Traditional Ukrainian carols:
1. All around the world, good tidings (По всьому світу стала новина) (Po vsiomu svitu stala novyna)
2. Good evening to you! (Добрий вечір тобі!) (Dobryi vechir tobi!)
3. How wondrous this is (Що то за предиво) (Shcho to za predyvo)
4. God is born (Бог ся рождає) (Boh sia rozhdaie)
5.Vasyl Zhdankin (1958–2019) On a sleigh, God was born (Народився Бог на санях)
(Narodyvsia Boh na saniakh) (1988)
6. New joy has arisen (Нова радість стала) (Nova radist’ stala)
7. Glory to God in the highest (Слава во вишніх Богу) (Slava vo vyshnikh Bohu)
8. A peacock strolls (Павочка ходить) (Pavochka khodyt’)
9. Malanka (Маланка)
10.Bohdan Kryvopust (b. 1975) Fantasia (Фантазія) (2023)
11. Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863) Silent night (Тиха ніч) (Tykha nich)(1818)
12. Evening of plenty,evening of goodness (Щедрий вечір, добрий вечір)
(Shchedryi vechir, dobryi vechir)
SOLOMIYA IVAKHIV
Violin
LVIV NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SERHII KHOROVETS
Conductor
Funding for the recording was generously provided by Kenneth Hutchins; UConn: the Office of Global Affairs, Vice Provost Daniel Weiner; President Radenka Maric and Provost Anne D’Alleva of the University of Connecticut; UConn School of Fine Arts: Interim Dean
Alain Frogley and Department Head Eric Rice; Ukrainian Institute of America, President Kathy Nalywajko; Shevchenko Scientific Society in the US, President Halyna Hryn; Ukrainian Community Foundation of Philadelphia – a charitable foundation funded by Philadelphia’s Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit Union; Roman Petyk, Chairman of the Board of Directors;
Dr Christina Stasiuk; Dr Daniel and Alice Swistel; Borys Krupa; Dr Zenovia Kuncio; Dr Daniel Kuncio; Oxana Horodecka; Oksana Piaseckyj; Paula Rothman; Robert Kasper; Victoria Luperi; Kipp Gilmore-Clough; Charlotte Gilmore; Helena Kozak; Tymur Sydor; Alexandra Hanas;
Motria Kuzycz and Andrij Maleckyi.
With thanks to Prof. Michael Naydan for his assistance with title translations and Prof. Dr Orest Ivakhiv for his assistance with Ukrainian transliterations.
DESIGN CREDITS:
Nick Staines
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Prof Dr Orest and Lesya Ivakhiv
Prof. Michael Naydan
Dr Marika Kuzma
Roman Petyk, Esq
Dr Halyna Hryn
Kathy Nalywajko
Lydia Zaineger
Brigida Silvestre
Vincent Kaverud
Adriana Melny
Leann Sanders
Giana DiNatale
Dr Eric Rice
Yuriy Kushnir, Esq
Volodomyr Syvokhip
Jean and John Lenard
Rita Cheng
Peter Bromley
Deborah Spanton
Ukraine has a long and vibrant tradition of Christmas carols, whose melodies and meaning –
now, more than ever – hold an important place in the hearts of the country’s people.
Some carols date back centuries and cover a wide variety of themes, but they are united by
a common thread – an appreciation of the beauties of heaven and earth, and the coming of the saviour. The Ukrainian violin virtuoso Solomiya Ivakhiv is the soloist in Bohdan Kryvopust’s
imaginative arrangements, which bring out the variety and beauty of the carols. Kryvopust’s
own Fantasia is a delightful festive montage.
Sounds of Ukrainian Christmas
Ukraine’s holiday season is accompanied by an abundant, vibrant array of carols and carolling traditions. Its Christmas carols are sometimes solemn, sometimes full of awe and humility, sometimes joyful and boisterous.
Its New Year’s carols often express gratitude for the earth’s bounty and, in turn, plentiful good will toward neighbours. Refrains to these carols echo this spirit of well-wishing: ‘An evening of plenty, evening of goodness: to all good people, for all this evening.’
