Chorus and Orchestra (43 mins)
CMCD001
Commission
Commissioned by Jeremy Patterson & the Birmingham Festival Choral Society, 1986.
Details
Short Setting of the Requiem with texts by Boris Pasternak.
Choral Forces: Soprano Soloist, Contralto Soloist, SATB Choir. Orchestral Forces: 2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, 1 Percussion, Organ & Small String Orchestra 44221.
Because this work lasts approximately 45 minutes, it makes an ideal half to a two-work concert and is usually heard alongside Baroque works.
Russian Requiem is an abbreviated Requiem setting in four movements: Requiem Aeternam, Dies Irae, Offertorium, and Agnus Dei and includes short texts from Boris Pasternak’s ‘Zhivago’s Poems’.
The Agnus Dei features a lyrical duet sung by the two soloists, whilst the choir sings the first verse of ‘Winter Night’ by Pasternak.
Snow swept over all the world,
swept it from end to end;
The candle on the table burned.
Performances
First Performance Birmingham Cathedral.
The Agnus Dei was often broadcast on “Brian Kay’s Sunday Morning” Radio 3 programme.
Sheffield Bach Choir. Conducted by Roger Bullivant.
St Cecilia Chorus, Banstead Musical Society.
Great Neck Choral Society, Long Island, New York.
Gwent Bach Society, Our Lady & St Michael’s Church, Abergavenny.
The Buffalo New York Unitarian Universalist Choir, under the direction of Barbara Wagner, with 24 members of the Buffalo Philharmonic. Buffalo, New York, with the composer and family in attendance.
The Bach Choir, directed by Sir David Willcocks, Royal Festival Hall, London.
Aberdeen Bach Choir.
Portsmith Choral Union.
City of Bath Bach Choir, Bath Abbey, directed by Nigel Perrin.
Broadcasts
The Agnus Dei was often broadcast on “Brian Kay’s Sunday Morning” Radio 3 programme.
Available
Short sound bite from Birmingham Festival Choral Society.
CD recording of Birmingham Festival Choral Society and Orchestra. Through Merlin Classics.
Score hire through Oxford University Press: Vocal Score (#C7789) and Orchestral Score (#C7790).
Reviews
Brian Kay writes in the BBC Music Magazine, under ‘Choral Classics’ writes:
Elis Pehkonen’s Russian Requiem is cleverly written for similar orchestral forces to Vivaldi’s Gloria. With its ready mixture of lyrical and dramatic moments its proving enormously popular with choirs and audiences alike.
Kenneth Loveland, Musical Times
A work of convincing statement, dramatic pulse and accessibility.
Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post, March 29, 1999
Curvingly expressive melodic lines and vital rhythms which communicate directly to the gut . . . the Russian Requiem can proudly take its place alongside the masterpieces of Faure, Britten & Tippett in its restrained pacifism and optimism that death cannot prevail.
Musical Times
A work of convincing statement, dramatic pulse and accessibility.
Birmingham Post and Mail
Pehkonen always makes direct communication, and nowhere better than here.
Words and Music, September/October 2008
The final movement, with the soloists singing the Latin Agnus Dei as the chorus (above muted violins) whispered Pasternak’s message of hope ‘Snow swept over all the world; the candle on the table burned’, became so moving that some in the audience were reduced to tears.
Jonathan Woolf, Music Web International
He employs Old Russian Chant and his string writing is powerful. In the Dies Irae the writing reaches a concentrated core of intensity after the solo; maybe Shostakovich is an influence. In terms of texts he has not used the full Missa Pro Defunctis but has incorporated writings from a range of sources – Dante, Pasternak, Lenin and The Revelation of St John the Divine.To heighten texts he employs evocative brass fanfares. In the Agnus Dei the writing is limpid and consoling, ending a powerful work in beneficent gentleness and reflection.
See also
Requiem Survey, including works by Elis Pehkonen.
About
My father was born in Karelia, near the Russian border. During the 1917 Finnish Winter War with the Russian Bolsheviks he lost his parents, and was adopted by a British soldier who brought him to England.
Who suffered most because of Lenin and Stalin? Not just the Finns and other nation states of Eastern Europe, but the whole of Russia. This cannot be forgotten and is why I composed The Russian Requiem.