Osip Kozlovsky - Requiem

[adriano]

Remember our earlier postings on this subject, in connection with a 2010 CD premiere by Melodiya of this exciting Requiem Mass?
Now we have a new (2023) recording on the Pentatone label, involving the Singapore Symphony and Choruses, plus various soloists conducted by Hans Graf - who also prepared a new edition of the score. Very recommendable!

[Alan Howe]

https://www.music-island.pl/opisplyty-PTC+5187125.html#opisplyty

YouTube teaser here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIxhz2hIGKY

Availability: probably March?

Thanks, Adriano! This'll be one of 2024's most important releases, I'm sure.

[adriano]

Thanks, Alan
In Switzerland it is already available :-)

[Alan Howe]

More on the composer of this extraordinary work here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Koz%C5%82owski

And on the background story to this recording:

Unearthing a royal requiem in Singapore
Stephen Pritchard

A neglected 18th-century masterpiece, written in St Petersburg to mark the death of an exiled king, is about to be rescued from dusty obscurity. Polish composer Józef Kozłowski's Requiem in E flat minor will soon be vividly revived and republished, regaining its place in the repertoire, thanks to pioneering investigative work carried out not in Eastern Europe but in Singapore.
   On 7th April, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Youth Choir, joined by an impressive line-up of soloists, will give the Asian premiere of the Requiem. Extensive research and editing by conductor Hans Graf has resulted in a new Urtext edition, to be published and recorded by the orchestra and made available for other ensembles around the world to discover.
   Graf's five months of meticulous editing came about after tragedy struck a planned performance of the Requiem in the orchestra's 2020/21 season. Hans Sørensen, head of artistic planning, takes up the story: "The Kozłowski Requiem was a piece I knew about but had only heard first time around 2018, in the then only recorded version", by the Moscow State Choir with the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, under Vladimir Yesipov. "That version is a bit heavy, with added percussion and a few additions. When I heard it, I was really surprised how good it was. The Lacrimosa movement is on the same musical level as Haydn and Mozart. I decided to programme it as soon I could get my hands on the score and parts."
   "It was a big challenge, as it turned out that the Requiem was not available from any publisher", Sørensen continues. "I had to do some detective work, and by a stroke of luck I got in contact with a library in St Petersburg that had stocked the three original copies of the score. I managed to get a copy and then asked Alexander Vedernikov if he would be interested in conducting and recording the Requiem."
   But, tragically, before any work could begin Vedernikov contracted Covid-19 and died from complications associated with it. Shocked and saddened, the orchestra shelved the project, but when it was possible to programme it again, Sørensen asked Maestro Graf if he would take it over.
   Graf says he became fascinated by the work and sought to find out more about the composer. Kozłowski arrived in St Petersburg in 1786, where his talents were spotted by Prince Grigory Potemkin, who introduced him to the court. There he worked with Dmitry Bortnyansky, director of the imperial orchestra and choir. In 1797, the Polish King Stanisław II was exiled to St Petersburg. The next year, when he knew he was dying, he commissioned Kozłowski to write a Requiem for him.
   So what is it like? At first hearing it sounds very European, with harmonic conventions that we would associate with the sacred works of Haydn and Mozart (the Tuba Miram, Confutatis and Lacrimosa especially so) but as Graf points out, Kozłowski would not have known the Mozart Requiem, which was unpublished until 1804.
