Kristallnacht 2008 – Boris Pigovat

Sept, 2012: "Requiem" CD received Pizzicato's Supersonic Award

September 20, 2012in Holocaust Requiem, Prayer0by Boris Pigovat

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Sept, 2012: "Requiem" CD received Pizzicato's Supersonic Award

In 2010, Atoll released the “Requiem” CD, which includes the live recording from the performance of Requiem in the Concert of Remembrance for Kristallnacht 1938, and three of my other pieces, all starred by Donald Maurice (viola), an excellent performer and a dear friend of mine.
In 2012 the “Requiem” CD was awarded the Supersonic Award by the Luxembourg classical music magazine, Pizzicato.

Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem

Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD

Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA

Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany

Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand

Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand

Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine

Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)

Below are some samples from the CD.

Live recording of "Requiem" (samples)

Donald Maurice, Viola
Mark Taddei, Conductor
Vector Wellington Orchestra

PART 1: "REQUEIM AETERNAM"

Requiem Aeternam, sample 1

Requiem Aeternam, sample 2

Requiem Aeternam, sample 3

Requiem Aeternam, sample 4

PART 2: "DIES IRAE"

PART 3: "LACRIMOSA"

PART 4: "LUX AETERNA"

Part 4 “Lux Aeterna” published by Atoll in YouTube

Prayer for Viola and Piano (samples)

Donald Maurice, Viola
Richard Mapp, Piano

2 SAMPLES

Prayer for Viola and Piano, Atoll CD, sample 1

Prayer for Viola and Piano, Atoll CD, sample 2

Silent Music for Viola and Harp

Donald Maurice, Viola
Carolyn Mills, Harp

WHOLE PIECE

Nigun for String Quartet (samples)

Dominion String Quartet

2 SAMPLES

NIGUN for String Quartet, Dominion String Quartet, sample 1

NIGUN for String Quartet, Dominion String Quartet, sample 2

Nov, 2010: Launch of "Requiem" CD by Atoll, New Zealand

November 30, 2010in Holocaust Requiem, Prayer0by Boris Pigovat

45099

Nov, 2010: Launch of "Requiem" CD by Atoll, New Zealand

In November 2010, two years after the performance of Requiem at the the Concert of Remembrance for Kristallnacht 1938 at Wellington, a live recording of the concert was released by Atoll. This recording also includes three of my other pieces, featuring my dear friend, Donald Maurice (viola), and other great performers. The CD includes the following pieces:

Prayer for Viola and Piano
Donald Mautice, Viola
Richard Mapp, Piano

Silent Music for Viola and Harp
Donald Maurice, Viola
Carolyn Mills, Harp

Nigun for String Quartet
Dominion String Quartet

Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem

Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD

Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA

Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award

Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany

Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand

Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine

Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)

Dwight Pounds reviewed the disc in the Journal Of The American Viola Society, he writes:

Completing the album and complementing the Requiem musically and emotionally are three small ensemble compositions, each by Boris Pigovat. The very dramatic and tragic Prayer was written the same year as the Lux Eterna (1994) and in fact shares at least one common theme. Silent Music, known in Hebrew as Nerot Neshama (Candles of the Soul), was written in 1997 in response to a particularly vicious terrorist attack. In Nigun, conceived originally for string orchestra, Pigovat’s goal is to give “expression to the tragic spirit which I feel in traditional Jewish music” by giving homage to the style and spiritual atmosphere of ancient tunes, but without quoting traditional melodies.

In 2012, the Requiem CD was awarded a Supersonic Award by the Luxembourg classical music magazine Pizzicato.

Below are some samples from the CD.

Live recording of "Requiem" (samples)

Donald Maurice, Viola
Mark Taddei, Conductor
Vector Wellington Orchestra

PART 1: "REQUEIM AETERNAM"

Requiem Aeternam, sample 1

Requiem Aeternam, sample 2

Requiem Aeternam, sample 3

Requiem Aeternam, sample 4

PART 2: "DIES IRAE"

PART 3: "LACRIMOSA"

PART 4: "LUX AETERNA"

Part 4 “Lux Aeterna” published by Atoll in YouTube

Prayer for Viola and Piano (samples)

Donald Maurice, Viola
Richard Mapp, Piano

2 SAMPLES

Prayer for Viola and Piano, Atoll CD, sample 1

Prayer for Viola and Piano, Atoll CD, sample 2

Silent Music for Viola and Harp

Donald Maurice, Viola
Carolyn Mills, Harp

WHOLE COMPOSITION

Nigun for String Quartet (samples)

