Release Date: September 11, 2015
Catalog #: NV6009
Format: Digital & Physical
21st Century
Vocal Music
Choir
Orchestra

Requiem: For the Living

Arthur Gottschalk composer

St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra;
St. Petersburg Chamber Choir | Vladimir Lande conductor
Alberto Mizrahi tenor
Lauren Snouffer soprano
Timothy Jones bass
Andrea Jaber alto
Daniel Mutlu tenor

From Verdi and Mozart to Stravinsky and Britten, the requiem has been a musical tradition used by many composers to remind us of life’s indeterminacy. American composer Arthur Gottschalk’s momentous masterwork, REQUIEM: FOR THE LIVING, an 8-movement, 45 minute work for full orchestra, chorus, and four soloists, including tenor Alberto Mizrahi and Grammy-nominated soprano Lauren Snouffer, resigns the fear of uncertainty by celebrating the rich narrative of Western art and culture.

Gottschalk commemorates Western music, quoting many genres from its history, from Renaissance madrigals and Classical sonatas to jazz, pop, and blues. Alongside some of the traditional Requiem Mass texts, the composer sets words by influential philosophers, spiritual leaders, and authors, from Buddha and Mohammad to George Eliot and Duke Ellington. By honoring Western and Eastern thought, innovation, and art, Gottschalk creates a holistic and humanistic work that attempts to embrace people and beliefs from almost all parts of the world.

A man whose music is described as “rapturous, argumentative, and prickly” (Gramophone Magazine), “fascinatingly strange” (BBC Music Magazine), and “brainy and jazzy” (American Record Guide), award-winning composer Arthur Gottschalk is Professor of Music Composition and Theory at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He is student of renowned American composers William Bolcom, Ross Lee Finney, and Leslie Bassett.

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Artist Information

Art-Gottschalk

Arthur Gottschalk

Composer

Arthur Gottschalk is Professor of Music Composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he founded and directed the school’s electronic music laboratories until 2002, and chaired the composition and theory department for 15 years. His early work as a studio musician led to his co-founding of Modern Music Ventures, Inc., a company which held a recording studio complex, a record production division, four publishing firms, and an artist management division, and for whom he produced records for the PolyGram and Capitol labels, among others.

Vladimir Lande

Conductor

In 2008, Lande was appointed principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony, and in 2011 he led the orchestra on a 24-concert "Tour of the Americas” including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s KimmelCenter, Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Hall, and the Society of the Performing Arts in Houston, as well as the most prestigious venues in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, and Uruguay.