   The only available recording of Kozłowski's work is of a later revision and expansion made by Kozłowski in 1825 to mark the death from typhus of Tsar Alexander I. "He beefed up the 1798 original, adding extra instrumentation, setting the woodwinds in high octaves, changing some of the choruses and adding extra movements", says Graf.
   Sørensen and Graf obtained the St Petersburg piano score of 1798 and the autograph first edition from Leipzig, also from 1798, and over the course of five months Graf reconstructed the work from these sources to produce an authentic, modern performing score. This strips out the 1825 additions, including a grand funeral march and an ornate Salve Regina movement which, he points out, is anachronistic, because it is only usually included in a bishop's funeral rite.
   "I don't know what brought him to choose E flat minor as his key," Graf says, "but the psychology of tonality was important at the time. For instance, Mozart was very clear: E flat major is royal; D minor and G minor were personal. E flat minor – rarely used – is probably fate, submission." 
   One of the many striking things about the USSR recording is the quintessentially Russian low E flat which the chorus basses reach right at the opening and beyond, but Graf discovered this was not in the original 1798 score: Kozłowski added it when augmenting the piece for the Tsar's funeral in 1825.
   Graf also discovered that the original score has many French annotations, reflecting the language of the Court of St Petersburg at the time. He is also ensuring that the choir will be singing with soft pronunciation of the Latin: for instance, Arnus dei, rather than the hard-G Agnus dei that features so jarringly in the Soviet recording.
   The Singapore Symphony has engaged four soloists for the premiere: Olga Peretyatko, soprano, Olesya Petrova, mezzo-soprano, Boris Stepanov, tenor, and Christoph Seidl, bass. Graf chuckles that the soloists might be slightly disappointed with his Urtext score as their music is less florid than the 1825 revision, but he is confident they will enjoy being part of the rehabilitation of the piece. He is also pleased with chorus rehearsals so far, under director Eudenice Palaruan, alongside the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir, under choirmaster Wong Lai Foon. "Such good intonation, so many good voices."
   Youth Choir soprano Raeanne Wong says: "While Kozłowski's requiem is technically demanding, the greater challenge lies beyond its technical rigour. I found myself constantly being challenged to bring out the depth of emotion that this masterpiece stands for, and developed a greater sense of awe through the process. I can't wait to bring this new premiere to Singapore."
   Graf says he will have to work hard to prevent the orchestra playing too loud, as the 1798 original is very low for the sopranos, but he is convinced that his revival follows the original intentions of the composer. "One of the sensational things about this music is the way the final movement fades into nothing, with only a faint double bass and the soprano holding on one note. The tenors go in thirds and do a diminuendo. It's humility in front of death: it's the perfect death."
   How does Sørensen think the work will be received in Singapore? "We have a young, educated audience as music and the arts have a high emphasis here. They are very curious and open to all types of music. For our first concert this year, we premiered Claus Ogerman's Symbiosis and a suite by Palle Mikkelborg, originally written for the Bill Evans jazz trio and symphony orchestra, and we saw a lot of new faces in the audience, all being very open to this not-so-traditional programme." He adds that having the 16-year-old violin sensation and Menuhin prizewinner Chloe Chua as Artist-In-Residence this season also helps bring new fans to classical music and to the SSO.
https://bachtrack.com/interview-unearthing-royal-requiem-singapore-march-2023

