Danielpour: An American Requiem

Editorial Reviews
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With An American Requiem, Danielpour aims unequivocally at the grand gesture. The work's theme is the necessity for peace, and man's relationship to war (and, though not the composer's original intention, it was dedicated to the victims of the disaster of September 11th, 2001). The orchestration is gorgeous and lavish, the vocal writing romantically lush. The theme, and the way in which poetry – by Whitman, Emerson, Michael Harper, Hilda Doolittle (better known as H.D.) and Anonymous – is interspersed with sections from the Latin Requiem Mass will inevitably immediately bring to mind Britten's War Requiem, and certainly structurally such a comparison is valid. There is also the odd musical reminiscence, but Danielpour's vocabulary is quite different, carrying as it does echoes of a kind of Gallic Copland and, unexpectedly, occasionally suggesting recent Rautavaara. It will be clear from this that the work is traditional in manner, and the rhetoric associated with oratorio is far from eschewed. At its best this can be very effective and stirring – try the impressive 'Hosanna', for example, or the fierce 'Libera me'. The spiritual given to the baritone soloist before the Agnus Dei, which inevitably recalls Tippett's A Child of Our Time, rather misses the mark, however. It doesn't seem to be an organic part of the work in the sense that the other secular poetry is – the way the haunting setting of Michael Harper's words connects with the first and third parts of the Agnus Dei, for example, is truly inspired. I am not quite convinced that the whole adds up to the sum of its parts, but it is a brave work, and there is much food for thought here. The performance is excellent, and particularly outstanding is the contralto Stephanie Blythe whose velvet-toned lower register is complemented by a silvery, ethereal higher range. Ivan Moody

Danielpour: An American Requiem, Music, Richard Danielpour, Carl St.Clair, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale, Blythe, H Smith, Oswald, Choral, Choral Music, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral & Symphonic

Average customer rating:

Not just another 9/11 tribute

Hoary opportunism

Dedication

An American Requiem

Danielpour: An American Requiem
Carl St.Clair , Pacific Symphony Orchestra , Pacific Chorale , Blythe , H Smith , and Oswald
Manufacturer: Reference Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Danielpour, Richard | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Richard Danielpour: Concerto for Orchestra; Anima Mundi

Danielpour: First Light; The Awakened Heart; Symphony No. 3

ASIN: B00005YJZK
Release Date: 2002-02-26

Tracks:

Introit: Requiem-Vigil I-Kyrie
Dies Irae
Vigil II-Lacrimosa-Pie Jesu
Sanctus
Benedictus
Lay This Body Down
Agnus Dei
Libera Me-Not In Our Time
Lux Aeterna

Customer Reviews:

Not just another 9/11 tribute.......2005-01-02

I find the previous reviewers attack on composer Richard Danielpour to be uninformed and insulting. This is a beautiful recording and a moving work that just happened to be premiered two months after the 9/11 attack. Does the reviewer seriously think that a piece entitled "An American Requiem" be premiered in Nov. of 2001 without any reference to what had just happened?

The performances are excellent throughout. Mezzo Stephanie Blythe is especially magnificent. The mixing of the traditional Mass text with the American poetry is very effective. Poems about a mother grieving over her lost son and a captain lamenting his fallen comrades offer a more personal experience to a requiem mass.

Give this recording a chance to stand on its own merits. It deserves to be heard and enjoyed for generations and not just be tied to one tragic event in our country's history.

Hoary opportunism.......2004-10-19

Anyone who felt even the least bit of emotional stirring as a result of the 9/11 attacks would do well to avoid this recording. Danielpour cobbles together an incoherent mess of a piece whose references to different styles and idioms is insincere at best. In a rush to further his career, he reoriented this piece around the terrorist attacks while it was near completion not by changing much of the composition, but rather the dedication on the title page. Even without the 9/11 angle, this music is just plain cringe inducing.

Dedication.......2003-11-21

I have compared this Richard Danielpour composition to a different "American Requiem" - composed by Evgeni Kostitsyn. You are welcome to compare the two for yourself. I recommend Kostitsyn's composition more.

An American Requiem.......2002-04-07

I had the pleasure of singing for this recording, and it was a very spiritual experience to work with Mr Danielpour, John Alexander, and Carl St. Clair. Mr. Danielpour, a New Yorker himself, told us that although he had been working on the piece for a couple of years, the very day he had phoned the publishers to ask how much time he had before choosing a dedication for the work was September 11, 2001. The woman he was speaking with was witnessing the WTC being attacked a few blocks from her office in lower Manhattan. Needless to say, the dedication was determined by those very tragic events. He told the story to the audience before we sang the World Premier of his work, and the concert was awe inspiring. Later, we set about the arduous work of recording the piece at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Unlike some recording sessions I have been in, this one went very smoothly, and there seemed to be plenty of time to get the cuts everyone liked. The soloists were troopers and hit the mark every time. I would highly recommend it even if I hadn't participated in it!

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