A royal requiem
Written by changthai11 on Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Review
A royal requiem
Bangkok’s 10th International Festival of Dance and Music performed a memorial concert for HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana
SADABPIN RATANARAUNG
After presenting a spectacular concert featuring the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Zubin Mehta as its opening performance for the first part of the festival in July, Bangkok’s 10th International Festival of Dance and Music started off its second part with yet another musical experience on September 15, with a memorial concert dedicated to the memory of HRH the late Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra, who was the driving force behind the festival’s success and its former patron. The festival is now in its 10th year and under the royal patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
The concert was graciously attended by HRH Princess Soamsawali on behalf of His Majesty The King. The performance featured the Russian Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Bashkir State Opera under the baton of maestro Robert Luther, its musical director.
The first part of the programme consisted entirely of deeply moving orchestral works in slow to very slow tempo. The selections are the usual items included in a concert programme dedicated to a beloved departed; namely, Albinoni’s Adagio for organ and strings, Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, Barber’s Adagio for strings, Wagner’s Liebestod, from Tristan and Isolde, and Mahler’s Adagietto, from Symphony No. 5.
The selections appropriately set the solemn and moving tone of the evening, although most numbers were rendered faster and less dramatically than usually heard, particularly Albinoni’s Adagio. However, the faster tempo of the pieces here somehow made the first part go by more comfortably with the energy on the whole more easily maintained, since these pieces have similar soaring long stretch melodies, comparable musical textures and speed and all are played in succession.
Mahler’s Adagietto concluded the first half satisfyingly with sublime “stillness” in the introduction followed by a general positive and heavenly atmosphere that many, at least myself, relate more with death and the afterlife than “sadness”.
The second part of the programme featured the highlight of the evening with a Requiem !ternam for Princess Galyani, specially composed in memory of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana by Boris Tishchenko, one of Russia’s leading contemporary composers. The gigantic musical work was commissioned by JS Uberoi, the festival’s director, in memory of the princess’ contributions to the development of arts and culture in Thailand.
Though it premiered here, the work was already available on CD on the opening night. Although the quality of the CD production is not up to the usual commercial standards, its availability will surely make the work more accessible. With news that the work has been accepted to be performed by orchestras in other European cities from Zurich to Budapest and St Petersburg, it shows how much effort has been put into it, and everyone involved in the making of this project really deserves heartfelt appreciation.
The 45-minute-long choral work is set to a canonical Latin text sung by a four-part mixed choir with solo soprano and mezzo-soprano accompanied by an orchestra.
The opening section of the text, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (Eternal rest grant them, O Lord), created a truly hair-raising effect with the chorus rendering the text in soft dynamics, steady rhythm and haunting bare harmony accompanied by only the lower strings. The music really took us into the in-between world that only the departed can enter.
The sections that followed alternated the music of mourning and imploring with furious expressions of protest against death before ultimate resignation to it, which leads to eternal light for righteous souls.
The requiem ended as it began with the music of the opening section returning to conclude the entire work. However, after all the drama of the sections in between, the same music that formerly had a hair-raising effect transformed into a song of consolation and finally of peaceful rest.
Although the requiem on the whole cannot be said to be the most accessible work to classical music lovers in this part of the world, with its modern twists and unexpected turns ranging from mysterious to extreme and eerie emotions to ritualistic and even pagan expressions at some points.
However, these qualities, together with the fine performance, kept the listeners captivated by the music, as we longed to know what would happen next, musically.
Time will tell if this work will have a place in the hearts of classical music enthusiasts around the world as do the great requiems by Mozart, Verdi, Faure’, or even the contemporary work of John Rutter. However, for all Thai listeners, this historic work is certainly meaningful since it was specially commissioned for and bears the name of the princess who did so much for this country.
May the soul of our beloved Princess Galyani rest in peace and continue to enjoy the songs of celestial happiness. Her royal presence and patronage shall be greatly missed by us all.