Many Ukrainian carols, including several in this recording, originated centuries ago. Some customs of carolling – with groups of singers walking door to door carrying a colourful eight-pointed star, called a zvizda –hearkens back to pre-Christian times. Originally, the zvizda symbolised the gradual return of light, the sun, with the winter solstice. In modern times, the zvizda came to symbolise the coming of spiritual light with the birth of the Messiah. There is quite a range of themes and images in traditional carols, but they are also united by a common thread. As a whole, the carols of the holiday season express an appreciation for both heaven and earth: the sun that warms and renews our planet, the rich land on which Ukrainians live, the Star in the East, and the coming of a saviour, the Prince of Peace, among humans.
Traditionally, the carols featured in this album are performed by choirs singing a cappella and, of course, with lyrics. The melodies, however, are beguiling in and of themselves. The soulful playing of Solomiya Ivakhiv, who grew up in Western Ukraine singing these songs, and the
fanciful arrangements of Bohdan Kryvopust, born in Eastern Ukraine, retain the ethos and predyvo – magical quality – of these carol miniatures. At the same time, the artists spin the melodies into resplendent reveries with harmonies and orchestral timbres that span various
musical styles and sound worlds. As these melodies are reimagined and played by Solomiya with the musicians of the Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, they travel across time and cultures and continually circle back to their beautiful, native land.
Produced during a time of Russia’s ruthless war on Ukrainian soil, the melodies and music-making of these artists take on extra meaning. Ukrainians are a spivuchy nation – a singing people who will not be silenced. No matter what difficulty befalls them, they lift their voices in
song, and their holiday carols always lift their spirits. No matter the gravity or suffering of the moment, Ukrainians look to the heavens and to their land for comfort, and at Christmastime they continue to wish a season of wonder and joy to ‘all people of good will’.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a peaceful, prosperous New Year!
Po vsiomu svitu stala novyna (‘All around the world, good tidings’) is a folk carol with origins in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. It expresses how the whole world rejoiced at the news of Christ’s birth, and it has been arranged by several Ukrainian composers, most notably by Kyrylo
Stetsenko (1882–1922).
Dobryi vechir tobi! (‘Good evening to you!’) is known throughout Ukraine and the diaspora as a vibrant carol of well-wishing. Carollers often sing it as they enter a new home in their travels, shaking snow off their jackets and boots. Its hearty melody and its refrain ‘Rejoice, oh earth!’ embody a spirit of celebration. Solomiya Ivakhiv’s virtuosic variations on the theme magnify this earthy exuberance.
Shcho to za predyvo (‘How wondrous this is’) is anancient folk carol of unknown provenance. Its lyrics describe the wonder of the Virgin Mary’s birth of Christ and her own sense of awe at first seeing her son. This particular melody and its underlying harmonisation come from a choral arrangement written in the 1930s by Vasyl Barvinsky (1888–1963), a renowned pianist, composer, and music luminary in Lviv, Solomiya’s home city.
Boh sia rozhdaie (‘God is born’), also known by its earlier title Boh sia razhdaye, is a traditional carol popular in both Ukraine and Poland. Its fanciful refrain focuses on the reaction of the creatures who surrounded the manger at Christ’s birth: ‘Here angels gaze in awe, an ox stands trembling, a donkey solemnly grazes, shepherds kneel seeing God incarnate, here now, here now, here, here, here.’
Narodyvsia Boh na saniakh (‘On a sleigh, God was born’) is a relatively new carol, composed in the late 1980s by Vasyl Zhdankin to verses by Bohdan-Ihor Antonych (1909–1937), whose style of poetry might be characterised as one of folk-magical realism. The poem imagines that Christ was born in a mountain town, where the local carpenters built him a sleigh. As he is transported ‘into the blue unknown’, the sun wears a hat, and Mary holds the moon in her hands.
Nova radist’ stala (‘New joy has arisen’) is among Ukraine’s most revered and iconic carols, passed down by clerics and lay singers alike for centuries. The minor mode and mood of the carol may seem incongruous to the title, but Ukrainian holiday celebrations include a sentiment of awe and reverence. The ‘joy’ that humans feel at the coming of the Messiah on Christmas Eve is a ‘new’ one, unique.
