Requiem: from the Incidental music for the Drama ʺDon Carlosʺ by Schiller: for soloists, choir and orchestra.

This requiem, opus 101, is the music to Schiller's drama Don Carlos for soloists, mixed chorus and instrumental ensemble in 14 movements:
01. Requiem
02. Kyrie
03. Dies irae
04. Tuba mirum
05. Rex tremendae
06. Recordare
07. Lacrimosa
08. Domine Jesu
09. Hostias
10. Sanctus
11. Benedictus
12. Agnus Dei
13. Credo
14. Requiem
If only Schnittke were less prolific, or less eclectic - or less skilful in his manipulation of whichever diverse techniques he chooses in any particular work of any given period of his career - it would be so much easier to categorise him, and then eulogise or dismiss him as a composer. The Requiem, written as stage music at a time when liturgical music was banned in Soviet Russia, incorporates electric guitar and drums, recalling Bernstein's Mass, choral writing that sounds very like Britten, and ends up sounding individual, sincere and moving. If there is truly a composer for all seasons in our century, it is surely Schnittke, not Stravinsky.

♫ 01. Requiem
© DUX DUX 1407


♫ 02. Kyrie
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♫ 03. Dies irae
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♫ 04. Tuba mirum
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♫ 05. Rex tremendae
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♫ 06. Recordare
© DUX DUX 1407


♫ 07. Lacrimosa
© DUX DUX 1407


♫ 08. Domine Jesu
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♫ 09. Hostias
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♫ 10. Sanctus
© DUX DUX 1407


♫ 11. Benedictus
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♫ 12. Agnus Dei
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♫ 13. Credo
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♫ 14. Requiem
© DUX DUX 1407

The work is a collaborative composition of 14 world-renowned composers from 13 countries involved in the Second World War. The 14 composers are: Luciano Berio of Italy (Prolog); Friedrich Cerha of Austria (Introitus and Kyrie); Paul-Heinz Dittrich (Dies Irae); Marek Kopelent (Judex Ergo); John Harbison (Juste Judex); Arne Nordheim of Norway (Confutatis); Bernard Rands (Interludium); Marc-Andre Dalbavie of France (Offertorium); Judith Weir of England (Sanctus); Krzysztof Penderecki of Poland (Agnus Dei); Wolfgang Rihm (Communio I); Alfred Schnittke and Gennadi Roshdestwenski of Russia (Communio II); Joji Yuasa (Libera me); Gyorgy Kurtag of Romania (Epilog).
The requiem memorializes the victims of the war. Created as a tribute to the victims of World War II, the work was commissioned by The Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany, founded by the well-known conductor Helmuth Rilling, who brought together the 14 composers to collaborate on the piece. Collaborative from conception to birth, Requiem of Reconciliation (Requiem der Versöhnung) was first performed by an international ensemble on April 16, 1995. Originally created as music for a Catholic Mass to commemorate the dead, the requiem provides a venue for the living to remember and honor the dead. As such, Requiem of Reconciliation calls for an international and collective remembrance of all the victims of the Second World War. The composers from Italy, Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, U.S.A., Norway, England, France, Poland, Russia, Japan, and Romania, once enemies in the war, came together to provide the international community with the memorial.
Each composer was assigned a separate section of the Requiem of Reconciliation. Each worked within the tradition of the Requiem Mass differently, some incorporating Gregorian chant or other themes traditional to the Latin Mass, and some departing from tradition and simply using the general idea and spirit behind a requiem to guide their composition.


♫ 12. Communio II: Lux aeterna
© Hänssler Classic 98931