Glagolitisches Requiem (Ivan Repusic) (2CDs, Br-Klassik)

The fact that the music of the Croatian composer and conductor Igor Kuljeri (1938 2006) is not yet known outside the borders of his home country is likely to change a lot with the present recording: in the 1995/96 Croatian Glagolitic Requiem, which was premiered in July 1996 in the Croatian Zadar with the choir and symphony orchestra of the Croatian Radio under the direction of the composer, it is an impressive and poignant example of contemporary sacred music. According to Kuljeri, the Requiem was born out of a deep desire to bring something to life that I heard in my youth and carried in me from then on, when the Glagolitic rites found a wondrous echo in me. The church music of the mostly Catholic Croats, who have been allowed to celebrate their services in their national language since the Middle Ages, goes back to orally transmitted melodies that also have influences from folk music. Kuljeri has dealt with this tradition several times. His Glagolitic Requiem is, as it were, a symbolically charged musical commitment to the cultural nation, written at a time when Croatia was able to put an end to a bloody war of independence. A requiem at a time when grief work should have been part of everyday life in Croatia’s population. The chants of Glagolitic, the first Slavic script, are set to music. The sound of bells and psalm-modifying choirs create a basic sacred atmosphere, a deeply felt musical prayer for the dead, even in the introitus. In addition to the bells, the harp, organ and vibraphone create mystical timbres. Kuljeri sets the usual parts of the funeral mass to music in six sections. The great power of the suggestive imagery in his composition met with great approval; After its premiere, the work saw various other performances and was recognized as the most outstanding achievement in contemporary music of 1996. In addition, the CD contains a recording of Himna Slobodi (hymn to freedom, also peace hymn) by the Croatian composer Jakov Gotovac (1895 1982) based on a text by the Baroque poet Ivan Gunduli. The studio recording with the Bavarian Radio Choir and the Munich Radio Orchestra under the direction of Ivan Repu i was made in January / February 2019.