Commissioned:

Commissioned by Jeremy Patterson & the Birmingham Festival Choral Society, 1986.

Details:

Short Setting of the Requiem with texts by Boris Pasternak.

Choral Forces: Soprano Soloist, Contralto Soloist, SATB Choir. Orchestral Forces: 2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, 1 Percussion, Organ & Small String Orchestra 44221.

Because this work lasts approximately 45 minutes it makes an ideal half to a two-work concert and is usually heard alongside Baroque works.

Russian Requiem is an abbreviated Requiem setting in four movements: Requiem Aeternam, Dies Irae, Offertorium, and Agnus Dei and includes short texts from Boris Pasternak’s ‘Zhivago’s Poems’.

The Agnus Dei features a lyrical duet sung by the two soloists, whilst the choir sings the first verse of ‘Winter Night’ by Pasternak. “Snow swept over all the world, swept it from end to end; The candle on the table burned.”

First Performance Birmingham Cathedral.

The Agnus Dei was often broadcast on “Brian Kay’s Sunday Morning” Radio 3 programme.

Great Neck Choral Society, Long Island, New York.

The Unitarian Universalist Choir,under the direction of Barbara Wagner, with 24 members of the Buffalo Philharmonic. Buffalo, New York, with the composer and family in attendance.

First Performance Birmingham Cathedral.

First Performance Birmingham Cathedral.

Short sound bite from Birmingham Festival Choral Society.

CD recording of Birmingham Festival Choral Society and Orchestra. Through Merlin Classics.

Brian Kay writes in the BBC Music Magazine, under ‘Choral Classics’ writes: “Elis Pehkonen’s Russian Requiem is cleverly written for similar orchestral forces to Vivaldi’s Gloria. With its ready mixture of lyrical and dramatic moments its proving enormously popular with choirs and audiences alike.”

“A work of convincing statement, dramatic pulse and accessibility.” Kenneth Loveland, Musical Times

“Curvingly expressive melodic lines and vital rhythms which communicate directly to the gut . . . the Russian Requiem can proudly take its place alongside the masterpieces of Faure, Britten & Tippett in its restrained pacifism and optimism that death cannot prevail.” Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post, March 29, 1999

My father was born in Karelia, near the Russian border. During the 1917 Finnish Winter War with the Russian Bolsheviks he lost his parents, and was adopted by a British soldier who brought him to England.

Who suffered most because of Lenin and Stalin? Not just the Finns and other nation states of Eastern Europe, but the whole of Russia. This cannot be forgotten and is why I composed The Russian Requiem.