Gallery

Angels singing—elegantly attired in evening, penguin black—but angels nonetheless. The Boston-based Slava Chorale, under the direction of  Dr. G. Fredrick Guzasky and managed by Scott Tooker, specializes in Russian and Slavonic music. “Slava” is the Russian word for “glory,” and the mission to present the glory of Russian music in chant, sacred, or folk styles was abundantly achieved. Their series of performances, “Light from the East,” in and around Boston, presented an astonishing array of deeply felt music. The polyphony was both gloriously full and warmly intimate. As beguiling as the idea might be, the attempt to visit the individual voices that comprised the octet was captivatingly and bewitchingly difficult given the caliber of musicality and harmonic blending that the ensemble had achieved. However, within the superb variety of musical motifs proffered, the musicians would connect in novel combinations, gifting the listener with renewed and entwined vocal conjunctions that gave evidence that this brilliance might possibly be the accomplishment of human beings after all. The singers and director have created, orchestrated, and shared an intangible, ephemeral, aural essence that bathed and penetrated. The emotional experience left a great yearning to go where the music went and be embraced by it always—leaving me transported, aching and bereft with joy. Glory.

                                                                                            John Lanza

                                                                                                                  The Art Institute of Boston

                                                                                                    Lesley University