Byzantine Music in the New World

Byzantine Music in the New World - Holy Week

Artist: Hadjinicolaou
Item number: AB009
Category: Byzantine
Chant Type: Byzantine
Language: English
Label: Alexander Press
Period: Contemporary
Length: 38'00
Release date: 1999
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Price: $19.99 USD
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1. By Raising Lazarus

2. Six days before the Feast of Passover

3. Behold the Bridegroom

4. Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned

5. As the Lord was going to His voluntary passion

6. The serpent found a second Eve

7. How shall the unworthy one, appear in the splendour of Thy saints

8. Come, O faithful, let us work zealously for the Master

9. The harlot woman came to Thee

10. Instructing Thy disciples in the mystery, O Lord

11. When the glorious disciples were enlightened

12. Thus says the Lord to the Jews

13. Today He who hung the earth upon the waters

14. They have stripped me of my garments

15. Today hell cries out groaning

16. The Day of Resurrection


Holy Week is the fourth recording to appear under the general title Byzantine Music in the New World. It is an effort to place the Byzantine musical tradition of the Orthodox Church within an English-language context and it is directed mainly to English-speaking Christians around the world. The composer and performer, Vassilis Hadjinicolaou, is a talented musician who hails from Thessaloniki (Greece) and who resided for many years in Montreal (Canada). While there, he witnessed the great need amongst North American Orthodox for a Byzantine musical expression in their own language. This recording features selections from Holy Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Pascha or Easter) sung in traditional Byzantine melodies.

By: Fr. Apostolos Hill

Vassilis Hadjinicolaou continues to render effective service to the English-speaking Orthodox Church with this collection of hymns from Holy Week. Vassilis' voice is very smooth and greatly enabled by his knowledge of the hymns. The recording is very simple, perhaps even unadorned, featuring only one solo voice with an accompanying ison. Yet this allows the spiritual beauty of the hymns themselves to be powerfully conveyed. As with the other recordings in this series, the essence of Byzantine tonality is accurately and reverently displayed. Listeners desiring to learn these hymns for themselves will find this a rewarding addition to their discographies. The hymns selected are drawn from a variety of Holy Week services and are not limited to the top-10 recordings so often repeated in other similar recordings.