Leitourgeia kai Qurbana: Contra den Zeitgeist

I said I’d post an update when this happened, and I’m probably a little late on doing so, but nonetheless, As Far as the East is from the West, featuring the choral music of Kurt Sander and Gennadiy Lapaev, is now available for purchase from several outlets, both as a CD and as a download. Buy early, buy often — it’s good stuff.

I got home from the Sacred Music Institute at the Antiochian Village on Sunday evening (which will be worthy of its own blog post eventually) to find six copies waiting for me of the CD that represents the fruits of the four days of recording on the Northern Kentucky University campus last August. As Far as the East is from the West is not yet available for purchase — that will probably be in September; keep an eye on this page for details, and I’ll certainly post an update when it happens — but all of us who sang have our copies, as well as a handful of extras to give away.

Since I’m on the recording, I don’t think I can ethically review it, but I will say that having listened to it, much as was the case when I drove home from the sessions, it’s a project of which I’m very grateful to have been a part. The recording sounds very much how I expected it to sound based on the sessions, and my only real disappointment is that the liner notes (written by one Sergey Furmanov) mention that the choir included “church musicians from parishes in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Montreal, and Philadelphia,” but, alas, leaves off Bloomington. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

In any event, my sincere hope is that this CD helps to kindle a more general interest in both Kurt Sander’s and Gennady Lapaev’s music in this country, and one way or the other it is a document of some wonderful examples of current Orthodox liturgical music, as well as a reminder of treasured memories.