[Friedhofer]

And here the Agnus Dei: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4fhuiLfv6I

[Alan Howe]

Thanks! The accompanying details say that this will be an April release.

[adriano]

Strange: over here it's already available...

[Alan Howe]

It's not yet advertised on Amazon or at jpc, nor is it on Pentatone's own website. Is there anywhere in Switzerland where I can order it online? I've even tried alternative spellings!

[adriano]

Alan: I could collect the CD directly from the distributor (who is a friend of mine) and send it to you.
Special price for me: 15 CH.
The CD has a cardboard book-form cover, no jewel case - and weights 50 gr.
As long as the parcel's total weight remains under 100 gr, postal charges will be 4 CHF, meaning that you could even buy 2 copies, but with the risk of having them packed into a simple "bubbles" envelope with no extra cardboard reinforcement.
Between 250-500 gr it would cost 9 CHF, meaning that you could even post 3 CDs.
This goes under the tariff "Brief mit Kleinwaren" (letter with small merchandise content).

The distributor's online (direct website ordering) price of a Pentatone CD is 21 CHF, meaning that in the shop it would become some 25 CHF. I suppose some of their contracts are not allowing them to ship outside Switzerland...

(Speaking about prices and rates: Zurich's governors apparently, are proud that their town has officially become the most expensive in the world; I would have a bad conscience. What we experience over here (constantly raising flat rents, insurance and living costs etc.) is absolutely perverse - but nobody does something against it. They even reduced welfare rates poor people are entitled to! In March there will be a "people's initiative" voting for a 13th monthly pension for everybody, but some politicians already draw up horror scenarios saying that because of this, the state will be bankrupt soon! Even ex-ministers (who have nothing to say anymore and live with a yearly pension of 230'000 CHF) write letters to some people, or give interviews warning us against the consequences should the voting win. They bought private addresses from unserious traders, so even some already deceased persons got such letters...!
On the other hand, there are billions around to save corrupted banks from bankruptcy and stocking up our army equipment. Real needs of our people always come in the last place, or even they do not at all).
Sorry for this angry personal note...

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for the extremely generous offer, but I don't want to put you to all that trouble so I think I'll stay patient and wait for its UK release. I expect it'll be advertised soon.

[adriano]

No trouble at all, Alan: it's a pleasure. Just let me know how many copies you want. I visit the distributor regularly.
And it seems that Raff's "Welt-Ende" will be available very soon; the same distributor has cpo for Switzerland.

[Alan Howe]

I don't what to say. Your offer is so generous. May I wait a week to see whether there's any news of its release?

[adriano]

Of course you may, dear Alan :-)

As I have already mentioned in here a couple of years ago, Melodiya produced an LP of this Requiem Mass already in 1988, which was reissued on CD in 2010. Vladimir Yesipov conducts the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra. TT 70 minutes.
It's the composer later, "augmented" version, featuring a.o. an exciting, much more dramatic "dies irae" section involving tamtam and drums. This Melodiya CD also includes a "Marche Funèbre" and a "Salve Regina" by Kozlovsky, which the Pentatone CD does not consider.

The Melodiya CD (which can be heard on various YouTube postings) is based on a score published by Muzgiz, edited by Konstantin (?) Fortunatov. I am trying to get scans or photocopies from Moscow...
On YouTube, this recording has been posted several times, but there there are also two video-taped performances of 2012 and 2022 (Sergei Polyanichko conducting Moscow and St. Petersburg ensembles).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mIO0F3J0TWQ&ab_channel=SergeiPolyanichko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRyKyxtMgv8&ab_channel=SergeiPolyanichko

A 2019 performance by the the Choeur Classique de Montreal, but in a version with organ accompaniment only, is also available on YouTube.

Hans Graf's newly edited score apparently considers the first (1798) version of the Mass. But some sources mention that the "augmented" version was the first version... His recording has a TT of 50 minutes.

Scans of the 1789 holograph and of the first printed score by Breitkopf can be found on IMSLP, as well as a vocal score for keyboard with violin, both including the "Marche Funèbre" at the end of the Mass.

In my collection I also have a Melodiya LP featuring following works by Kozlovsky:
1) Overture to the tragedy "Esphir"
2) Overture to the tragedy "Deborah, or the Triumph of Faith"
3) Overture and two dances from the incidental music "Fingal"
4) Polonaise op.10 on themes of Mozart's terzet "Mandina amabile"
5) Polonaise in D minor op. 4 no. 6
The Overture are quite interesting!
This recording (produced in 1979) is also conducted by Vladimir Yesipov.

[Alan Howe]

Your post reminds me that I must download the Melodiya recording - it's available from Amazon.

[adriano]

Good :-)
It's actually a very good recording, except, sometimes, a strange sound balance between some soloists and the orchestra. The "dies irae" section with the extra Instruments ist quite thrilling! From what is hearable in the orchestra, some brass parts may also have been added by the composer in this section, but for his we need the alternative score (which is not the one on ISLP).
And here the link to the earlier mentioned St. Petersburg performance (which is preceded by two speeches):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRyKyxtMgv8&ab_channel=SergeiPolyanichko