Kosslovsky Requiem

[Christopher]

Thanks, Christopher.   I had no problem downloading the Requiem once I got Google to translate most of the text for me.

What I meant was, there must be other riches to mine on that site and how do we find them?  I'm most grateful when others make these discoveries and post their URLs as you were kind enough to do.  But I have lots of time on my hands, being old and retired, and would love to look for these things and then share them here as well.  Sadly, despite having traded Lps for some years with a friend in Moscow during the Cold War, my russian is limited to whatever transliterates.   And despite trying to track him down because I still owe him some records, I have not been able to find him.

But I digress.  Things aren't always easy to find even when the site is in your native tongue.  I think it was Eric who posted something yesterday  about a Gilse trio being on BBC3 and I spent about an hour last evening searching in vain for it.  Maybe some of us have to depend on others to root these things out.  But I'm sure always willing to try.

Jerry

The site to look through is www.intoclassics.net - the users of that site simply upload to mail.ru and put a link to there on the relevant intoclassics page. which is a general site, like,say, yahoo.  To search on intoclassics.net, you need to put a composer's (or performer's) name in the first white box that is halfway down the left-hand side of the page (where it says "Поиск", which means "Search" in Russian").  But you need to put the composer's name in in Cyrillic.  To do that, I suggest going to wikipedia, and putting in, say, Tchaikovsky, and then selecting the Russian language page about Tchaikovsky, and then copy-paste...

[jerfilm]

Thanks for that valuable information, Christopher.

Eric, I hope you didn't think I was being critical.  And thanks for the link.  I just couldn't find it and that's MY problem often when I go looking.  I think some sites are not easy to navigate but that may just be me complaining because I can't.....

Jerry

[Christopher]

No worries Jerry.  So tell me, what do you think of this version compared to the Yesipov?

[jerfilm]

Sorry, Christopher, I don't have the Yesipov to make a comparison.

J

[Christopher]

ah!  Well, I think the Yesipov is on that site as well, though its legality is another question as it was recorded (I think) in the 80s...

[Alan Howe]

Since there has been mention of this work in a repeat thread, perhaps friends might like to post any further thoughts they might have here...

[Alan Howe]

The physical CD appears no longer to be available; however, a download can be purchased here:
https://www.amazon.com/Kozlovsky-Chernykh-Valentina-Panina-Simkina/dp/B00KUF07I0
...and here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KUK1MKW/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

[scarpia]

This work is going to performed in Montreal by the Chœur classique de Montréal next week on June 8th. I have never heard of the composer before. This is going to be cool. Should I listen to it first or have the performance be my first experience with the piece?

[Mark Thomas]

I'd go for the latter. Provided it's a good performance you should be blown away by hearing the piece live. Then you can buy the download for a lasting memory - it's a fine performance too, but the acoustic is less than ideal..

[Alan Howe]

Absolutely! Go for the live performance first.

[scarpia]

But if I hate it I will regret not going to listen to the performance of the Puccini Messa di Gloria that's playing in the east end of town. You promise I will like it? I love Russian romantic music.

[Alan Howe]

Promise. You'll probably never get another chance...

[Mark Thomas]

Trust us, you won't hate it, it's a glorious piece of music. But if you're that worried, you can always listen to the audio extracts on Amazon as a halfway house....

[Alan Howe]

Copies of the CD are available here, at a standard price:
https://www.laboiteamusique.eu/osip-kozlovsky-requiem-mass-soloists-chorus-orchestra-p-67309.html?osCsid=f15to87pnmc3pqvi3hj09o9u42

[Christopher]

I find the commercial Yesipov recording very plodding, it does nothing for the drama that is inherent in this music. The confutatis, for example, sounds like the singer is just passing the time of day.

There is another recording (seems I referenced it above in 2011!) which I now assume must be a bootleg - the technical sound quality is poor - sounds like it's in an echoey cathedral and recorded with a device in someone's pocket - BUT if you can get over that, oh my goodness is the music dramatic (and especially the confutatis, about 16 minutes in).  I have no idea who the performers are or when it was recorded.

I love Russian romantic music. 

Kozlovsky (Kozłowski...) is one of those (many) figures from a part of Europe where he could equally be called Polish or Belarusian.  My guess is that he would have regarded himself as Polish nobility.  The requiem was written for the death of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland (or Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).