Vespers is a musical setting for a night-long service celebrated in Russian monasteries and Russian orthodox churches. Written at the height of Rachmaninoff's compositional powers, the Vespers setting is considered to be the finest of his sacred works. This lush and beautiful composition for unaccompanied voices, in an eloquent performance by Robert Shaw and his talented festival chorus, is captured dramatically by Telarc in the spacious acoustic of the Church of St. Pierre, Gramat, France. This recording won a Grammy award in 1990.