The title Slava vо vyshnikh Bohu (‘Glory to God in the highest’) is familiar to audiences around the world.
However, unlike most carols and liturgical hymns featuring the words ‘Glory to God’, this one describes not angels but focuses on the story that surrounds their singing. The fast scalic melody well suits the narrative of scurrying shepherds and the three kings making their way
step-by-step to pay the Christ Child a visit.
Pavochka khodyt’ (‘A peacock strolls’) is an ancient carol, and the melody with its unusual turns of phrase betrays its non-Western European roots. Likewise, the lyrics are unusual for the conventional Western holiday season: ‘Pavochka khodyt’, piriachko hubyt’’ (‘A peacock
strolls and loses her feathers’). However, the carol’s refrain – ‘Shchedryi vechir, dobrym liudiam’ (‘Evening of plenty, to good people’) – connects it to traditional Ukrainian shchedrivky, or New Year’s carols.
The title Malanka comes from the name of a winter holiday celebrated in Ukraine during the Christmas to New Year’s season: the Christian feast day of St Melania the Younger. In some regions and among some families, the holiday falls on 31 December and in some it falls on
13 January, according to the Julian (Old Style) calendar. By either calendar, the various rituals that accompany Malanka have pagan origins, and its carols are quite lively and dance-like.
Bohdan Kryvopust’s Fantasia is a montage of several holiday melodies of contrasting moods. The first melody is from the Christmas carol V hlybokii dolyni stalasia novyna (‘In a deep valley, a marvel occurred’). His Fantasia then reprises the carol Boh sia rozhdaie heard in the fourth
track of this album. The next melody is from the beloved Christmas lullaby Spy, Isuse, spy (‘Sleep, Jesus, sleep’) composed by Yosyp Kyshakevych (1872–1953), a priest and composer in Lviv. The melody that follows will ‘ring a bell’ and needs little introduction except for the
clarification that its Ukrainian lyrics have nothing to do with bells. Originally called Shchedryk (not Carol of the Bells), it is a New Year’s carol about gratitude and resilience. Its melody – a simple four-note motif that is common to many village carols – itself was spun and transformed by the composer Mykola Leontovych (1877–1921) into a miniature choral fantasy in the 1910s and is here transformed again.
Tykha nich (‘Silent night’) has its origins in Austria, where it was written by the poet Joseph Mohr (1792–1848) and composer Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863).
Nevertheless, it is popular in many countries internationally, including Ukraine. In triple metre, the carol is often sung and played in a meditative ‘all is calm’ manner. Kryvopust’s arrangement for this recording reimagines the carol as a lilting waltz where ‘all is’ free and easy, without care.
The New Year’s carol Shchedryi vechir, dobryi vechir (‘Evening of plenty, evening of goodness’) is Solomiya and Bohdan’s fond farewell to all who might be listening to their album – to all hearts ‘po vsiomu svitu’ around the world. Its sentiment is both timely and timeless:
Bright stars have covered the sky
And have illumined our world.
Refrain: Evening of plenty, evening of goodness
to all good people good health.
May there be in the New Year
Peace and good fortune in your home.
Refrain: Evening of plenty, evening of goodness
to all good people good health.
Verses from Evening of plenty, evening of goodness
English translation by M. Kuzma. The carol is also known under the title Bright stars have covered the sky (Небо ясні зорі вкрили) (Nebo yasni zori vkryly).
Marika Kuzma
Marika Kuzma is a Ukrainian-American choral director of international stature and a music historian known particularly for her scholarship in Ukrainian repertoire. Her recording of Bortniansky’s choral concertos I cried out to the Lord (Naxos 8.573109) has met with critical acclaim, and her forthcoming volume on Christmas music is titled Carols of Birds, Bells, and Sacred Hymns from Ukraine: An Anthology and Cultural Companion with a recording in
progress to complement the book. She is a professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley, where she led several choirs, and she has been a chorus master to Gustavo Dudamel, Nicholas McGegan, Mark Morris Dance Group, Kent Nagano and Keri-Lynn Wilson, among others, in works from various centuries and cultures.