The Beautiful sounds of unaccompanied Russian spiritual singing echoed around St Mary's Church in Belford when The Hermitage Ensemble from St Petersburg gave a recital there last week and as with last year their performance was warmly received. The Ensemble is a male voice choir each having a relevant wide musical education. In Russia they work as soloists in operas and in concerts.

With different singers and a different programme from last year the mellow tones of Russian church music and folk songs perfectly complemented the church surroundings.

The music of the Russian Orthodox Church arose out of a blend of the Greek, Byzantine and Oriental influences and there were no instruments played during the concert as in the early Christian church they were viewed as being theatrical and had other undesirable associations, and therefore not conducive to worship. The folk songs that formed the second half of the concert, showed a range of emotion with their rhythms and melodies. Russian spiritual music was censored in Soviet Russia after the 1917 Revolution and for almost 70 years it became inaccessible to a wide audience and, as the years passed, was almost forgotten.

The evening was organised by Phil Caruthers of the BlueBell Farm Caravan Park in Belford who said "Everyone enjoyed the concert and we are looking forward very much to the Ensemble's visit next year which promises to be even better."

Steve Newman
Writer & Photographer
www.stevenewman.co.uk