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Requiem CD

For the first time in history!

Mozart’s Requiem for four singers and an instrumental ensemble!

 

W.A. Mozart– Requiem

(arrangement Andres Mustonen)

 

Soloists: Inessa Galante (soprano), Antra Bigača (mezzo soprano), Viesturs Jansons (tenor), Egils Siliņš (bass)

 

Kremerata Baltica Euphonia string quartet:

Eva Bindere (1 violin)

Andrejs Goļikovs (2 violin)

Daņiils Grišins (alto)

Pēteris Čirkšis (cello)

 

Einārs Upatnieks (double-bass)

Mārcis Kūlis (clarinet)

Atis Asaris (clarinet)

Mārtiņš Grīnbergs (bassoon)

Reinis Burkins (bassoon)

Priit Aimla (trumpet)
Taavi Kuntu (trumpet)
Aabi Ausmaa (trombone)
Peeter Margus (trombone)
Valter Jürgenson (trombone)
Edgars Saksons (kettledrum)

 

Andres Mustonen, conductor

 

REQUIEM is Mozart’s last work, created under very weird circumstances. The mysterious story about its creation, the early death of the composer, followed by the disappearance of his grave, contributed to Mozart becoming a legend since 1791.

One may only guess what an impact upon the audience the masterpiece might have had if completed by the composer himself. Somehow or other Requiem has become a real symbol of Mozart’s art, even being unfinished and combining exquisitely beautiful original pages with those written by Mozart’s disciple Süssmayr.

There have always been more questions than answers in relation to Requiem and no one apart from Mozart himself could provide the answers.. What is the source of Requiem’s magnetism? Why was Mozart convinced that he is composing it for himself? What did Requiem mean for him? Perhaps, Mozart said his last farewell to life… Perhaps, it was a vivid premonition of the other kind of existence…

How could it happen that Mozart’s inflamed imagination took the extravagant order of a queer count for a sign from the Heaven and the count’s footman in black for an ambassador of the other world? This is to remain a rhetorical question.

… Requiem towered above the composer like a huge cathedral. He listened with his inner ear to terrifying blaring voices of archangels, for wails escaping the widely open mouths of sinners… He heard supplications for absolution and eternal peace… Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison! The canonical Latin animated by human passion turned into Mozart’s own prayer. The composer reflected on Him ascending Calvary and praying for mankind. Mozart felt His pain and His burning wounds as if those would have been his own wounds. He distinctly saw His blood dripping down from under the crown of thorns and strongly believed His forthcoming Resurrection…

The composer was in a hurry to complete his work, to transpose these apparitions into a language apprehended by humans. He tried to dissolve himself in tiny notes so as to manifest the sense of a sudden new revelation that had dawned on him: Death is a Friend.

But he did not manage to sign the score with his name – MOZART. Thus the absence of the end turned out to be Eternity, and this great hymn to Death became a way to Immortality.

 

The given transcription by Andres Mustonen was first played at the famous Kuhmo festival in Finland. It has also been performed at the Oleg Kagan festival in Germany and to the public of Lithuania, Holland and Italy.

Andres Mustonen: “There are many masterpieces when the performers are of less importance than the idea itself, among them several old liturgical pieces, Bach’s Mass in B minor and Art of the Fugue, and, undoubtedly, Mozart’s Requiem. This is music that soars between the earth and the heaven.

            When composing Requiem, Mozart heard it first and put it down on paper only afterwards, hearing each subject in a continuous unity. I have conducted Requiem more than a hundred times and already for long I perceive it as a polyphonic piece for soloists ensemble (singers and instrumentalists). Such version is closer to me emotionally.”

 

Anders Wall Foundation

The Anders Wall Foundation was formed in 1981 to promote entrepreneurial spirit in younger people and gives support in cultural areas. Today the Anders Wall Foundation is one of Sweden’s leading supporters of young people.

The Anders Wall Foundation is proud to support the CD of Mozart’s Requiem and activities of the Herman Braun Foundation.

 


RRSCD
[49.19min]

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