Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

In the Orthodox Church, the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” replaces the Cherubic Hymn at the Liturgy of Great and Holy Saturday, one of the most solemn services of the entire liturgical year. In a non-Orthodox context, Chesnokov’s setting works well as an anthem or concert piece, having a nice blend of harmonic and contrapuntal interest that appropriately evokes the solemn and other-worldly nature of this text. Chesnokov wrote this setting when he was teaching choir at several finishing schools for young women, thus the level of difficulty is not extreme. This piece may also be performed by men’s voices.