Elis Pehkonen
RUSSIAN REQUIEM for SATB choir, soloists & orchestra
Goodmusic GM514
Originally published in 1986, this is a new 2025 Goodmusic edition.
Scoring: Oboe, Cor Anglais, 2 Trumpets in C, Timpani, Percussion (1 player - snare drum, bass drum, clash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, glockenspiel), Strings (4/4/2/2/1 or more) [Minimum orchestra of 19 players], Soprano and Contralto Soloists, SATB Chorus.
My father, Sulo Pehkonen, was born in Karelia, near the Russian border. During the 1917 Finnish Winter War with the Russian Bolsheviks, he was separated from his parents and taken to England by a British soldier.
Who suffered most because of Lenin & Stalin? Not just the Finns and other nation states of Eastern Europe but the whole of Russia.
This must not be forgotten and is why I composed "The Russian Requiem". Elis Pehkonen
The text of the Russian Requiem consists of selected excerpts from five different sources: verses from the Missa pro defunctis, short passages from Dante's Inferno, short quotations from The Book of Revelation, brief comments from sayings by Lenin, and verses from ‘Zhivago’s Poems’ at the end of Boris Pasternak’s novel Dr.Zhivago.
Vocal score, 82 pages, available to buy or hire. Orchestral material on hire.
Duration 40 minutes
A CD recording is avaialble.
Scoring: Oboe, Cor Anglais, 2 Trumpets in C, Timpani, Percussion (1 player - snare drum, bass drum, clash cymbals, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, glockenspiel), Strings (4/4/2/2/1 or more) [Minimum orchestra of 19 players], Soprano and Contralto Soloists, SATB Chorus.
My father, Sulo Pehkonen, was born in Karelia, near the Russian border. During the 1917 Finnish Winter War with the Russian Bolsheviks, he was separated from his parents and taken to England by a British soldier.
Who suffered most because of Lenin & Stalin? Not just the Finns and other nation states of Eastern Europe but the whole of Russia.
This must not be forgotten and is why I composed "The Russian Requiem". Elis Pehkonen
The text of the Russian Requiem consists of selected excerpts from five different sources: verses from the Missa pro defunctis, short passages from Dante's Inferno, short quotations from The Book of Revelation, brief comments from sayings by Lenin, and verses from ‘Zhivago’s Poems’ at the end of Boris Pasternak’s novel Dr.Zhivago.
Vocal score, 82 pages, available to buy or hire. Orchestral material on hire.
Duration 40 minutes
A CD recording is avaialble.
