Russians in Great Waldingfield

By all accounts last Friday’s concert in Great Waldingfield church by the Hermitage Ensemble from St. Petersburg (pictured above) was a fantastic success. I was really disappointed that a prior engagement meant that I was unable to be there since I love to hear Russian singing. The religious pieces in Church Slavonic, are always particularly resonant for me, evoking the wonderfully mysterious and yet calm and relaxed atmosphere of Russian churches. I understand that the group also sang some Russian folk music in the second half of the concert.

The early Christian church in Russia viewed the use of organ or other musical instruments in the service as too theatrical and distracting. This resulted in the development of a very high standard of vocal presentation. I was therefore not surprised to hear that the singing on the night was excellent and that the evening concluded with a standing ovation!

I was fortunate to be invited to join the ensemble and their manager, Natalia, for lunch on the Friday of the concert at the home of Chris and Ann Francis. We were treated to excellent typically English cuisine! I had to dig my rather rusty spoken Russian up from the depths of my memory, and was actually surprised that I could remember quite a lot. Inevitably I was unable to dredge up a really simple construction at a crucial point in the conversation however. I hope that the Group will return to Great Waldingfield in the future so that I have a chance to hear them perform.

Thanks to Chris Francis for information about the group and the event.