The recording was made in 1965, at a time when hearing Rachmaninoff's "All-Night Vigil" in its entirety at a concert was impossible, just as it was impossible to obtain a record of it in the USSR (the entire edition went abroad). The first listening of the LP at the All-Union Recording Studio took place in a "closed" mode. Boris Tevlin, a student and follower of Sveshnikov, recalled: "...in a huge hall alongside remarkable masters of Soviet choral art... sat renowned violinists, pianists, composers... For over fifty years, wide circles of musicians and listeners had not heard this composition. 'How will it turn out? Will expectations be disappointed?' – this question worried everyone. And then the first major chord. From then on, everything unrelated to music ceased to exist. Masterful vocal technique, excellent vocal resonance, sharp nuance gradation, vocal "orchestration," the airiness of pianissimo, the power of the bass – all absorbed the listeners."
Written in 1915 and first performed by the Moscow Synodal Choir, Rachmaninoff's "All-Night Vigil" was recognized as the composer's supreme achievement in sacred music. And now it remains for us an unsurpassed pinnacle, embodying the centuries-old path of Orthodox vocal tradition. "I myself did not think that I had composed such a work," the author confessed.
During those years, Alexander Sveshnikov was just beginning his musical journey. Under the new Soviet regime, choral art remained in demand, but different songs were required. The State Russian Choir was formed in 1937, and Sveshnikov conducted its first concert. He returned to the State Choir in 1941 – to lead it until the last years of his life.
Thanks to Sveshnikov, the repertoire of the State Choir, which had previously been dominated by Soviet music and folk songs, included works of foreign and Russian classics. For over 40 years, Alexander Sveshnikov devoted himself to his choir collective, creating a unique, recognizable choral sound from the first notes. "The Sveshnikov Choir" became a sounding brand of Soviet art, akin to "Svetlanov's orchestra," "Grigorovich's ballet," or "Gilels's piano." The highest achievement of the choir conductor and his choir was the recording of the "All-Night Vigil," which had been unofficially censored for almost half a century.
