This release of Sergei Slonimsky’s Requiem continues the Firma Melodiya series Anthology of Contemporary Choral Music of Russia.

The idea suggested by Professor and conductor Alexander Solovyev has been implemented as a joint project of Firma Melodiya and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the support of the All-Russian Non-Governmental Organization The Union of Composers of Russia and the Fund for Creative Initiative Development. If the first release from the choral Anthology included pieces by Moscow composers written in various styles, this CD is dedicated to the works of Professor Sergei Slonimsky, a giant of the St. Petersburg school of composition.

“A great master of choral art,” said Elena Dolinskaya, a well-known researcher of his music and Professor of the Moscow Conservatory. “His choral music highlights sincerity, simplicity, melodiousness and profound depth of feelings.”

Choir can be heard in stylistically different Slonimsky’s works – operas, ballets and symphonies – as an important pivot in terms of timbre and drama.

According to Slonimsky, “a composer can turn to Requiem only once in a lifetime”. He thinks that the Requiem for soloists, choir and orchestra he finished in 2003 is one of the most conceptual of his works. It is written to the traditional Latin text and has, intentionally or not, similarities with the best known examples of the funeral genre by Mozart and Verdi. The highest synthesis of tradition and modernity reveals the token of outstanding composition mastery, the secret of emotional impact this music will have on a profound and receptive listener.

Sergei Slonimsky’s Requiem was recorded at its premiere on 10 October 2016 at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It was performed by a massed choir that comprised the Academic Grand Choir Masters of Choral Singing led by Lev Kontorovich, the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory and the Tula State Choir, both led by their artistic director Alexander Solovyev, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory (artistic director Vyacheslav Valeyev). The performance was conducted by the outstanding maestro of the Sveshnikov school, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Lev Kontorovich.

The CD also features Slonimsky’s choral miniatures written in earlier years.