I've been reading a lot about the East Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, of late. For a good number of years, it has held a certain mystical fascination for me that I don't really know how to describe. During the middle ages, the empire evolved into a state that valued the Hellenic-Roman traditions albeit with an oriental, eastern twist. Indeed, for hundreds of years, it was the centre of culture and taste, a place that many European principalities looked upon as a model for how a state should look and be governed.
This lp by the Byzantine Choir under Frank Desby captures the mystical, otherworldly nature of the Byzantine state and church, which we so intertwined as to be one organic substance. The chants and recitations here are breathtakingly beautiful and they carry the listener off into another state of being. No wonder visitors to Constantinople often felt that they had entered a place that was somewhere between earth and heaven.
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