Maciejewski - Requiem: Missa pro defunctis | Warner 9029568260

Maciejewski - Requiem: Missa pro defunctis

Label: Warner

Cat No: 9029568260

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 29th March 2018

Contents

Artists

Zdzislawa Donat (soprano)
Jadwiga Rappe (alto)
Jerz Knetig (tenor)
Janusz Niziolek (bass)
Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Choir

Conductor

Tadeusz Strugala

Works

Maciejewski, Roman

Missa pro defunctis (Requiem)

Artists

Zdzislawa Donat (soprano)
Jadwiga Rappe (alto)
Jerz Knetig (tenor)
Janusz Niziolek (bass)
Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Choir

Conductor

Tadeusz Strugala

About

Maciejewski consciously set out to write a monumental work which, as he observed, will have the chance to fill an important gap in Polish musical history, which totally lacks large-scale compositions for choir and orchestra – a great Requiem as a monument to the fallen in all wars.

His Requiem not only “fills the gap” in the catalogue of Polish Requiem masses, but is also one of the world’s most outstanding compositions in this genre. With World War II coming to an end, Maciejewski set out to compose a work which would make people realise the tragic absurdity of wars. Evil, he believed, comes from ignorance, the lack of knowledge of the Good. He considered ignorance as the first and main obstacle to human evolution, which he conceived as psychophysical and spiritual growth in harmony with nature, other men, and God. War was for him an extreme example of the degeneration of human values, and he called it a moral limbo, annihilating good relations between people. These broken ties could be restored, he claimed, only through forgiveness and peace.

Maciejewski was attracted to the Catholic liturgy by Christ’s words: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they are doing’ (Luke 23:34). The composer recalled: “I hoped to help people realize the grim absurdity of wars, and I was looking for a musical expression of this. Christ’s words helped me – and through them I entered the Catholic liturgy, which speaks of death, forgiveness of sins, and eternal light; of responsibility for individual and collective actions; and of a belief in the Good.” Maciejewski eventually decided to concentrate on the liturgy of the mass for the dead, and compose a Requiem.

He began his work on this composition most probably in January 1945, after his second digestive tract surgery. (…) Writing the Requiem, he also wished to pay his debt of gratitude to the Creator, to make a “votive offering in music” for his recovery. He was convinced that in this way he was pursuing his vocation and obeying the will of God. His internal transformation, in combination with his outstanding musicianship as a composer, allowed him to feel the freedom and joy of creating ad gloriam Dei.

…Maciejewski was unwilling to force anything. The process of composition was to remain a part of the order of self-improvement which he had set for himself. With great peace of mind and an unshaken belief in his own destiny, the composer worked towards the Requiem’s completion. And so it was, he wrote, in cold, sunless Sweden, foggy England, wet Scotland, green Wisconsin and sunny California. He remained indifferent to tempting offers, many of which could have launched his global career. When Arthur Rubinstein invited him to America, he was hoping that Maciejewski would write him a piano concerto. Andre Segovia was also waiting for a piece to include in his repertoire. But Maciejewski did not take this opportunity. Nor did he hesitate to turn down the post of music director at the film studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer. He preferred a humbler job as an organist, so that he could continue his work on the mass undisturbed. In the end, the Requiem was composed in three stages. In 1947, Maciejewski had already written about his idea of the work and about composing the first four parts – Introitus, Kyrie, Graduale, Tractus – not as a full score, but as a kind of draft. In the following years, till 1954, he continued to work on the parts already outlined as well as on the final Dies irae. In the last stage, in 1954-59, he prepared the final version of the score, and a year later the Requiem was performed at the “Warsaw Autumn Festival”. The “Warsaw Autumn” in 1960 was not the best time and place to present this work. Most of the audience, in the wake of the current trends towards “dynamic development, progress and discovery”, expected experimental and innovative musical language. The Requiem, true to a traditional idiom, differed aesthetically from the rest of the festival programme.

“I consider this work fascinating. The piece is written in an universal style. In it we can find all the achievements, formal, expressive, stylistic, linguistic... Bach to Haendel, to Ravel, to Stravinsky, even to modern avant-garde, but filtered through a unique creative personality and gargantuan work [...] Not many a work moves me this much. And the music is simple, actually, and almost naive. Like for children, like by the greatest.” – Witold Lutosławski

“The performance is gently persuasive: the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra sing and play with a restrained feeling that suits the music beautifully, and the soloists—notably Jadwiga Rappé and Jerzy Knetig—all find just the right level of expression[…]. Explorers of musical byways should seek this out: a very distinctive experience is on offer.” – Gramophone

Recorded 2-15 April 1989, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall

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