In the year of the 50th anniversary of the Minin Choir, Melodiya and the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir present the new album Alfred Schnittke. Requiem.
This is the choir’s first recording under the leadership of the new artistic director (since 2019) Timofei Golberg. Continuing the traditions of Vladimir Minin, the young conductor has enriched the choir’s repertoire with modern Russian and Western music.
Requiem (1975) is one of Schnittke’s most conceptual statements, a work that boldly combines styles (from the Baroque to avant-garde), composition techniques, and lineups. It is also one of the highest expressions of Schnittke’s polystylistics and the so-called “new simplicity.”
The album also includes Three Sacred Choruses addressing the Orthodox musical tradition and composed by Schnittke overnight in 1984.
The recordings were made in February 2021 at the Mosfilm’s Tonstudio by sound engineer Gennady Papin. In addition to the Minin Choir and its soloists, they also feature a group of guest solo instrumentalists and the percussion ensemble of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society.
