Kastalsky: Requiem
ARTISTS: Anna Dennis , Joseph Beutel, Cathedral Choral Society, The Clarion Choir, The Saint Tikhon Choir, Kansas City Chorale, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Leonard Slatkin (conductor)
COMPOSER: Alexander Kastalsky
LABEL: Naxos | 747313424573
GRAMMY® NOMINATED IN: BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
Alexander Kastalsky was a student of Tchaikovsky and a mentor to Rachmaninov, becoming director of the Moscow Synodal School until the Bolshevik regime banned all sacred music, including the extraordinary Requiem for Fallen Brothers which consequently lay forgotten for over a century. The Requiem is a rich and varied mosaic that honors those who perished in the First World War, poignantly combining Orthodox and Gregorian chant with hymns from the allied nations, even including Rock of Ages. This unprecedented and peerless monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice was acclaimed on its 1917 premiere as a ‘uniquely Russian requiem that… gave musical voice to the tears of many nations.’ This is a world premiere recording.
Performers
Anna Dennis
Soprano Anna Dennis studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Her performances have taken her to the English National Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Nuremberg Opera House, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La Fenice in Venice and the Sydney Opera House, among others. Her repertoire ranges from Monteverdi and Mozart to Berlioz and Boulez, and she frequently performs world premieres. She has sung with Les Arts Florissants, Britten Sinfonia, Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s English Baroque Soloists, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orquestra Gulbenkian, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Concerto Copenhagen, to name a few.
https://ikonarts-editionpeters.com/artists/singers/anna-dennis/
Joseph Beutel
Highly praised by Opera News, Joseph Beutel is renowned for his striking tone and versatility on stage. Beutel enjoys performing both traditional operas and originating new operatic roles. Some notable new roles include British Major in Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, and most recently Sir in Eli Marshall’s Mila. Beutel has performed across five continents with many prestigious companies and ensembles, including Santa Fe Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Sarasota Opera. He recently appeared in the role of Troy in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Stonewall.
The Clarion Choir (Steven Fox, artistic director)
Founded in 2006, The Clarion Choir has performed on some of the great stages of North America and Europe. The group specialises in Early Music and Slavonic repertoire, often performing with the period-instrument Clarion Orchestra and artistic director Steven Fox. The group is based and performs regularly in New York, in such venues as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. The ensemble’s recordings include Maximilian Steinberg’s Passion Week (8.573665) and Kastalsky’s Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes (8.573889). The group was featured on PBS in 2014 for its performance of Steinberg’s Passion Week, and in 2016 gave the Russian premiere of the same work in St Petersburg and Moscow. The Clarion Choir and Steven Fox have performed with Madonna at the Met Gala, Susan Graham, Leonard Slatkin, Harry Bicket and The English Concert.
The Saint Tikhon Choir (Benedict Sheehan, artistic director)
The Saint Tikhon Choir is a professional vocal ensemble founded in 2015 by Benedict Sheehan and Archimandrite Sergius, Abbot of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery, with a mission to foster and build up an American Orthodox choral tradition at the highest artistic level. The choir is becoming recognized as one of the premier ensembles in America performing Orthodox repertoire. Composer and conductor Benedict Sheehan is director of music at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery in Pennsylvania, artistic director of the Saint Tikhon Choir, and CEO and founder of the Artefact Institute. His works have been performed by Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Cappella Romana, the Saint Tikhon Choir, and many others. His works are published by Oxford University Press and Artefact Publications. Two recordings featuring Sheehan’s works were released in 2020: Once Upon A Time, from Skylark Vocal Ensemble, and Gabriel’s Message, from Bob Chilcott, John Rutter, and The Oxford Choir.
Photo: Jana Marie
Kansas City Chorale (Charles Bruffy, artistic director)
The Kansas City Chorale, founded in 1982, performs music from diverse historical periods. Conductor Charles Bruffy has been artistic director of the Chorale since 1988. He has also served as chorus director for the Kansas City Symphony since 2008, and has commissioned and premiered works by leading composers around the globe. The Kansas City Chorale’s recordings have often been recognized by the Recording Academy: its 2007 album, Grechaninov’s Passion Week, received four GRAMMY nominations, and its album Life & Breath – Choral Works of René Clausen, won the 2012 GRAMMY award for Best Choral Performance. The Chorale’s most recent recording of Rachmaninov’s All-night Vigil, with the Phoenix Chorale, won the GRAMMY award for Best Choral Performance of 2015.
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) performs at venues throughout New York City including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and many more. OSL is dedicated to cultivating a lifetime of engagement with classical music and provides a vast array of educational and community outreach projects. It owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City’s only rehearsal, recording, education, and performance facility expressly dedicated to classical music, serving over 500 ensembles and 30,000 musicians each year. OSL has participated in 118 recordings (four of which have won GRAMMY Awards), has commissioned over 50 new works, and has presented more than 179 world premieres. Recent guests and collaborators include cellist Alisa Weilerstein, tenor Jonas Kaufmann, composer Eleanor Alberga, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, and pianist Jeremy Denk.
Leonard Slatkin (conductor)
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator. Slatkin has received six GRAMMY awards and 34 nominations. His recent Naxos recordings include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Légion d’honneur. He has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. As music director, he has held posts in New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington, D.C. and London (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra). He has also served as principal guest conductor in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Cleveland.
https://www.leonardslatkin.com/
Press
"...The three soloists and four choirs involved have really grasped what is needed to communicate this complex work, and Slatkin's driven direction of the Orchestra of St. Luke's means that the tension never lets up. It may have had wait until now to be revealed to audiences, but this is an extraordinary work, and this fine recording will, I am convinced, ensure that it acquires a permanent place in the repertoire."
— Ivan Moody, GRAMOPHONE, October 2020
"...Slatkin, who admits a deep belief in this work, draws a touching performance."
— Daniel Jaffé, BBC Music Magazine, 5 STARS
"...This is essential listening! Conductor Leonard Slatkin does a superb job holding and melding together a variety of choirs, and leading the Orchestra of St. Luke's: the performance could easily not have cohered as well as it does. An offbeat work that was well worth retrieving from the scrap heap of history; others will perform it again, but Slatkin has set the bar very high here."
— James Manheim, Allmusic.com