“The whole story is told in the excellent notes here, but the music itself is the main attraction. The nearest comparison would be Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil, but it is far from a knock-off. Steinberg makes less use of the characteristic Russian bass voices, but his settings, combining solo and choral sections in a variety of configurations, are equally varied and have a certain mystical streak that’s very appealing. The work is nicely balanced by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Chant Arrangements for Holy Week, another example of the intriguing flowering of Russian sacred music that occurred before and around the advent of Communism. Recommended, with something of a lost treasure of Russian choral music.”