Kastalsky / Dennis - Kastalsky: Requiem for Fallen Brothers - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In the face of the devastation wrought by the First World War, Alexander Kastalsky conceived a musical service of remembrance for the fallen. A pivotal figure in Russian musical life- he was a student of Tchaikovsky and acclaimed as the founder of a new, national church music- Kastalsky composed a choral-orchestral Requiem, for the concert stage. Simultaneously, he worked on the a cappella version heard on this recording to be sung in Russian Orthodox churches. Following the basic structure of the Orthodox Panihida, or memorial service, Memory Eternal, and the short sacred pieces that end the programme, reveal Kastalsky's masterful use of choral sonority and color, his weaving of complex polyphonic textures, and his graceful use of ancient chant melodies. Album Tracks 1. Vechnaya Pamiat Geroyam (Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes) 2. 1. I. Velikaya Yektenia (Great Litany) 00 08 19 3. 2. II. Alliluiya I Glubinoyu Mudrosti (Alleluia and with Profound Wisdom) 00 02 42 4. 3. III. Pokoy, Spase (Give Rest, O Our Saviour) 00 03 29 5. 4. IV. Pokoy, Ghospodi, Dushï Usopshïh Rab Tvoih (Give Rest, O Lord, to the Souls of Thy Servants, Who Have Fallen Asleep) 00 01 07 6. 5. V. Molitvu Proliyu (I Will Pour Out My Prayer) 00 01 44 7. 6. VI. So Sviatïmi Upokoy (With the Saints Give Rest) 00 02 03 8. 7. VII. Sam Yedin Yesi Bezsmertnïy (Thou Alone Art Immortal) 00 04 03 9. 8. VIII. TÏ Yesi Bog, Soshedïy Vo Ad (Thou Art God, Who Descended Into Hades) 00 02 11 10. 9. IX. Upokoy, Bozhe (Give Rest, O Lord) 00 02 44 11. 10. X. Troynaya Yekteniya (Triple Litany) 00 07 36 12. 11. XI. Vechnaya Pamiat (Memory Eternal) 00 02 13 13. 12. Miloserdiya Dveri (Doors of Thy Mercy) 00 04 38 14. 13. Ot Yunosti Moyeya (From My Youth) 00 04 48 15. 14. Blazheni, Yazhe Izbral (Blessed Are They) 00 05 48

Album Tracks 1. Music on the Death of Queen Mary March - Laurence Cummings 2. Versa Est Est in Luctum - Oxford Camerata 3. Stabat Mater Quando Morietur 4. Saul Dead March 5. Requiem Introitus Requiem Aeternam 6. Requiem Dies Irae 7. Requiem Lacrimosa Dies Illa 8. A German Requiem Ihr Habt Nun Traurigleit 9. Requiem Pie Jesu 10. Suite Gothique Preiere a Notre Dame 11. Requiem In Paradisum 12. Requiem Agnus Dei and Lux Aeterna 13. Requiem Agnus Dei 14. Requiem Libera Me

Constanze Mozart was later to claim that her husband had a premonition that the Requiem was an omen of his own coming death, a suggestion to which one may attach little credence, however attractive the story may appear to the romantic imagination. Mozart seemed, in the summer of 1791, very much more cheerful than he had been, since his fortunes had taken an obvious turn for the better. In November, however, he was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead, his death ascribed by his doctor to military fever, but the subject of much subsequent speculation. On 4th December he felt well enough to sing with his friends parts of the Requiem, which was still incomplete. Benedikt Schack, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, sang the soprano part in falsetto, Mozart sang alto, the violinist Hofer, husband of Constanze's sister Josefa, Queen of the Night, sang tenor and Franz Gerl, whose wife played Papagena, while he took the part of Sarastro, sang bass. It is said that Mozart burst into tears and could go no further when it came to the Lacrimosa, of which, incidentally, he had written on I y the first eight bars. This was in the afternoon. In the evening his condition worsened and he died at five minutes to one on the morning of 5th December, to be buried a day or so later in an unmarked grave. Mozart had completed the composition and scoring of the Introit and Kyrie, used by Süssmayer for the final Communion, Lux aeterna. The great Sequence, the Dies Irae, was sketched fairly fully up to the verse Lacrimosa, dies illa, a point at which Eybler too gave up his tentative work on the score. Süssmayer continued the Lacrimosa for a further 22 bars, completing it. Mozart had written the voice parts and bass of the Offertory, as he had for much of the Dies Irae, and this Süssmayer completed. Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei are the work of Süssmayer. The Czech conductor Zdenek Kosler stud