The Concert by Russkaya Cappella ‘The Centenary of the Russian Revolution’

Here's the finale from Alexander Kastalsky's 'Requiem for Fallen Brothers': soloist Alexey Gusev, McOpera Ensemble and Russkaya Cappella. Under the direction by Stuart Campbell. (A-Dub, Audio Post and Music Production and WebPlusVideo)

Russkaya Cappella  presented concerts on June 10 and 11 2017 commemorating the centenary of the events of 1917 in Russia. The programme was the lengthiest and most developed to date, marking the choir’s progression since its inception in 2009 from a small chamber choir to a larger ensemble capable of complex music from the liturgical and secular repertoires.

The structure of the programme broadly followed the revolutionary year 1917, the subsequent civil war and eventual years of peace from 1922. The first section of the performance focussed on Russia’s contribution to the First World War in the form of Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers, superbly accompanied by a string quintet from Scottish Opera in an edition prepared by Professor Graham Hair.  The work commemorates the Allied forces who fell during the Great War, presenting the Requiem Mass in a variety of languages and utilising funeral melodies from the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

Nikolay Medtner’s Tragic Sonata, performed by Ivan Penev, was composed in 1919-1920 during the Russian Civil War.  The inclusion of a solo instrumental work is unusual for a Russkaya Cappella performance; here it enhanced the programme by allowing another musical voice from the period to be heard and by giving the audience space for reflection.

The choir then returned to the stage to perform a selection of songs, starting with a pair of pieces reflecting on workers’ conditions in Russia in 1917, (Dubinushka / Song of the Volga Boatmen)and another featuring songs popular with the White and Red Armies respectively (Forefathers, hear ye / There in the distance over the river.)  The programme then featured works compiled or arranged by ‘proletarian’ composers after peace had been restored. These songs were celebratory and sometimes playful in tone, focussing on the workers’ accomplishments, the agricultural cycle, and courtship. The performance concluded as it had begun, with a piece by Kastalsky. Troyka, guest-conducted by Graham Hair, paints a sound-picture of the eponymous team of horses galloping into the future, ‘straight to the sun…far and wide.’ 

By Ashley Holdsworth