John Tavener (1944-2013)
Akhmatova Requiem
Phyllis Bryn-Julson soprano ~ John Shirley-Quirk bass-baritone
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky conductor
Elise Ross soprano ~ The Nash Ensemble
NMC D208
Tavener's avant-garde style of the seventies contrasts with the contemplative beauty of his later works, for which he is best known, yet he spirituality and mysticism is still present. Akhmatova Requiem (1980) sets a sequence of poems written during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s by Anna Akhmatova, describing the terror of having her family and friends arrested and imprisoned, and the lines of relatives waiting hopelessly outside Leningrad jail. To her poems, Tavener added prayers from the Russian Orthodox funeral service which are sung on this recording by bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk.
Six Russian Folk Songs (1978) represent, in the composer's words, 'a musical sigh of relief' and a complete contrast to the pain and sorrow of the Requiem; they were written for the Nash Ensemble's 15th anniversary in 1979. Simple settings of folk lyrics, their melodic nature recalls Tchaikovsky's songs.
This recording was previously issued by Carlton Classics in its BBC Radio Classics series.
|
TRACK LISTING | |
Akhmatova Requiem
1. Requiem 0'47"
2. I Dedication 12'43"
3. II Introduction 3'36"
4. III 3'08"
5. IV 0'37"
6. V 1'18"
7. VI 2'01"
8. VII 3'33"
9. VIII 1'27"
10. IX 1'30"
11. X The Sentence 1'13"
12. XI To Death 2'34"
|
13. XII 1'39"
14. XIII Crucifixion 0'44"
15. XIV 4'36"
16. XV 1'04"
17. XVI Epilogue 2'15"
18. XVII Epilogue II 7'35"
Six Russian Folk Songs
19. O dark autumn night 3'37"
20. In the garden stands a pretty birch tree 2'42"
21. Darling, let us walk by the banks of the Volga 2'00"
22. I've seen the great wide world 1'17"
23. Pretty maid, why do you stare so longingly? 2'52"
24. Kalinka 3'48"
|
NMC Recordings are distributed in Australia by
Rockian Trading, P.O.Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia
Telephone (03) 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile (03) 9444 6879
|
|