booklet.pdf

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Chan 9564

CHANDOS

| Schnittke

| Requiem

| Piano Concerto

| Igor Khudolei piano

| Russian State Symphonic Cappella

| Russian State Symphony Orchestra

I Valeri Polyansky

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Alfred Schnittke (b. 1934)

Concerto for Piano and Strings*

24:27

Requiem from the music to Schiller’s

40:36

drama Don Carlos †

1 Requiem –

4:09

2 Kyrie –

2:57

Olga Sizova . Anaida Agadzhanian . Olga Tal sopranos

3 Dies Irae

1:21

4 Tuba mirum

3:20

5 Rex tremendae –

1:08

6 Recordare –

3:04

7 Lacrymosa –

2:44

Tatyana Sharova soprano

Ludmila Kuznetsova mezzo-soprano

8 Domine Jesu –

2:15

9 Hostias

1:18

10 Sanctus

4:50

Tatyana Sharova soprano . Vsevolod Grivnov tenor

11 Benedictus –

2:53

12 Agnus Dei

3:10

Ludmila Kuznetsova mezzo-soprano

13 Credo –

Alfred Schnittke

4:09

14 Requiem

4:13

TT 65:10

Igor Khudolei piano*

Russian State Symphonic Cappella †

Russian State Symphony Orchestra

Valeri Polyansky

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Alfred Schnittke: Piano Concerto / Requiem

genres – waltzes, polkas and tangos along

with passacaglias, fugues and sonatas – is very

clear in many of his works from the 1970s.

And yet Schnittke is able to accommodate

them all in his own homogeneous language. As

a composer, Schnittke is Russian in terms of

the striking contrasts between the elements he

uses, but he is rather German in the way he

unifies them.

Schnittke’s music from the late 1970s

sounds very different from the serial

extremism of the 1960s and the ‘theatrical

extra-musicality’ of his first polystylistic

compositions. He had now found a new

language, combining structural ideas and

extra-musical elements, yet remaining natural

and homogeneous – obvious quotations and

allusions were disappearing. The allusions

became signs of different epochs which

conduct a dialogue like keys on the same

keyboard. In the 1960s Schnittke was

interested in absorbing new techniques and in

finding new perspectives. In contrast, the

1970s was a time for retrospective analysis of

stylistically different idioms and of trying to

find new meanings for old roots. Finally, in the

late 1970s and early 1980s Schnittke began

to expand the space of his music and wrote

symphonies, concertos, concerti grossi and

cantatas – substantial works in which he

sought to discover his relationship with time

and define his own dramatic ideas.

The idea of writing a Requiem first came to

Schnittke’s mind when he was writing his

Piano Quintet (1972–76). The Quintet was

dedicated to his mother, who died in 1972,

and he wanted one of the movements to be a

small instrumental requiem. The composer had

already made sketches for all the major

themes of the requiem, but they seemed to be

more vocal than instrumental in character so

they were not used in the Quintet.

Schnittke finally implemented the idea of

the Requiem when he came to write the

incidental music to Schiller’s play Don Carlos

to be staged at the Moscow Mossovet Theatre

(1975). The producer wanted the play to be

acted to a background of Catholic church

music and Schnittke chose to write a full

Requiem. It is worth remembering that in

Soviet Russia it was forbidden for any sacred

music to be played, so this was the only way

for Schnittke to write a Requiem and to hear it

performed.

There are fourteen movements in the work

and they follow the traditional order with only

a few exceptions: there is no Libera me or Lux

aeterna; the last movement is simply a repeat

of the first; the text of the Recordare is cut

short and there is a Credo, borrowed from the

Latin mass.

Originally Schnittke wanted to give the work

the title ‘missa brevis’ as most of the move-

ments are very short. There are no significant

The music of Alfred Schnittke is in many ways

engendered by the Russian tradition

(composers including Shostakovich and

Stravinsky), but also by that of Germany

(Mahler and Berg) and America (Ives). The

most important composer to emerge in Russia

after Shostakovich, Schnittke opened new

dimensions in twentieth-century Russian music

– music that did not focus on a single

tradition but which tried to absorb many

different ones. While closely linked to both

Mahler and Shostakovich, Schnittke intensifies

all their contrasts and drives this strong post-

Romantic tradition to the very extreme

polystylism of the late-twentieth century.

