This year’s concert season in Kyiv has a strong Italian component. The Day covered the unique 1st Festival of Italian Baroque Music in Ukraine, but the capital’s music lovers stand to listen soon to another jewel of Italian music, Giuseppe Verdi’s famous Requiem. This international project has been initiated by the government and cultural institutions of the Republic of Italy on the occasion of Italian presidency in the Council of the EU. To make it happen, the Italian Embassy and Italian Cultural Institute in Ukraine joined forces with numerous domestic and foreign partners, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Polish Institute in Kyiv, the Warsaw National Opera, the embassies of Poland, Bulgaria, and Switzerland, and private sponsors.
Such active political support for a purely artistic project is totally understandable, for performance of Requiem was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of World War I. For residents of the former Soviet Union, that “ancient” war feels somewhat hidden by the tragedy of World War II. However, let us think about it this way: effects of World War I were equally horrific; it swept not only Europe, but also Africa and Asia; soldiers from Austria, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Russia, Turkey, France, Palestine, Syria, Poland, and the Balkan countries, more than 22 million in total, died in it! World War I involved horrific crimes against humanity, like the use of chemical weapons and the Armenian genocide, the destruction of four empires – Russia, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman state, and Germany, and brought about irreparable social, economic, cultural losses.
“We are still witnessing the scars that remain in the minds of European nations from that terrible war,” Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Fabrizio Romano said in his greeting speech that preceded Requiem’s performance.
Meanwhile, new scars are now being added to the old ones, since 2014 will go down in history as the year of armed aggression against and partial occupation of Ukraine. “Never again!” used as the slogan of the artistic event, not only reminded the audience of the horrors seen a century ago, but appealed to this day’s issues.
This piece was the right choice to commemorate the fallen of the past while also warning our contemporaries.
Firstly, it is a requiem, a Mass genre that goes back to the Middle Ages. However, starting with the Early Modern Age, requiem has been more than a purely ritual genre, as it has become a generalized genre expressing sadness and mourning. Being more than a rite, it is an expression of philosophical understanding of humankind’s fragile helplessness before the tragic fleeting nature of life and tireless, relentlessly destroying nature of time. Such is today’s perception of requiems composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, Franz Liszt, Anton Bruckner, Charles Gounod, and Benjamin Britten...
Secondly, it is Verdi’s Requiem, one of the most brilliant romantic pieces, which has both universal and national Italian appeal. Written in 1874 by the already famous author of Rigoletto and La Traviata, Don Carlos and Aida, it was dedicated to the anniversary of the death of one of the most famous Italian writers, Verdi’s friend Alessandro Manzoni. After a triumphant performance in Milan (first at St. Mark’s Church, then at La Scala), Verdi’s masterpiece met equal success when performed in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, St. Petersburg, New York, and Tokyo. Verdi’s Requiem is one of most popular works of this genre globally.
It was performed in Kyiv quite a few times as well, particularly often in the past year, as the composer’s 200th anniversary was celebrated. However, the performance offered at the “Never Again” event was probably the best and most successful in recent years. To a great extent, this success was due to the perfect sound of the huge choir which brought together three monumental Ukrainian groups (the Dumka Capella, the National Opera, and the National Music Academy of Ukraine). Choirmasters Yevhen Savchuk and Bohdan Plish not just made an ad hoc group out of 400 singers, but formed a single creative body out of them, with natural organic and unique dynamic range (subtlest pianissimos are worthy of special mention!), which was both virtuoso and flexible (it was seen especially clearly in choral fugues).
The National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Mykola Diadiura (who, incidentally, did the whole piece by heart), showed its best as it sought balance with the choir and soloists. Diadiura built Requiem as a dynamic wave, sharply contrasting two image poles: one fatally inexorable and powerfully active, and another lyrically prayerful, cantilena-like in its personalism.
We should give their due to the soloists as well, of course. This time, Kyiv music lovers enjoyed an international quartet performance which involved Riccardo Zanellato (bass, Italy), Boiko Zvetanov (tenor, Bulgaria-Switzerland), Magdalena Idzik (mezzo-soprano, Poland), and Oksana Kramarieva (soprano, Ukraine). Each of the soloists brought to the interpretation of Requiem their unique and irreplaceable nuances. Zanellato won the public’s respect by his true Italian bel canto, as beauty of his voice confirmed the vitality of the Italian vocal school’s glorious traditions. Zvetanov, who sang his part by heart, displayed a true heroic tenor that subtly emphasized operatic allusions of Verdi’s piece. Idzik offered a fair rendition of her part, which was perhaps the most difficult in its range and duration; her “Lacrimosa” was a real lyrical culmination. Finally, Kramarieva was unrivaled not only in all the solo episodes and ensemble performances, but also in the most crucial final part “Libera Me.”
Of course, Requiem by Verdi will be heard again and again at the National Opera, but the performance held on the occasion of Italy’s presidency of the EU Council will always be a benchmark of art, beauty, perfection, mutual understanding, and responsibility.
