Fernando Lopes-Graça composed a good deal of
vocal and choral music, but generally either to Portuguese poems or
to some other foreign languages. His Requiem is his only
choral work to set Latin words. Though he was no religious person, Lopes-Graça
– as so many composers before him – was concerned by the human and universal
implications of the traditional Requiem text. He had been a victim of
Salazar’s dictatorship in Portugal, so that he quite obviously welcomed
the commission he received from the Department of Culture, the more
so as the idea of a Requiem had been lingering in his mind since the
1950s. Lopes-Graça’s Requiem, dedicated to the
victims of Fascism in Portugal, could not but be another utterly personal
statement on the composer’s part. His setting of the liturgical text
is fairly straightforward and cast in a very accessible, mildly dissonant
idiom perfectly suited to what is clearly a public statement. Do not
misunderstand me, this does not mean that Lopes-Graça wrote down
to his audience. His own moderately modern idiom lends itself effortlessly
to any given situation.
The Requiem is cast in five sizeable
sections of which the second one, Sequentia, is both the longest
and the weightiest. The work opens with a two-bar motif stated at the
very beginning of the Introitus and frequently recalled later
in the piece. The Introitus acts as a weighty, predominantly
dark-hued introduction to the second section Sequentia though
its final plea Kyrie eleison is murmured almost parlando
by the chorus. The following Sequentia is by far the longest
and the weightiest section of the whole piece. It opens with an appropriately
agitated, heavily treading Dies Irae and warlike fanfares introduce
the Tuba Mirum. A climax is reached at Rex Tremendae Majestatis
which is followed by a slower section featuring the soloists. The initial
mood is resumed at Confutatis Maledictis and calms down in the
next section and is still calmer in the Lacrimosa. A last plea
from soloists and chorus leads to the final Amen. The Sanctus
opens with brass fanfares, gains momentum, then alternates calmer moments
and more agitated ones. A central orchestral meditation is cut short
by a restatement of the opening material leading into a Shostakovich-like
march heralded by the timpani leading to a powerful shout at Benedictus.
The ensuing slower section, again featuring the soloists, moves towards
a mighty climax though the movement eventually ends inconclusively.
The Agnus Dei acts as a calm, meditative interlude though it
nevertheless builds up to some climax during the third repeat , with
the word Requiem heavily hammered out, before fading away. The
concluding Communio opens with a restatement of the opening material
of the first movement, gains considerable momentum before giving way
to the soloists again. It regains some momentum again before reaching
the bright, exalted peroration.
Lopes-Graça’s Requiem is quite
unlike those of, say, Fauré and Rutter, and also that of Britten
which is an all-embracing work on its own in that it tries to reconcile
the temporal events of the war and the mystical, consolatory aspects
of some of the traditional latin Requiem. Maybe surprisingly,
considering Lopes-Graça’s numerous settings of Portuguese texts,
the composer did not feel the need to include words of Portuguese poets,
following Britten’s example. The reason might be simply practical but
his Requiem has still to become the popular work it should
be, for such is the composer’s sincerity and honesty that this beautiful
work has a remarkable universal appeal that is its more endearing quality.
A great, unjustly neglected masterpiece that should definitely be better
known and appreciated.
Hopefully, the present recording by Hungarian forces
under the composer’s supervision allows for a fine appraisal of the
piece, even if the recorded sound is not the most modern, though still
very acceptable. The soloists, chorus and orchestra obviously threw
their heart into this powerful, deeply moving masterpiece; and it is
to be hoped that this disc will encourage audiences and performers alike
to give this marvellous piece another chance.
Hubert CULOT
ORDERING
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Orders : to the attention of Eduarda Martins
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By mail to :
Rua Adelaide Cabete,3C
1500-023 LISBOA
Portugal
by e-mail to: info@strauss.pt.
Magda Kalmar
(soprano); Tamara Takács (mezzo-soprano); Attila Fulöp (tenor);
Istvan Gáti (baritone); Kolos Kováts (bass); Hungarian State
Opera Chorus; Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra; András Kórodi
