music, linking it above all with the Russian Orthodox tradition. It is not by chance that a liturgy by A.Nikolaev-Stroumsky was dedicated to Stepan Smolensky, a Russian composer of church music around the turn of the century.

Apostol Nikolaev-Stroumsky (1886-1971) was the son of Nikolai Nikolaev, the eminent musician, who came from Bessarabia at the turn of the century at the invitation of the Bulgarian Government. The son followed in his fathers footsteps and was choir master of the St. Alexander Nevksy Cathedral up to 1935 and subsequently in the church of Sveta Nedelya. His liturgy was in accordance with the established Orthodox canon in Bulgaria, adding several chants. Three basic accents emerged in the sequence of liturgical texts. Traditionally the liturgy begins with a prayer for mercy (Kyrie eleison) which forms the respondent parts of the Great Litany (Velika ektenia ) and Litany of Supplication (7) (Sougouba ektenia ). Three antiphones (3-5) together with two parts (6 and 8) are the symbol of the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the beginning of His preaching, as a musical contrast. The second accent is the Dogmatic credo (9) (Veruyu ), which offers a new musical contrast with active dynamic development of the respective motifs in the prayer. The third accent is the sacramental act - the transformation of the loaves of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Saviour (10-12), followed by the final act - the Sacrament (13-14).

Stoyan Kralev, the conductor, has followed the established church canon , yet the programme on CD begins with the moving Great Doxology (1) (Veliko Slavoslovie). Thus the Liturgy begins with a musical accent, leading on to overall musical build up.