Artemij Vedel. Spiritual concertos 8-12

About the Album

On this compact disc the Chamber Choir “Kyiv” presents spiritual concertos from Vedel’s unique autobiographical works (No’s 8-12).

Concerto No’s 8-10 were scored in Kharkiv. The first of which – “That I may proclaim with the Voice of Thanksgiving” was dated 6th October 1796. In it we see a model of Vedel’s later concertos – which unfold in four-sectional cycles showing a characteristic sectional coherence: slow sections I & III with outweighing ensemble sound and speed, against the normal, and tutti style of sections II & IV. Scaled, full of contrasting satisfactions and complex to perform, Concerto No.8 in style demonstrates the most classical nature of all previous concerts. Beautiful plasticity of melody – and Mozart in form discerns section III, whereas section I, and the finale evolve and grow from the verses of Ukrainian national song. New grains of Vedel’s creativity are
opened in the two-choir Concertos No’s 9-10. Here the composer demonstrates his brilliant possession of expression and opportunities of antiphonal sound.

Concerto No.9 “Preacher of Faith” is dedicated to the Holy name day of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called, (dated 30th November 1796), and is thus triumphal, and festive in character.

The joyously uplifting Concerto No.10 “O Lord my Saviour, why have You forsaken me” is embodied in melodic diversity. An axis of drama creates the remarkable eighttoned fugato at the start of section III through its severe-concentration of tone, and strained dissonancy.

The most scaled and complex in its internal organisation is Concerto No.11 “O God the proud have risen against me” and Concerto No.12 “To the Lord I always bow and walk His ways” – which were created during November 1799 – and not too long before Vedel’s entry as a servant-novice in the Kyiv-Pecherska Monastery, and his arrest six months later. Man’s struggle with the forces of evil – “criminality”, “the irreligious” and “abhorred peace”, – become foremost themes in these creations, and take upon themselves, a sign of external conflict. The last dated Vedel concerto demonstrated granite like opportunities of genre and embodiment of the deep dramatically driven conceptions of the composer, revealing the heights of his spirituality, and the composer’s mastery.

Tetiana Husarchuk
Doctor of Arts