Silvestrov’s wife,
the musicologist Larissa Bondarenko,
died in 1996. The following year he
began a Requiem to her memory, feeling
that this might be his last work. Indeed,
he composed little of importance after
completing his large-scale setting.
Recently, however, he has turned to
serious composition again, and is now
busy completing his Seventh Symphony.
Requiem for Larissa
is scored for mixed chorus and standard
orchestral forces including a piano
and a synthesiser. At various moments
in the course of the piece, soloists
emerge from the chorus. It sets parts
of the traditional Latin Requiem mass,
also incorporating a poem by the Ukrainian
poet Taras Shevchenko. Requiem settings
were no rare thing during the Soviet
era, although all of them, such as that
by Kabalevsky, were written to non-liturgical
texts. Requiem settings to the Latin
words were much rarer, since the Soviet
regime condemned such works. Some Russian
composers nevertheless composed Requiem
settings to the traditional Latin words,
albeit in parts. The earliest of them
is Denisov’s Requiem completed
in 1980 and partly based on the liturgical
text, while including texts from other
sources as well. Other settings were
later composed by Schnittke and Artyomov.
Silvestrov’s large-scale
setting does not strictly set the words
of the Latin Requiem mass either. So,
the first section sets only parts of
Requiem aeternam (sometimes some
isolated words from it). Its central
section anticipates the cataclysmic
vision of the Dies irae. Similarly,
the second section opening with massive,
ominous fanfares (Tuba mirum)
also includes a brief setting of the
Kyrie as well as parts of the Sanctus
and of the Agnus Dei. The global impact
of the first two sections of Requiem
for Larissa is that of profound
moral and psychological disarray and
of a disquieting sense of loss. The
third section, however, is an almost
straight setting of the Lacrimosa
section (sung first by a contralto,
then by men’s voices, later by women’s
voices and finally by a solo tenor).
It ends with a short cadence for harp
and piano spelling a three-note motif
based on Larissa’s name. In the fourth
section (Largo), Silvestrov re-works
one of his Silent Songs
(on Shevchenko’s poem) for tenor, humming
chorus and harp. This nostalgic folk-like
setting of searing beauty is deeply
moving for all its apparent simplicity.
Silvestrov’s piano piece The Messenger
is the last work of his that Larissa
lived to hear. So the fifth section
(Agnus Dei) is an arrangement
of that piano piece for chorus, strings
and piano, with wind sounds on the synthesiser.
This is the most puzzling section of
the entire Requiem; for
one does not know what to do with its
numerous Mozart allusions (Silvestrov,
however, does not seem to quote any
particular works by Mozart). The only
thing one may be sure of is that this
is neither parody nor pastiche. One
is thus left speculating about its possible
meaning. The sixth and seventh sections
may be experienced as postludes; one
knows that Silvestrov is obsessed by
postludes and wrote several works with
that title. The sixth section, actually
a varied and shortened restatement of
the opening of the work, is followed
by a long orchestral coda (the seventh
and last section) in which the chorus
has the brief last word Requiem aeternam.
The work ends in the void, with a few
breathing sounds on the synthesiser.
Silvestrov’s Requiem
for Larissa is his most beautiful
and deeply felt piece to date. Rarely
have I heard such poignant grief expressed
with such sincerity, honesty and, most
importantly, restraint, only briefly
disrupted by bursts of pain and anger.
This is a major work, and all concerned
play and sing with dedication and commitment.
They are well served by a very fine
recorded sound. This superb release
deserves the warmest recommendation
and is one of the finest discs I have
heard recently.
Hubert Culot
National Choir of Ukraine "Dumka"
