Ave Maria (from All Night Vigil) - Rachmaninov

The All-Night Vigil (often mis-translated as simply Vespers) is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninov, his Op. 37, premiered on 23 March 1915 in Moscow. The piece consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninov's finest achievement and 'the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church'. Along with The Bells, it was one of Rachmaninov's two favorite compositions and the composer requested that its fifth movement be sung at his funeral. The sixth movement is Ave Maria which is considered to be the most beautiful part of the entire piece and performed on its own as well in many settings. Dutch arranger Rolf Verbeek arranged this movement for Symphonic Band.