Arnold Rosner - Requiem (Nick Palmer)

Information

Composer: Arnold Rosner

• Requiem, Op. 59

Kelley Hollis, soprano

Feargal Mostyn-Williams, countertenor

Thomas Elwin, tenor

Gareth Brynmor John, baritone

Crouch End Festival Chorus

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Nick Palmer, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: Toccata

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Review

Critics’ Choice Alert! The Requiem by Arnold Rosner (1945-2013) is magnificent. Completed in 1973, it originated from an abortive plan to convert Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal into an opera. Rosner adapted the music he had sketched into an hour-long, choral-orchestral secular Requiem the subject of which is both the fragility and vulnerability of life and its immutable regenerative quality. Rosner collated the text from many sources: the book of Revelation, Catholic liturgy, poems by Gottfried Benn, Villon, Whitman and Dante, a Zen Buddhist sutra and the Kaddish – the latter movingly sung by soprano Kelley Hollis. Two of the 10 movements are purely orchestral: the third, the compelling, driving toccata ‘Musica Satanica’, and the finale, the German title of which translates as ‘and again the immense darkness’.

Yet the Requiem, an astonishing achievement for a 28-year-old, is also full of light, with an expressive and musical range to match that of the texts. The choral writing at times emulates medieval organum, at others a fusion with Ligeti; the music has a rhythmic drive that reminded me of Tippett with a Shostakovian power, yet the orchestration (often delicate) sparkles and shimmers like Holst. But it sounds like none of these exemplars and is pure Rosner. The four soloists sing immaculately but are outshone by the wonderful Crouch End Festival Chorus. The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Nick Palmer play with a verve and enthusiasm that communicates vividly, caught in demonstration-quality sound. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

— Guy Rickards

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Arnold Rosner (November 8, 1945 – November 8, 2013) was an American composer. He studied music at State University of New York at Buffalo, New York. A staunch traditionalist, Rosner rejected all the compositional styles that seized the limelight during the course of his career. He instead developed an individual style that fused elements of Renaissance music with the heightened drama and rich sonorities of late romanticism. Rosner's output includes three operas, eight symphonies, six string quartets, three a cappella Mass settings and the large Requiem, three piano sonatas, and a host of other orchestral, choral, and chamber works.

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A native of Hingham, Massachusetts, Nicholas Palmer graduated from Harvard University and received his Masters and Doctoral degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Iowa. He is currently Music Director of the Altoona Symphony and the North Charleston POPS!, and was also Music Director of the Lafayette Symphony for 16 years. A favorite guest conductor in Europe, Mexico, and South America, Palmer has conducted the Europa Philharmonie, the Orchestra di San Remo and the Czech Radio Orchestra. He has recorded for Symphonic Discoveries, Albany and Toccata labels.

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