Dvorak: Requiem Op. 89 

Karel Ancerl (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)

2 disc(s) - 13 track(s)
Total length: 01:35:54

If in his symphonic, chamber and song production Dvořák personifies the archetypal giver of joy, the harbinger of life's bright side, in his sacred compositions he moves the listener by the sheer profundity and intimacy of contemplation, a sharp focus he achieved through inspiration by the content of ecclesiastic text.

The idea of writing a "solemn mass" (as its autograph score is subtitled) was born from his aspiration to make his own statement on the crucial theme of life and death, while he himself stood on the threshold of his fiftieth year, an age that was in his time regarded as being synonymous with the peak of creative powers, yet at the same time as a borderline beyond which lay the actual old age, with its wisdom as well as its trappings. To Dvořák, the music of Requiem amounted to a summary of his personal philosophy of life, and simultaneously, a heartfelt confession of his own profound and sincere if unostentatious religious faith.

Showing no compassion for the soloists, he supplies them with parts that are exacting as regards both duration and extreme playing difficulty (involving interval skips and frequent low positions), bringing the work's solo performance ambitions to a climax in the twenty-three-bar a cappella soprano, contralto and tenor solo, in the Pie Jesu part. Dvořák's music is supremely effective both in passages of high drama (Dies irae), and in predominantly meditative ones. In Requiem, he left behind a work whose genuine spirituality has no peer in the entire 19 th-century Czech music production.

Enjoy your listening

CD 1
1. Requiem Op. 89: l. Requiem aeternam. Poco lento (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
2. Requiem Op. 89: II. Graduale. Andante (soprano solo, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
3. Requiem Op. 89: III. Dies irae. Allegro impetuoso (coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
4. Requiem Op. 89: IV. Tuba mirum. Moderato (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
5. Requiem Op. 89: V. Quid sum miser. Lento (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
6. Requiem Op. 89: VI. Recordare. Andante (soli). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890 (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
7. Requiem Op. 89: VII. Confutatis maledictis. Moderato maestoso (coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
8. Requiem Op. 89: VIII. Lacrimosa. L'istesso tempo (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)

CD 2
1. Requiem Op. 89: IX. Offertorium. Andante con moto (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
2. Requiem Op. 89: X. Hostias. Andante (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890 (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
3. Requiem Op. 89: XI. Sanctus. Andante maestoso (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
4. Requiem Op. 89: XII. Pie Jesu. Poco adagio (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890) (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)
5. Requiem Op. 89: XIII. Agnus Dei. Lento (soli, coro). Funeral Mass for Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra (B. 165, 1890 (2021 Remastered, Praga 1959)