Silvestrov recording up for Grammies

by Yaro Bihun

WASHINGTON - A recording of a contemporary Ukrainian classical music composition has been nominated for two of this year's Grammy awards to be announced on Sunday, February 13. The CD recording of Valentin Silvestrov's "Requiem for Larissa" was nominated for best choral performance and best classical contemporary composition.

Valentin Silvestrov (born 1937) composed the work for mixed choir and orchestra between 1997 and 1999, after the sudden death in 1996 of his wife, musicologist Larissa Bondarenko. It was recorded in Kyiv in 2001 with the Dumka Ukrainian National Choir (Yevhen Savchuk, choirmaster) and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor). The recording was released by ECM Records in 2004.

Mr. Silvestrov wrote all but one of the seven movements to well-known Latin liturgical texts "Requiem Aeternam," "Agnus Dei" and others. The fourth movement features the mournful verse of Taras Shevchenko's "Son" (The Dream), beginning with the words "Farewell, O world! Farewell, O earth!"

While most of the public's attention is focused on the Grammy award winners and nominees in popular music categories, the awards - in 107 categories - are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to honor the best recordings in all genres. President Bill Clinton is among the nominees in the Spoken Word Album category for the recording of his biography "My Life."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 13, 2005, No. 7, Vol. LXXIII

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