Alfred Schnittke

condition (record/cover): VG+ (some surface noise) / VG+ (tag on back) 

In 1971, a generation of younger Russian composers was shaken when Alfred Schnittke - who had been the most consistent and trusted radical in their circle, the composer of the explosive polystylistic First Symphony and the first Concerto Grosso - unexpectedly turned toward simplicity. The abandonment of complexity disoriented those who had followed him into the avant-garde. The composer described the turn as inevitable: a tiredness with structuralism that was also the spirit of the times. Those who eventually caught up with what he was doing found something more demanding than they had expected.

The Concerto for Choir (1984-85) is the culmination of that turn, and arguably the most imposing work of his entire career. It is scored for large mixed chorus, entirely unaccompanied, and sets texts from the tenth-century Armenian poet and mystic Grigor Narekatsi - specifically from his Book of Lamentations, a compendium of prayers addressed to God by a soul that regards itself as irremediably guilty. The four movements - each titled with a different verse of Narekatsi's supplication - move through territories of brooding darkness, anguished counterpoint, and moments of sudden radiance, the dense harmonic clusters of Schnittke's style now in service of a sacred architecture rather than ironic juxtaposition. Russian chant imbues the outlines of melody without ever resolving into quotation. The textures are of great complexity and greater austerity.

Premiered and recorded by the USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir under Valery Polyansky, whose ongoing advocacy for Schnittke's choral music was central to its survival under Soviet cultural conditions. Original Melodiya pressing.