Requiem für Larissa

"The Requiem is unlike those composed by Mozart, Berlioz or Verdi; in this deeply troubled and personal lament dedicated to the loss of the composer's lifelong companion and wife, Larissa Bondarenko, with its allusions, retrospectives and epilogue about their life together, we are sharing in his personal grief ... For me, the most powerfully emotive section is the 'Lacrimosa dies illa,' opened by the compelling soprano of Priska Eser ... The performance by the Chorus of Bavarian Radio and the Munich Radio Orchestra under Andres Mustonen is magnificent ... I can recommend this new issue to those who are interested in modern music from Eastern Europe".

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"This is not the first recording of Silvestrov's Requiem ... but it is outstanding ... Here is immediacy, power aplenty and a tremendous sense of the structure of the work as a whole, something very characteristic of the indefatigable Andres Mustonen. One is reeled in like a fish on a line from the opening notes; the Munich players and singers under Mustonen spin from them the endless web of Silvestrov's melody ... This is a great work in a great recording".