Firma Melodiya presents one of the brightest masterpieces of Russian choral music of the 20th century Valery Gavrilins Chimes. Chimes, a "performance symphony" as the composer defined the genre of the piece, was written for soloists, choir, oboe and percussion, and subtitled "upon reading V. Shukshin." "The roots of his art go deep into the native land," Gavrilin commented on the works of Vasily Shukshin, an outstanding Russian writer, actor and film director, a singer of the Russian provinces. The key image of the piece was borrowed from one of Shukshins novels a "noble robber" (Stepan Razin, a Cossack leader of the Russian peasant revolt of the 17th century). The recording of Valery Gavrilins Chimes performed by the Moscow Chamber Choir led by Vladimir Minin was made in 1988.