Valentin Silvestrov: Requiem f¿¿r Larissa

by Andres Mustonen, Munich Radio Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Chorus

Overview

There is such a strong tendency to think of classical compositions in the abstract, divorced from time and place, but just as with popular songs, classical pieces may have their meanings revealed by specific circumstances. Think of Sibelius' Finlandia during Britain's World War II war effort. Valentin Silvestrov's Requiem fuer Larissa is another case in point. Silvestrov wrote the work in 1999 after the death of his wife, Larissa. It was premiered on recordings in 2001 on a well-recorded ECM release. The live performance heard here, by the Muenchener Rundfunkorchester under Andres Mustonen, was recorded in Munich's Herz-Jesu-Kirche in 2011, but the work ultimately awaited the release of this album in 2022, when it unmistakably took on the sense of a memorial to Ukraine's war dead. This is extraordinary music. It is not really a requiem mass in the traditional sense, with bits of the Latin mass text floating through tumultuous orchestral textures, only to be abandoned completely for the poem "Prochai svite," an ode on leaving Ukraine by the country's national poet, Taras Shevchenko. Here and elsewhere, this is an immensely moving work, combining in Silvestrov's characteristic way neo-Romantic elements, postmodern quotations (try the Agnus Dei, with the composer quoting his own Mozart-like music), and such novel touches as a synthesizer. It is a work that meets its personal ambitions but has a wider significance, and it may come to be seen as a contemporary masterpiece. The church sound here is inferior to that heard on the earlier ECM recording, but Mustonen's reading has a stateliness and a level of detail that are going to be hard to beat. A major highlight of the year 2022. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2022
Label:	BR KLASSIKS
UPC:	4035719003444

Tracks

1. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Largo - Allegro vivace (Requiem aeternam)
2. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Adagio - Moderato - Allegro - Andantino (Tuba mirum)
3. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Largo - Allegro moderato (Lacrimosa dies illa)
4. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Largo (Prochai svite / Leb wohl, Welt, leb wohl, Erde, unfreundliche Gegend / Goodbye, o world, o earth, farewell, unfriendly land, goodbye)
5. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Andante - Moderato (Agnus Dei)
6. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Largo (Requiem aeternam)
7. Requiem f¿¿r Larissa f¿¿r Chor und Orchester~Allegro moderato - Andantino (Requiem aeternam)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Andres Mustonen   Primary Artist,Conductor
Munich Radio Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Bavarian Radio Chorus   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Michael Mantaj   Bass (Vocal)
Jutta Neumann   Alto (Vocals)
Andreas Hirtreiter   Tenor (Vocal)
Wolfgang Klose   Bass (Vocal)
Priska Eser-Streit   Soprano (Vocal)
Doris Sennefelder   Lektorat

Technical Credits

Thomas Becker   Editorial
Alexander Heinzel   Photography
Marie-Josefin Melchior   Recording Producer
Felix Broede   Photography
David Ingram   Liner Note Translation
Vytautas Petrikas   Photography
Wolfgang Stahr   Liner Notes
Valentin Silvestrov   Composer
Ulrike Patow   Photography
Guido Johannes Joerg   Liner Notes
Stefan Briegel   Engineer
Christoph Stickel   Mastering Engineer
Veronika Weber   Executive Producer
Astrid Ackermann   Photography