Passion Beneath The Surface

This disk of late Stravinsky sandwiches the ballet music Agon between two sacred choral works, Canticum Sacrum and his very final completed work Requiem Canticles. The performers are the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart with chorus master Celso Antunes and the SWR SO Baden Baden and Freiburg conducted by Michael Gielen. Soloists in the Canticum are tenor Christian Elsner and baritone Rudolf Rosen. Rosen is a soloist as a bass in the Canticles together with mezzo soprano Stella Doufexis. Canticum Sacrum shows Stravinsky adopting elements of twelve tone serialism which fitted in well with his late move away from the sensual to the abstract. The piece is also representative of his late return to the Russian Orthodox faith but again in an ascetic rather than passionate way. Agon is also in this vein, achieving a completely abstract and non-programmtic ballet that mixes tonality and twelve tone technioques. There are also references back to 17th century French dance within the music. The final Requiem Canticles ultimately became his own requiem and is concise in form, including only parts of the traditional requiem mass. At this late stage, there are features of Russian traditional liturgy and national symbols and a fairly recognisable quotation right back to the Rite of Spring. The deep feeling beneath the abstract surface is here apparent. Rarely performed works given exemplary performances by the German forces assembled here.