We are very pleased to present our first release in a new series from the PaTRAM Institute. The music performed on this recording of Orthodox choral music in the Slavonic language was written by famed Russian composer Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944). Teach me Thy Statutes is performed by the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir, a highly professional group which is a collaboration of Russian and American singers. The male choir is considered by many to be the mainstay of traditional chant and Orthodox monasticism. PaTRAM Institute Singers and Reference Recordings are planning several more CD releases over the next 5 years with Dr. Peter Jermihov as artistic director and conductor. Alexis Lukianov, Founder, Chairman and CEO of PaTRAM Institute states: "I am very pleased that PaTRAM Institute Singers has partnered with one of the top labels in the classical music industry. We are excited about our newest prospects and opportunities to produce and distribute world-­class orthodox liturgical music."
Teach Me Thy Statutes was recorded in Russia in July of 2016 in the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian Orthodox Church, at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary. PaTRAM's objective was to immerse the listener in the beautiful Russian monastic style of singing through its fullness and richness of sonority. Highly-esteemed conductor Maestro Vladimir Gorbik, whose pedigree is from the Moscow Conservatory and as choirmaster of the Holy Trinity—St. Sergius Lavra Representation Choir (monastery), skillfully unites strong musicianship with superb diction to a degree that is seldom heard outside of Russia, but which epitomizes the best traditional culture of singing in the Russian Orthodox Church.