In the 1960s Schnittke wrote almost

exclusively chamber works. He was searching

for a new language, and some compositions,

such as the First and Second Violin Sonatas,

are based on serial technique. Very often this

new language was connected with a

programmatic idea, as in the Second Violin

Concerto which depicts episodes from the

Gospel and where the soloist is identified with

Christ; also in Pianissimo where episodes are

related from Franz Kafka’s novel about the

mechanism of torture. Sometimes this was an

attempt to use serialism as a kind of digital

code for natural processes. Thus in Schnittke’s

Music for Piano and Orchestra the composer

used what he called a ‘tree’ structure: the

formal serial development is shaped like a tree

with the roots, trunk, branches and leaves.

Later, in 1979, he attempted to implement the

principle of an ocean wave in his orchestral

work Passacaglia . Sometimes very formal and

rational principles borrowed from western

compositions, such as those of Boulez in

Schnittke’s Music for Chamber Orchestra, have

been altered to suit the dynamic profile of his

own composition.

In 1968 Schnittke dramatically changed the

way he wrote music – the Serenade and the

Second Violin Sonata mark the beginning of a

new period. There are shocking contrasts of

opposing images, clashes of styles and

paradoxes in logic and development. He

combines rather confusing hints and elements

of different styles, although he always strikes a

balance between them rather than choosing

one in particular. The music changes the

listener’s perspective, seeming to elevate him

to a different level, where everything appears

possible. At this level we can easily imagine a

dialogue between J.S. Bach and modern rock

music; the combination of different styles and

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contrasts in the work and most of the themes

and images are quite static, slow, contemplative

and ghostly. Even the Sanctus does not bring

any light – it is written in the minor, rather than

the usual major. Schnittke has recalled that this

movement came to him in a dream.

There is no orchestra in the work, just a

small instrumental ensemble which includes

percussion, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard

instruments and also a trumpet and trombone

(which appear only in the Tuba mirum and the

Credo). The organ plays a very important part,

compensating for the lack of an orchestra. The

first performance of the Requiem took place in

Budapest in the autumn of 1977 and was

performed by the Kodály Chorus.

The Concerto for Piano and Strings was

written in 1979 in a very short period of time.

This one-movement composition is based on

principles of sonata- allegro form, cyclic form

and variation. The original subtitle of the work

was ‘Variations not on the theme’. By this,

Schnittke meant that each variation is based

on a certain element of the theme, which is

heard in its entirety only at the end of the

work. The beginning of the development

section sounds like a scherzo and the soloist’s

cadenza is equivalent to a slow movement.

Unlike the Requiem the Concerto for Piano

and Strings is based on strong contrasts.

Traditional, almost Romantic accompaniment in

the left hand of the solo piano part is

opposed to ‘znamenny’ chant (Russian Church

chorale) in the right. The simplicity of the

chords in the piano part is in contrast with

extremely chromatic, sometimes quarter-tone,

lines in the strings. Waltz, chorale, quasi-jazz

improvisation, bell-like piano sonorities – all

these different images are clearly present in

the Concerto. Surprisingly, the initial motive of

the Concerto (a minor third) is quite similar to

the doorbell at Schnittke’s Vavilova Street

apartment in Moscow where he lived in the

1970s and 1980s.

His third composition for piano and

orchestra (after his early Piano Concerto

(1960), and the Music for Piano and Chamber

Orchestra (1964)), the Concerto for Piano and

Strings is dedicated to the Russian pianist

Vladimir Krainev, who gave the first

performance in Leningrad in 1979.

d’Arezzo’ in Italy. This was the first time in the

history of the Russian choral tradition that a

choir had been awarded a prize in an

international competition. Valeri Polyansky

won a special prize as best conductor of the

competition.

