In the reading of these scores, the choir Latvia involved a chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Riga, organist Aigars Reini, as well as the soloist of the Latvian National Opera, bass-baritone Rihards Macanovskis and soprano Natālijas Behm, who grew up in Kyiv and currently lives in Riga.
The French romantic Gabriel Fauré used to ignite the hearts of his listeners with wonderful melodies and fabulously gorgeous harmonic language, elegantly interweaving innovative ideas with disarming simplicity. These characteristics also run through his more than two decades of work, which was finally completed in 1900. Requiem, perhaps the clearest example of this genre. In contrast to the dramatically tense examples of the genre by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi or Hector Berlioz, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem is a peaceful and light-filled, contemplative journey towards the bliss of paradise. For many, this Fauré piece is associated with Jānis Streičs’s film Human childwhich uses its fragments.
The master himself said: “It is said that mine Requiem does not reflect awe and fearful forebodings in the face of death and destruction. Someone even called it the “lullaby of death”, but that is exactly my understanding of death. It saves us from the cares and troubles of this earth. It gives hope for eternal life in another world, a world full of happiness.”
In the atmosphere of Maundy Thursday in St. Peter’s Church of Riga, Gijas Kančeli’s emotionally shocking music and Arvo Pert’s music composed almost forty years ago will also play Stabat Mater. The best-known Estonian composer in the world is a representative of the so-called new simplicity, new spirituality and new asceticism. In his introverted, transcendental sound world, a refuge from the daily rush and a purifying silence can be found. Listeners have even said that you should listen to this music while kneeling. On the other hand, the sound art of the Georgian grandmaster Gijas Kancheli is more subjective and romantic, also dramatically escalated and unpredictable. This is also confirmed by the last opus of the composer who passed away in 2019 – the score written in his native language Tsutisopeli or The Volatile World. Kančeli showed this opus to Māris Sirmaj in his home in Tbilisi only a few months before his death.
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Tags: brightest requiem piece Chora Latvija Sinfonietta Riga concert Green Thursday Day
