The Przemyśl Liturgy
- Release: DOTCOM RECORDINGS LTD (Canada). Kyiv Choir Productions (Ukraine)
- Released: 2011
- Cover : Painting Reproduction by Yurij Chymych "The Kiyevo-Pecherska Lavra. The Far caves ensemble. Winter Evening" (Gouache, 1989)
- Sound Engineer : Andrij Mokrytskyj
O Holy God
Tracklist:
- Only Begotten Son
Short Litany - Come Let Us Worship
- O Holy God
- Prokeimenon
- Epistle – New Testament Reading
- Gospel Reading
- Litany Of Fervent Supplication
- Cherubin Hymn
- Father, Son And Holy Spirit
- A Mercy Of Peace
We Lift Up Our Hearts - It Is Meet And Right
- The Lord’s Prayer
- One Is Holy
- Praise The Lord From On High
- We Have Seen The True Light
- Let Our Mouth Be Filled With Your Praise
- Thanksgiving Litany
- Strengthen Us, O Lord
Total time: 47:00
About the album
The Przemyśl Liturgy was discovered in our time (2001) by Ukrainian musicologist Yuriy Yasinovsky. For almost half a millennium, this score lay among others in the archives of the Uspenskyi Univ Monastery Library (now Poland). Its name, Liturgy, comes from a collection of medieval monodies called the “Przemyśl Irmologion,” which also contains hymns for Sunday services. In 2008, the publication of the “Irmologion” was completed (Lviv, edited by N. Balutska and N. Syrotynska).
To recreate the era, style, and manner of singing of that time, we performed a performing edition: soloists and the ison (choral pedal, over which the solo sounds) were highlighted, fragments of choral Tutti were defined, and in the litanies, the parts of the Deacon, Reader in the Apostles, and Priest in the Gospel were introduced, fulfilling all the necessary canonical requirements for presenting this composition in the form of a Divine Service of the 16th century.
The Przemyśl Liturgy is one of the oldest cyclical compositions discovered so far. It is a true monument of the liturgical heritage of Ukrainian medieval times. The compositional completeness of the Liturgy, its dramatic unity, the volume of the sound space, enhanced by the expressiveness of the soloists, readers, Tutti, and finally its particular melodiousness, elevate the Liturgy to a prestigious place among other compositions in the millennial history of Ukrainian sacred music, a vibrant component of the European musical landscape.
Mykola Hobdych