Polyansky and the Russian State Symphonic

Cappella have toured extensively in Russia and

abroad, to much critical acclaim.

Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Japan

and Taiwan.

After graduating from the Moscow State

Conservatoire, Valeri Polyansky attended a

postgraduate course in opera and symphonic

conducting, where he studied with Gennady

Rozhdestvensky.

Valeri Polyansky began his professional

career conducting at the Moscow Operetta

Theatre and at the Bolshoi Theatre. During this

time he also worked with all the leading

symphony orchestras of Moscow. In 1992 he

became Artistic Director and Principal Conductor

of the Russian State Symphonic Cappella and

Russian State Symphony Orchestra.

Valeri Polyansky has wide connections with

other leading Russian and international

symphony orchestras; he has conducted the

State Chamber Orchestra of Byelorussia, the

Helsinki Symphony Orchestra and the Taipei

Symphony Orchestra. He was involved with a

production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at

the Göteborg Music Theatre in Sweden and in

1993 was Principal Conductor at the

Göteborg Festival.

The Russian State Symphony Orchestra , or

Soviet Philharmonic Orchestra as it was

originally called, was formed some ten years

ago by the conductor Gennady

Rozhdestvensky. Since then it has made

numerous concert tours throughout Russia,

Europe, the USA and Japan and has performed

alongside many world-famous musicians and

conductors including Yehudi Menuhin, Nikolai

Petrov, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Spivakov and

Zubin Mehta.

Since 1992 the orchestra has been

conducted by Valeri Polyansky and has given

innumerable concerts together with the

Russian State Symphonic Cappella. In that

same year the Orchestra toured the USA,

The first concert performance given by the

Moscow Conservatoire Student Choir, later to

become the choir of the Russian State

Symphonic Cappella , under Valeri Polyansky

(also a student at the Conservatoire) on

1 December 1971, is considered to be the

date of its foundation.

In 1975 the Choir, under Polyansky, won

gold and bronze medals at the international

competition of polyphonic choirs, ‘Guido

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Alfred Schnittke: Klavierkonzert / Requiem

jedoch immer das Gleichgewicht zwischen

ihnen, statt sich auf einen festzulegen. Die

Musik verändert die Perspektive der Hörer,

erhebt sie scheinbar auf eine andere Ebene,

wo alles möglich erscheint. Auf dieser Ebene

können wir uns ohne weiteres einen Dialog

zwischen J.S. Bach und moderner Rockmusik

vorstellen; die Kombination unterschiedlicher

Stile und Gattungen – Walzer, Polkas und

Tangos neben Passacaglias, Fugen und

Sonaten – wird in vielen seiner Werke aus den

70er Jahren sehr offenkundig. Zugleich jedoch

vermag Schnittke das alles seiner eigenen

homogenen Sprache einzuverleiben. Als

Komponist wirkt Schnittke ausgesprochen

russisch, was die auffälligen Kontraste

zwischen den verwendeten Elementen angeht,

aber die Art, wie er sie auf einen Nenner

bringt, ist eher typisch deutsch.

Schnittkes Musik aus den späten 70er

Jahren klingt völlig anderes als der serielle

Extremismus der 60er Jahre und die

“außermusikalische Theatralik” seiner ersten

polystilistischen Kompositionen. Er hatte nun

eine neue Sprache gefunden, die strukturelle

Ideen und außermusikalische Elemente

verband, aber doch natürlich und homogen

blieb – die eindeutigen Zitate und

Anspielungen verschwanden allmählich. Aus

den Anspielungen wurden Symbole

unterschiedlicher Epochen, die wie Tasten auf

ein und derselben Klaviatur in den Dialog

treten. In den 60er Jahren war Schnittke daran

interessiert gewesen, sich neue Techniken

anzueignen und neue Perspektiven ausfindig

zu machen. Im Gegensatz dazu waren die 70er

Jahre eine Zeit der rückwärts gewandten

Analyse stilisch unterschiedlicher Idiome und

des Versuchs, alten Wurzeln neuen Sinn

abzugewinnen. In den späten 70er und frühen

80er Jahren begann Schnittke schließlich die

Dimensionen seiner Musik zu erweitern und

schrieb Sinfonien, Konzerte, Concerti grossi

und Kantaten – umfangreiche Werke, in denen

er bestrebt war, seine Beziehung zur Zeit zu

entdecken und seine eigenen dramatischen

Vorstellungen zu definieren.

