Eduard Tubin: Requiem for Fallen Soldiers (BIS)
Purchased from the Duquesne University collection from Jerry's Records
Another day, another requiem.
That's too flippant a comment. But I have been studying requiems in the past several years, not analytically but from the standpoint of listener. Ockeghem, Mozart, Reimann, Ligeti, Penderecki, Martin, Takemitsu, others I'm forgetting.
What do they have in common? Honestly not much, except perhaps intensity and maybe darkness.
I'm going to confess something here to the 3-8 regular readers I have of this blog: I have composed a requiem for jazz orchestra (OPEK) and soprano. Or, it's probably 2/3 completed. The work is secular in nature even if it draws on texts from Christianity and Judaism, with poetry ranging from ancient Japan and Persia to COVID-era.
That's pretty confessional on my part, because I have not talked about this at all to almost anyone. So by putting this into text on my blog, I guess I'm taking a step towards committing myself to make it happen.
If this blog post should disappear, you'll know why.
What of the Tubin requiem? Male chorus with alto and baritone soloists, organ, trumpet, and percussion. His composing and arranging for chorus is quite beautiful. The story is that he began the work in 1950 but didn't complete it until 1979. He must have just shelved it, but I know I don't have that patience to return to something after that long.
When I think of quasi-tonal, modal composing, the first name that comes to my mind is Messiaen. Tubin exists in that territory without sounding like Olivier at all. It's a bit like my friend Victor Grauer said about Debussy and Wagner: they could write exactly the same chord, but they sound nothing alike.
I think being physically close to the ensemble. in performance, voice/organ/percussion, must have been an intense experience for those who saw this work live. It makes me contemplate...more I can do with my own work If I ever pull it off.
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