A REQUIEM FOR THE PEOPLE
by David Wordsworth - Choir and Organ, 2014
There cannot be any doubt that that at some stage in his life Pawel Lukaszewski would write a Requiem. Born into a musical family (Lukaszewski's father Wojciech Lukaszewski (1936-78) was also a composer) in 1968, Pawel Lukaszewski was brought up in the city of Czestochowa in Southern Poland, a place that is for many the spiritual capital of the whole country being the home of the Black Madonna at the Jasna Gora Monastery, the most important icon in Poland. A wide and varied musical education as both a singer and choral conductor (Lukaszewski is still Music Director of the Musica Sacra Cathedral Choir, Warsaw) combined with witnessing at close hand a time of tumultuous change in Poland’s cultural, social and religious history cannot have failed to have had a huge effect on any musical and spiritual personality. Lukaszewski was just ten years old when Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected as Pope John Paul II in 1978 - the development of Solidarity, martial law and the rise of a renewed Poland would be bound to have a profound influence on any young person, musical or otherwise. Lukaszewski has frequently described his own work as following a new path - that of 'renewed tonality', taking inspiration from the change of direction of so much Polish music of the period and the sudden surge of sacred music that his older contemporaries found themselves moved to write through the 70's and 80's. Penderecki's 'Polish Requiem' (dedicated to the heroes and victims of Polish history) and Gorecki's 'Beatus Vir' (commissioned by the then Cardinal Wojtyla) are two of the first examples of these works. Although Lukaszewski's catalogue does include orchestral and chamber music, he has for the most part devoted himself to the composition of sacred choral music. He speaks of the writing of choral music as a 'true vocation' despite feeling that composers of such music in Poland are regarded by the musical intelligentsia as 'second rate' and he clearly considers himself part of the Penderecki, Gorecki, Kilar line of Polish composers.
Commissioned by the ever enterprising Presteigne Festival on the Welsh borders (with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute), Lukaszewski’s new work came as result of direct request from the festival’s Artistic Director George Vass. It had been planned to feature Polish music at the 2014 festival to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Polish born but long time UK resident composer/conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and to programme his music alongside some Polish contemporaries as well as pieces by younger Polish composers. Having conducted several of Lukaszewski’s acappella pieces in the past Vass found that most of the works with orchestra were on a far too large scale for the relatively small venues available to the Presteigne Festival and so asked the composer about a choral work for reduced forces. Lukaszewski in turn welcomed the opportunity to write not only a work on a smaller scale (actually providing two versions, one for chamber orchestra and one for large orchestra to be premiered in Poland later in the year), but a work that could be sung by a good amateur choir rather than a work that throws down a challenge for more experienced groups – a ‘Requiem for the People’ as the composer describes it and one that both commissioner and composer hope will have future. The ten movements last some 50 minutes, so the smaller scale might be said to apply to the instrumentation rather than the duration - a major new work by any standards.
The commission came at a particularly poignant time for the composer, having suffered the loss of a number of friends, colleagues and members of his family. Several movements have particular dedications - the Kyrie is dedicated to the memory of the Polish composer Wojciech Kilar (1932-2013) whose monumental choral works much effected his younger contemporary and the Sanctus to the memory of Sir John Tavener (described by Lukaszewski as ‘a very special composer to me’). Lukaszewski's Requiem follows in the line of what one might call 'more reflective Requiems' by Faure or Durufle and nearer our own time perhaps those by Rutter and Chilcott, offering comfort and hope rather than the threat of judgement and damnation. Not for Lukaszewski the grandeur of the Requiems of Berlioz and Verdi, which for those who know his music will come as no surprise. Lukaszewski's music makes its point with care and restraint - there is no 'Dies Irae', Lukaszewski follows the decision of the Second Vatican Council to remove the text from the Funeral Liturgy and replace it with a quietly joyful 'Alleluia' - 'the resurrection of a new life for those who believe in God' as the composer describes it. Although not afraid to make use of contemporary vocal techniques such as whispering, glissandi and clsuter chords, Lukaszewski's music focuses for the most part on melody and above all a concern for the text - here is a composer who believes in the text he sets and whose primary concern is to make those words as clear as he possibly can. There is never any danger in this 'Requiem' of the music getting in the way of the words! The sounds of Catholic liturgy are never far away (perhaps in this case extending to the orchestra with its prominent roles for bells and harp), but one might also hear a different sort of music from the past - the rustic, open sounding 4ths and 5ths of Polish folk music and in the vivid arabesques in the flute and oboe accompaniments. For the most part the 'Requiem' is lead by the chorus, although the third movement setting of Psalm 23 is given to a baritone soloist and the 'Pie Jesu' is a soprano solo - perhaps less of a surprise, but in a telephone conversation with the composer the present writer almost sensed a shrug of the shoulders - 'What else could I do ?' . Forces are used sparingly, only in the final pages do soloists, chorus and orchestra come together, reflecting the music of the very opening 'Requiem aeternam' and the end of the 'Libera Me' - a final toll of the bells at the words 'et lux perpetua, luceat eis' and the end of this most consoling of Requiems.
Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki one declared that 'The world needs beauty' adding that this was especially important when '.... there is no time for anything' - the first performance of Lukazsewski's 'Requiem' will surely make people take the time to listen to a work that has much to say and that will no doubt become an important part of the repertoire for many years to come.