Die Idee, ein Requiem zu komponieren,

kam Schnittke, als er sein Klavierquintett

schrieb (1972–76). Das Quintett war seiner

1972 verstorbenen Mutter gewidmet, und er

wollte aus einem der Sätze ein kurzes

instrumentales Requiem machen. Der

Komponist hatte bereits alle wesentlichen

Themen des Requiems skizziert, doch

erschienen sie ihm vom Charakter her eher

vokal als instrumental und wurden daher im

Quintett nicht verarbeitet.

Schnittke setzte die Idee des Requiems erst

dann endgültig um, als er die Bühnenmusik für

eine Inszenierung von Schillers Drama Don

Carlos am Moskauer Mossowet-Theater (1975)

schreiben sollte. Der Regisseur wollte das

Schauspiel vor dem Hintergrund katholischer

Die Musik von Alfred Schnittke ist in vielerlei

Hinsicht ein Produkt der russischen Tradition

(von Komponisten wie Schostakowitsch und

Strawinski), aber auch der von Deutschland

(Mahler und Berg) und Amerika (Ives). Als der

bedeutendste Komponist, der nach

Schostakowitsch in Rußland in Erscheinung

getreten ist, hat Schnittke neue Dimensionen

in der russischen Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts

eröffnet – Musik, die nicht auf eine einzige

Tradition festgelegt, sondern viele

verschiedene aufzunehmen bemüht war. So

eng Schnittke sowohl Mahler als auch

Schostakowitsch verbunden ist, steigert er

doch sämtliche von ihnen gesetzten Kontraste

und treibt diese starke nachromantische

Tradition bis in die extremste Polystilistik des

ausgehenden 20. Jahrhunderts voran.

In den 60er Jahren schrieb Schnittke fast

ausschließlich Kammermusikwerke. Er war auf

der Suche nach einer neuen Sprache, und

einige Kompositionen wie die Erste und

Zweite Violinsonate sind auf serielle Verfahren

gegründet. Oft war die neue Sprache mit einer

programmatischen Idee verknüpft, so zum

Beispiel im Zweiten Violinkonzert, das

Episoden aus dem Evangelium schildert und in

dem der Solist mit Christus gleichgesetzt wird,

oder in Pianissimo , wo Episoden aus Franz

Kafkas Roman über die Mechanismen der

Folter nacherzählt werden. Manchmal ging es

um den Versuch, serielle Musik als eine Art

digitalen Code für natürliche Vorgänge

einzusetzen. So hat sich Schnittke in seiner

Musik für Klavier und Orchester einer von ihm

so bezeichneten “Baumstruktur” bedient: Die

serielle Entwicklung erfolgt in Form eines

Baumes mit Wurzeln, Stamm, Zweigen und

Blattwerk. Später, genau genommen 1979,

versuchte er das Prinzip einer Meereswoge auf

sein Orchesterwerk Passacaglia anzuwenden.

Manchmal passte er höchst formale und

rationale Konzepte aus westlichen Stücken

dem dynamischen Profil seiner eigenen

Kompositionen an, zum Beispiel solche von

Boulez seiner Musik für Kammerorchester.

1968 änderte Schnittke dramatisch seine

Kompositionsweise – die Serenade und die

Zweite Violinsonate kennzeichnen den Beginn

einer neuen Schaffensperiode. Sie enthalten

von gegensätzlichen Vorstellungen ausgelöste

schockierende Kontraste, stilistische

Kollisionen und Paradoxien der Logik und des

Aufbaus. Schnittke kombiniert eher

verwirrende Andeutungen und einzelne

Elemente verschiedener Stile, hält dabei

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