Composer Alexander Kastalsky, although he was Rachmaninov's teacher, is not well known outside Russia. He wrote mostly church music, and it influenced his famous student and other Russian church composers of the era. This Requiem of 1917 is unique, even within his oeuvre. It's a grand attempt to write a requiem mass for soldiers of the allied nations of World War I. As such, the mass was an evolving piece of work. At the end of the war, Kataslsky added sections for the United States, Japan, and India, but as Communism took ...
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Composer Alexander Kastalsky, although he was Rachmaninov's teacher, is not well known outside Russia. He wrote mostly church music, and it influenced his famous student and other Russian church composers of the era. This Requiem of 1917 is unique, even within his oeuvre. It's a grand attempt to write a requiem mass for soldiers of the allied nations of World War I. As such, the mass was an evolving piece of work. At the end of the war, Kataslsky added sections for the United States, Japan, and India, but as Communism took hold, these were barred from performance, and what's given here, with 17 movements in all, is the world premiere of the full work. One might argue that as pure music, the Requiem isn't unified in the way that, say, a Beethoven symphony is; it's not pure music, and there's something both powerful and consoling about Kataslsky's attempt to encompass the scope of the war. The various sections refer musically and textually to Orthodox church music of Russia and Serbia, to the Catholicism...
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