Pawel Lukaszewski : Requiem for soprano, baritone soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra
(flute, oboe, 2 horns, bells, harp & strings)
First performance:
Sunday 24th August 7.45pm
Rachel Nicholls (soprano) : Christopher Foster (baritone)
The Joyful Company of Singers & Presteigne Festival Orchestra conducted by George Vass
St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne - part of the 2014 Presteigne Festival
September 18, 2014
A REQUIEM FOR THE PEOPLE
by David Wordsworth - Choir and Organ, 2014There cannot be any doubt that that at some stage in his life Pawel Lukaszewski would write a Requiem. Born into a musical family (Lukaszewski's father Wojciech Lukaszewski (1936-78) was also a composer) in 1968, Pawel Lukaszewski was brought up in the city of Czestochowa in Southern Poland, a place that is for many the spiritual capital of the whole country being the home of the Black Madonna at the Jasna Gora Monastery, the most important icon in Poland. A wide and varied musical education as both a singer and choral conductor (Lukaszewski is still Music Director of the Musica Sacra Cathedral Choir, Warsaw) combined with witnessing at close hand a time of tumultuous change in Poland’s cultural, social and religious history cannot have failed to have had a huge effect on any musical and spiritual personality. Lukaszewski was just ten years old when Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected as Pope John Paul II in 1978 - the development of Solidarity, martial law and the rise of a renewed Poland would be bound to have a profound influence on any young person, musical or otherwise. Lukaszewski has frequently described his own work as following a new path - that of 'renewed tonality', taking inspiration from the change of direction of so much Polish music of the period and the sudden surge of sacred music that his older contemporaries found themselves moved to write through the 70's and 80's. Penderecki's 'Polish Requiem' (dedicated to the heroes and victims of Polish history) and Gorecki's 'Beatus Vir' (commissioned by the then Cardinal Wojtyla) are two of the first examples of these works. Although Lukaszewski's catalogue does include orchestral and chamber music, he has for the most part devoted himself to the composition of sacred choral music. He speaks of the writing of choral music as a 'true vocation' despite feeling that composers of such music in Poland are regarded by the musical intelligentsia as 'second rate' and he clearly considers himself part of the Penderecki, Gorecki, Kilar line of Polish composers.
Commissioned by the ever enterprising Presteigne Festival on the Welsh borders (with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute), Lukaszewski’s new work came as result of direct request from the festival’s Artistic Director George Vass. It had been planned to feature Polish music at the 2014 festival to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Polish born but long time UK resident composer/conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and to programme his music alongside some Polish contemporaries as well as pieces by younger Polish composers. Having conducted several of Lukaszewski’s acappella pieces in the past Vass found that most of the works with orchestra were on a far too large scale for the relatively small venues available to the Presteigne Festival and so asked the composer about a choral work for reduced forces. Lukaszewski in turn welcomed the opportunity to write not only a work on a smaller scale (actually providing two versions, one for chamber orchestra and one for large orchestra to be premiered in Poland later in the year), but a work that could be sung by a good amateur choir rather than a work that throws down a challenge for more experienced groups – a ‘Requiem for the People’ as the composer describes it and one that both commissioner and composer hope will have future. The ten movements last some 50 minutes, so the smaller scale might be said to apply to the instrumentation rather than the duration - a major new work by any standards.
The commission came at a particularly poignant time for the composer, having suffered the loss of a number of friends, colleagues and members of his family. Several movements have particular dedications - the Kyrie is dedicated to the memory of the Polish composer Wojciech Kilar (1932-2013) whose monumental choral works much effected his younger contemporary and the Sanctus to the memory of Sir John Tavener (described by Lukaszewski as ‘a very special composer to me’). Lukaszewski's Requiem follows in the line of what one might call 'more reflective Requiems' by Faure or Durufle and nearer our own time perhaps those by Rutter and Chilcott, offering comfort and hope rather than the threat of judgement and damnation. Not for Lukaszewski the grandeur of the Requiems of Berlioz and Verdi, which for those who know his music will come as no surprise. Lukaszewski's music makes its point with care and restraint - there is no 'Dies Irae', Lukaszewski follows the decision of the Second Vatican Council to remove the text from the Funeral Liturgy and replace it with a quietly joyful 'Alleluia' - 'the resurrection of a new life for those who believe in God' as the composer describes it. Although not afraid to make use of contemporary vocal techniques such as whispering, glissandi and clsuter chords, Lukaszewski's music focuses for the most part on melody and above all a concern for the text - here is a composer who believes in the text he sets and whose primary concern is to make those words as clear as he possibly can. There is never any danger in this 'Requiem' of the music getting in the way of the words! The sounds of Catholic liturgy are never far away (perhaps in this case extending to the orchestra with its prominent roles for bells and harp), but one might also hear a different sort of music from the past - the rustic, open sounding 4ths and 5ths of Polish folk music and in the vivid arabesques in the flute and oboe accompaniments. For the most part the 'Requiem' is lead by the chorus, although the third movement setting of Psalm 23 is given to a baritone soloist and the 'Pie Jesu' is a soprano solo - perhaps less of a surprise, but in a telephone conversation with the composer the present writer almost sensed a shrug of the shoulders - 'What else could I do ?' . Forces are used sparingly, only in the final pages do soloists, chorus and orchestra come together, reflecting the music of the very opening 'Requiem aeternam' and the end of the 'Libera Me' - a final toll of the bells at the words 'et lux perpetua, luceat eis' and the end of this most consoling of Requiems.
Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki one declared that 'The world needs beauty' adding that this was especially important when '.... there is no time for anything' - the first performance of Lukazsewski's 'Requiem' will surely make people take the time to listen to a work that has much to say and that will no doubt become an important part of the repertoire for many years to come.
Pawel Lukaszewski : Requiem for soprano, baritone soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra
(flute, oboe, 2 horns, bells, harp & strings)
First performance:
Sunday 24th August 7.45pm
Rachel Nicholls (soprano) : Christopher Foster (baritone)
The Joyful Company of Singers & Presteigne Festival Orchestra conducted by George Vass
St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne - part of the 2014 Presteigne Festival
September 18, 2014
