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A superb and revealing performance of one of Schnittke’s most approachable works
The rather anodyne name Concerto for Mixed Chorus, intended to convey a conscious link to similarly named works by Bortnyansky and other composers, actually conceals a work with tremendous depths of faith and feeling, and a masterpiece of choral writing building firmly on the Russian sacred tradition. The text comes...
The death of Alfred Schnittke in 1998 robbed the world of one of its most distinctive symphonists. But as this fine disc of his lesser-known choral works makes clear, it also deprived Russia of a composer deeply aware of his country's vocal traditions, and a writer able to reflect that tradition through a uniquely personal prism.
By far the most powerful expression of that ability is the mighty...
If in some of his choral music Schnittke sounds a little ‘unlike himself’, this disc reveals a less theatrical, more introspective side to his character. Perhaps it’s that the influences sit contentedly together – Rachmaninov is here, as is Poulenc at times, and the world of Pärt and Tavener isn’t too distant – yet Schnittke’s preoccupation with unusual choral textures makes the works very...
Those who know Schnittke as a master of the grotesque, the trashy or the avant garde would be as surprised to hear this CD as his supporters in the Soviet era were when this magnificent concerto for choir first appeared in 1981. But Russian artists, even the non-devout, have always drawn inspiration from the Orthodox tradition, and few who know Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom or...
If the idea of an unaccompanied choral work, sung in Russian, lasting more than 40 minutes sounds like hard work, don’t be too quick to dismiss it. Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (1984-85) has the unmistakable whiff of greatness about it and is unquestionably one of his most compelling achievements. It finds him in ecstatic mode, setting eloquent prayers by a 10th-century Armenian poet. The result is...
'if the concerto does not ultimately go down as one of the masterpieces of the late twentieth century choral repertoire, I shall be staggered'