In the 1980s Raskatov had experimented with a developing aural sign system – call it the „linguistics“ of music – such as the polystylistic manner of Schnittke, and various minimalist techniques. At the time he held a rather critical view of his contemporaries who had made a fashion out of sacred music. With Seven Stages of Hallelujah, however, he fused the experimental approaches with the Russian Orthodox liturgy and Jewish musical traditions. One might call his inspirations the “proto-culture”...