Today is Good Friday, a public holiday in Singapore where a fifth of the population is Christian, comprising Protestants and Roman Catholics. Although no fixed tradition of performing Christian religious music in Lent exists here, the post-pandemic year was an exception. This weekend saw a performance of Haydn’s The Creation and, more momentously, the Asian premiere of Józef Kozłowski’s Requiem by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Hans Graf.
Kozłowski (1759-1831) was Polish by birth but established his career in St Petersburg, where the last monarch of Poland, King Stanisław II, had been domiciled following his abdication (his name is also spelled in the Russian version Osip Koslovsky). The Requiem mass, commissioned in anticipation of his demise, was premiered in 1798 and underwent a revision in 1825, with a performance after the passing of Tsar Alexander I of Russia. A recording was made of the later edition by the Moscow State Choir and USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra in 1988, but the Requiem remained forgotten ever since.
This Singapore Symphony project to revive the work was spurred by its head of artistic planning Hans Sørensen who retrieved manuscripts in Russia and Germany, and Graf who crafted a performing edition of the original 1798 version. It was this edition that received a new lease of life in the concert, and was also recorded for posterity.
This revival of the Requiem was preceded by Mozart’s Symphony no. 25 in G minor, one of two symphonies cast in the minor key. Its tense and throbbing opening, memorably used in the beginning of the movie Amadeus (which featured a far more famous Requiem) would find a mirror in the Requiem’s opening in E flat minor. Marked Adagio non troppo, the initial urgency of the symphony is replaced by a stately dirge. The symphony’s Sturm und Drang would also be identified in many parts of the Requiem. Despite similarities, Kozłowski never met his near contemporary Mozart and would certainly not have known of Mozart’s own setting, premiered in 1792 and published later.
Kozłowski’s Requiem may be enjoyed on its own merits, and this premiere succeeded on all counts. Graf’s ensemble has become increasingly well attuned to the classical idiom, its relatively compact size being more a boon than bane. The Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir, numbering some 80 members and drilled with discipline by Eudenice Palaruan and Wong Lai Foon respectively, rose to the occasion. Delivering appropriate volume and weight, always an asset in the Dies irae, the choirs offered excellent diction and consonance, sealed by an enviable cohesion. The Sanctus, almost unaccompanied in its lightness, was a breath of fresh air.
The icing on the cake was provided by the soloists, who sounded as if Kozłowski had individually crafted the parts for each of them. Bass Christoph Seidl was imposing and imperious, his Confutatis maledictis coming on like a threat, while tenor Boris Stepanov had a ringing operatic quality in Libera animas omnium and Agnus Dei. The Benedictus, normally a salve, was unusually dramatic and theatrical, with soprano Olga Peretyatko doing the honours. Mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova completed a well-balanced quartet of soloists.
Also of note was the deft orchestration. Just one trombone and two trumpets were needed for Tuba mirum’s shock and awe, its sense of doom tempered by the solo oboe’s plaints. A pair of cellos prefaced and accompanied the soprano’s bel canto-like entreaties in the Judex ergo. The opening Requiem aeternam was reprised, bringing the 50-plus-minute work, now purged of the fear and dread of death, to a reverential close. It is hoped that this masterful performance, followed by its recordings, will spark new life for an unjustly neglected choral masterpiece that has the propensity to console and ultimately move.
To find out more about the Kozłowski Requiem and the background to this performance, read Stephen Pritchard's article.
