Zdeněk LUKÁŠ (b. 1928)
Requiem (1992)
Antonín TUČAPSKÝ (b. 1928)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (1986)
Five Lenten motets (1977)
György ORBÁN (b. 1947)
Stabat mater (1987)
Cor mundum (1988)
Dresden Motet Choir/Matthias Jung
rec. St Peters Church, Dresden, 1-3 May 2008 and 25-26 April 2009
QUERSTAND VKJK 1232 [58.10]
In the eighteenth century it was quite natural that any composer in a Catholic
country would compose settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, often a great
many of them. In the nineteenth century the attention of composers began to
move towards the Requiem, presumably because its texts were more attractive
for dramatic music. From the twentieth century onwards it has become far more
common for composers to set at least part of the text of the Latin Requiem
than of the Latin Mass. Here we have yet another to add to that list, by Zdeněk
Lukáš.
This is the second time that Lukáš has set the text of
the Latin Requiem; his earlier version was for chorus and orchestra.
His approach to the words is novel. He trims the text heavily, omitting much
of the Dies irae, the Benedictus and most of the Offertorium.
What remains is set in a sequence of seven movements which mirror each other
in a fast and slow pattern. The omission of the passages in the Dies irae
after the Tuba mirum leaves a rather unmotivated movement which seems
to go nowhere. On the other hand, the Lacrymosa which follows immediately
has an attractive yearning quality. The main problem is the lack of sheer
memorability, although the melody of the Hostias is very beautiful.
The rest is treated in a thoroughly tonal manner, and the overall effect is
pleasant if not conspicuously engaging. Is not the problem really that the
text of the Requiem has been so heavily worked over the years that
- unless the composer brings a new slant to it, as Britten did in the War
Requiem with the juxtaposition of the Latin words with Wilfred Owen -
there is not much that can be done with it that is truly original? The performance
is excellent.
The other works on this disc tackle less well-worn texts, with the possible
exception of György Orbán’s treatment of the Stabat mater.
The pieces by Antonín Tučapský are more elaborate in their
style than the Lukáš Requiem, but some of the ideas the
composer uses are dubious - in particular the choral glissandos in
the Veni Sancte Spiritus (track 8, 2.54 and subsequently) sound more
like token modernist gestures in the direction of Penderecki rather than a
motivated response to the text. The Five Lenten motets are more straightforward,
and all the better for it. The sound is gently bruising but romantic in feel,
rather like Rubbra in fact, and the choir sing the pianissimo passages
with lovely tone. Pater mi, the second of the motets, is particularly
beautiful.
György Orbán’s setting of the Stabat mater concentrates
rather more on the agony than the ecstasy of the sequence, but other than
that it tends to lack a distinct profile. It also has a modern feeling and
an advanced idiom. The effect is not unpleasant, and the setting of the Cor
mundum, moving in block chords, makes a fine conclusion to the disc.
Regardless of the music itself, the performances by the Dresden Motet Choir
under Matthias Jung are admirable. They are totally unfazed by some of the
tricky harmonies they have to negotiate, and the tonal blend is superlative.
They don’t sound totally convinced by those glissandi in Tučapský’s
Stabat mater; then again, neither am I. Otherwise they don’t
put a foot wrong, and the recorded sound is nicely distant and resonant.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Tricky harmonies and superlative tonal blend. These are admirable performances.
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