Tchaikovsky's half-hearted comments, which get much more dismissive, were occasioned by the enervating task of editing Bortnyansky's complete works for his publisher when funds were low.
There are more than 40 of these concertos for a single choir (another 10 for double choir), and they played an important part in Catherine the Great's chapel as the aftermath to the liturgy. Bortnyansky was, then, not trying to imitate or emulate the style of Orthodox church music, but to provide something which would draw on the talents of the choir and perhaps act as a kind of envoi as divine service receded and court and congregation emerged into the secular world.
The pieces, of which Chandos now offer a second volume, fall gracefully on the ear, but little more, though Philip Taylor, in an excellent insert-note, makes out the best case for them as possessing variety and a sense of progress. Valery Polyansky directs suitably smooth performances in a well-balanced recording.'