IDAGIO | Schnittke: Konzert für Chor, Stimmen der Natur & 3 Geistliche Gesänge

Featuring

Andrew Lepri Meyer
Benedikt Gobel
Gabriele Weinfurter-Zwink
Hanne Weber
Masako Goda
Moon Yung Oh

Peter Dijkstra
Priska Eser-Streit
Wolfgang Klose
Andreas Moser
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Alfred Schnittke
Arvo Pärt

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Schnittke's grandmother, who prayed daily and read the Bible, was a decisive influence on his lifelong quest for a religious homeland, despite his parents' atheism.

Historical Context

In the Soviet Union, artists like Schnittke and Arvo Pärt (another composer featured on this album) had to explore questions of faith in secret or against official pressure.

Notable Performances

The Concerto for Choir premiered on June 9, 1986, in Moscow, performed by the State Chamber Orchestra of the U.S.S.R. under Valery Polyansky.

Composition History

Arvo Pärt's cantata Dopo la vittoria, commissioned by the city of Milan in 1997, is based on a church music lexicon article about the legendary creation of the Te Deum.

Composer Biography

Alfred Schnittke, born in 1934 to a German-speaking Jewish father and a Catholic Volga German mother, grew up in an atheistic Soviet environment.

Composition History

Schnittke's Concerto for Choir, completed in 1985, is based on 95 prayers by the Armenian monk St. Gregory of Narek (951-1003), known as The Book of Lamentations.

Compositional Technique

The Concerto for Choir combines archaic polyphony with Russian late Romantic church style, using elements like a repeated figure in thirds to simulate bell ringing.