To listen with caution and moderation ,pain and regret are too present in this masterpiece!
Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem dla mojego przyjaciela (1998)
I agree with you my friend Contredesixte, this requiem contains a strong dose of bitterness and melancholy.
Requiem For My Friend - Preisner / Rewakowicz, Kasprzyk, Sinfonia Varsovia, et al - Zbigniew Preisner (Composer, Conductor), Sinfonia Varsovia (Orchestra, Conductor), Leszek Mozdzer (Performer), Elzbieta Towarnicka (Performer, Orchestra), Piotr Kusiewicz (Performer, Orchestra), Roman Rewakowicz (Artist), Jacek Kaspszyk (Artist), Elzbieta Towarnicka (Artist), Varsov Chamber Choir (Artist) Format: Audio CD
Two Reviews
in filmtracks.com
� Requiem for My Friend: (Zbigniew Preisner) In the mid-1990's, Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner was working on a collaboration with his close associate, director Krzysztof Kieslowski, and screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz that would have produced the kind of massive operatic concert at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece that Vangelis and others had strived to create through the years. Their collaboration was quite fruitful, yielding the films and scores for the Colours Trilogy (Blue, White, and Red) as well as Dekalog and The Double Life of Veronique. Preisner's other notable film scores of the previous ten years had included the highly acclaimed At Play in the Fields of the Lord and The Secret Garden. His work on this new massive concert piece was only halfway completed when Kieslowski passed away in 1996, changing the focus of work from strictly the operatic concert to one that combined that material with a requiem written in the memory of Kieslowski. Attaching the 30-minute "Requiem" to the original concert material titled "Life," the combined pieces would subsequently be performed around Europe. By 1999, a performance of the material was recorded for international distribution on album, and while the two halves definitely speak towards different goals, they offer a treat to Preisner collectors and those who enjoy the phenomenal sound quality that well-recorded live performance albums can often yield. The first half of the album, the "Requiem," exists in nine movements and was composed for a smaller ensemble of a soprano, organ, two countertenors, tenor, bass, string quintet and percussion. It was recorded in Warsaw Cathedral and the Emaus Church in Cracow, and the effect of the large recording facility on the acoustics is stunning. Consisting of some weighty choral performances in Latin and Polish, the "Requiem" movements are extremely protracted and restrained. Very lengthy sequences of near silence and the solemn solo organ can be difficult to enjoy outside of a live performance, and its success on album relies upon the gorgeously recorded operatic voices. When they are silent, "Requiem" is surprisingly lacking in sustained spirit.Filmtracks Modern Soundtrack Reviews (
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Known more for his film scores than for his full-length concert works, Zbigniew Preisner injects a good dose of his famed film score methodologies into this recording. Divided into two parts, Requiem and Life, this work is outstanding in its first nine movements, capturing soaring choral blasts that startle and hold the ear steadily, as does the occasional churning organ and the chamber ensemble, which seems to make far more sound than is possible. The Requiem as a whole is also stylistically cleaved in two: Life heads wholeheartedly into the realm of filmic composition (doing so in four episodes). Resolution is always on the horizon, but the musical tensions seem directed toward a visual conclusion, rather than any kind of sonic release or resolution. To that end, the music itself, especially early in Life, is a bit thin. Maybe it's the alto saxophone, which plays simple figures that get washed out in the cavernous audio. Or maybe it's the building march-like cadence of the "Apocalypse "episode, which seems to announce a particular character without ever producing one. Perhaps it's the desire to create mood without exploring the complexities. As film music, this is excellent stuff, easily capable of throwing musical beams on action. As a purely sonic phenomenon, it's sometimes too much, sometimes too little, and only briefly balanced between the two. -- Andrew Bartlett �
