Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem - 6 Russian Folk Songs Phyllis Bryn-Julson

• John Tavener (1944-2013): Akhmatova Requiem
• 1Requiem00:47
• 2I. Dedication12:43
• 3II. Introduction03:36
• 4III. —03:08
• 5IV. —00:37
• 6V. —01:18
• 7VI. —02:01
• 8VII. —03:35
• 9VIII. —01:27
• 10IX. —01:30
• 11X. The Sentence01:13
• 12XI. To Death02:34
• 13XII. —01:39
• 14XIII. Crucifixion00:44
• 15XIV. —04:36
• 16XV. —01:04
• 17XVI. Epilogue02:15
• 18XVII. Epilogue II07:35
• 19No. 1. O dark autumn night03:37
• 20No. 2. In the garden stands a pretty birch tree02:42
• 21No. 3. Darling, let us walk by the banks of the Volga02:00
• 22No. 4. I have seen the great wide world01:17
• 23No. 5. Pretty maid, why do you stare so longingly?02:52
• 24No. 6. Kalinka03:48
• Total Runtime01:08:38

Info for Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem - 6 Russian Folk Songs

John Tavener first came to public attention in 1968 with the premiere of his oratorio The Whale at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta; The Beatles subsequently recorded this piece on their Apple label.

Akhmatova Requiem will be performed at London's Barbican on 5 October as part of BBC Total Immersion: John Tavener Remembered Tavener's avant-garde style of the seventies contrasts with the contemplative beauty of his later works, for which he is best known, yet he spirituality and mysticism is still present.

Akhmatova Requiem (1980) sets a sequence of poems written during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s by Anna Akhmatova, describing the terror of having her family and friends arrested and imprisoned, and the lines of relatives waiting hopelessly outside Leningrad jail. To her poems, Tavener added prayers from the Russian Orthodox funeral service which are sung on this recording by bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk.

Six Russian Folk Songs (1978) represent, in the composer's words, 'a musical sigh of relief' and a complete contrast to the pain and sorrow of the Requiem; they were written for the Nash Ensemble's 15th anniversary in 1979. Simple settings of folk lyrics, their melodic nature recalls Tchaikovsky's songs.

Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano
John Shirley-Quirk, bass-baritone
BBC Symphony Orchestra

Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor
Elise Ross, soprano
The Nash Ensemble

The Akhmatova Requiem was recorded live on 27 August 1981 at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Six Russian Folk Songs were recorded live on 2 September 1979 at The Roundhouse, London.

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