Nikolai Tolstiakov (1883-1958) was one of the truly tragic victims of the Communist revolution: after suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of the tumultuous events of 1917, he did not compose any more sacred music beyond his promising initial opuses. Just how promising is apparent from his setting of “Bless the Lord, O My Soul,” a chant melody from Vespers that also saw arrangements by such composers as L'vov, L'vovsky, Tchaikovsky, Kastalsky, Chesnokov, and Rachmaninoff, among others. Employing bold and colorful harmonic strokes and richly saturated harmony, this arrangement builds to a relentless and majestic climax.
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