VOTD 4/28/2023

 Anton Dvorák: Requiem op. 89 (Deutsche Grammophon)

Purchased from Jerry's Records

Another piece from the Duquesne University collection. It sounds like it was unplayed.

I'm not a fan of long winded mid-to-late Romanticism. There are only so many 19th century European composers I even like, chiefly Chopin, before you start getting into those that crossed into the 20th century: Debussy, Satie, Scriabin. 

So why this? I have a current minor obsession with requiems. Any other Dvorák work and I would have passed on it. I've collected a few requiem recordings, sometimes from the Duquesne collection, and listened to more: Ockeghem, Mozart, Stravinsky, Ligeti, Penderecki, Aribert Reimann (I need to return to that one), B.A. Zimmermann. I have the Britten War Requiem on the docket. I see listings that Bruno Maderna and Hans Werner Henze also composed requiems, I'll seek those as well.

Why this interest? I have several reasons, some of it stemming from purchasing the Reimann Requiem out of the same Duquesne collection, and already being familiar with the Ligeti. 

How do these composers use the form? (Often there are similarly titled movements, i.e "Lacrymosa" "Introitus" "Dies Irae" "Lux Aeterna") Naturally the works are intended as pieces of both mourning and possibly hope in the end, how is that manifested in their different works? What does it mean to each composer to write a piece named a requiem? Are there elusive impressions that are common from one work to the next? Does Mozart look forward to Ligeti, does Penderecki look back to Ockeghem? Those  questions are somewhat rhetorical, but worth considering.

This is, and probably will always be, my only recording of Dvorák. (I don't know the keystroke to get that special r.) This work strikes me as very well constructed, pretty maybe, lush at times, but also a bit predictable. There's a somewhat chromatic opening melody played in unison strings, and frankly it's the part of the piece I liked the best. Nonetheless, maybe a side-by-side of different approaches to a "Lacrymosa" could be interesting. It's supposed to be a weeping, tearful work. That's a lot to live up to. The Mozart "Lacrymosa" is, to me, the best section of his Requiem. But then, he never actually completed the work himself; is it his own original work?

To go on a tangent: if you know the original Dario Argento Suspiria film, you'd know about the three mothers, one of which is Mater Lacrymorum. Mother of Tears. The cruelest of the three mothers.

I've watched his film Mother of Tears. Actually I watched it twice, just to see if it was as bad the second time as the first. It was. It's awful. And a shame, Suspiria is one of my absolute favorite horror films. I've also watched the recent Suspiria twice, just to decide whether I liked it or not. I acknowledge that it has its qualities, but I still am uncertain about it. Maybe I do, but why did they have to cast Dakota Johnson in the lead role? She doesn't look like a dancer.

I digress.

If I continue to write to this blog, no doubt the topic of requiems will surface again. This one will stay on the stacks, and may be used for comparison purposes.