Yesterday, the Alexandrov Ensemble (Red Army Choir) lost 64 of its members in a plane crash, including all but 3 members of its choir. Our hearts go out to our distant colleagues, as well as to all the artists lost to us this year, with the Russian hymn Spaseniye Sodelal (Salvation is Created) by Pavel Chesnokov, recorded in Iceland last week in a giant fish tank. Вечная память! | OLGA Vocal Ensemble

Pavel Chesnokov’s ‘All creation rejoices’ (Op. 15, No. 11) is the Hymn to the Mother of God at the Liturgy of St Basil the Great, celebrated ten times annually. Chesnokov takes as his model the setting by Archpriest Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov (1779–1856), commonly sung in the 19th century: he uses the same ‘Greek’ chant melody but deviates, returning to it at three points later on in the piece. There is a rich sonority with extra-long sustained lines and judicious chromaticism. In the penultima