Dominion String Quartet

2 SAMPLES

NIGUN for String Quartet, Dominion String Quartet, sample 1

NIGUN for String Quartet, Dominion String Quartet, sample 2

Donald Maurice’s solo playing vividly captures the music’s gamut of supplicatory emotion, while Marc Taddei and the orchestra provide an accompaniment richly-mixed with ambiences of faith and trust, doubt and fear. READ MORE

Peter Mechen

Middle C, Classical Music Reviews
Wellington, NZ

September 15, 2011

This is a most extraordinary release. I guarantee it contains music like you’ve never heard before and that will leave you emotionally shattered and physically drained. …the performance and the recording are stunning, impactful, and overwhelming.

Jerry Dubins

Fanfare Magazine

Junuary, 2012

Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand

November 30, 2008in Holocaust Requiem0by Boris Pigovat

8381

Nov, 2008: Concert of Remembrance of 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, Wellington, New Zealand

Holocaust Requiem was performed for it’s second time at the Concert of Remembrance for the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht.
The outstanding performance by violist Dr. Donald Maurice, Professor of Music at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, conductor Mark Taddei, and Vector Wellington Orchestra, was widely reviewed by local and international media.

Sep, 2023: the US premiere of the Holocaust Requiem

Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD

Feb, 2014: “Lux Aeterna” from the Holocaust Requiem, Pittsburgh, USA

Sept, 2012: “Requiem” CD received Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award

Oct, 2011: Holocaust Requiem at the International Viola Congress, Wurzburg, Germany

Nov, 2010: Launch of “Requiem” CD by Atoll, New Zealand

Oct, 2001: Memorial evening dedicated to the Babi Yar tragedy, Kiev, Ukraine

Holocaust Requiem for Viola and Symphony Orchestra (1994-1995)

Later, Donald Maurice remembered:

The performance was in 2008 but is indelibly etched into my memory. Many people were in tears. I myself said, ‘I must not cry!’” Commenting on the composition’s future and potential for effecting change, he observed, “It needs to be performed often as a reminder of the effects of war and the circumstances that precipitate one culture wanting to dominate or annihilate another.

A live recording of Requiem from the event was released by Atoll, in November 2010, with other pieces of mine.

Here is an audio recording of an interview given by Donald Maurice and Marc Taddei to Radio New Zealand (Nov 2008).

Below are some samples of that amazing performance and some photos from the event.

PART 1: "REQUEIM AETERNAM"

Requiem Aeternam, sample 1

Requiem Aeternam, sample 2

Requiem Aeternam, sample 3

Requiem Aeternam, sample 4

PART 2: "DIES IRAE"

PART 3: "LACRIMOSA"

PART 4: "LUX AETERNA"

Requiem “The Holocaust” is not music for the faint of heart. The listener is drawn inexorably into the unfolding tragedy... Pigovat runs a stylistic gamut from tonal to expressionistic with hints of Berg and Shostakovich as he gradually unfolds his nightmare. Though instrumental throughout, there are times one can hear “Re—qui-em” among the many busy layers of musical texture.
READ MORE

Dwight Pounds

Journal of the American Viola Society

2011

The Music is harrowing and tense, and very Russian in sound. Echoes of contemporary composers such as Denisov, Kanchelli and Gubaidulina can be heard, as well as the inexorable thread of Shostakovich in the Dies Irae, but the voice of the composer remains highly individual. Balancing the violence, anger and tension is the conciliatory beauty of the Lux Eterna that rounds out a work of deeply felt power.
READ MORE

John Button

The Dominion Post

November 11, 2008

Using purely orchestral forces this 46-minute symphonic-concerto encompasses ear-splitting anguish, horror and confusion -- tolling tintinnabulations mark the outset of unspeakable atrocities while abject grief is heightened by sonorous lamentations of the solo viola; a role of unusually formidable demands.
READ MORE

Howard Smith

M&V Daily, Concert Reviews

November 13, 2008

Pigovat's music is evocative and distuibing in its depiction of the Holocaust. With styles reminiscent of other Russian composers, including the rich melancholy of Shostakovich the compositional style is still distinctly Pigovat's own. Intense and strongly assured it is a life-affirming piece that makes a telling statemen with subtlety.
READ MORE

Garth Wilsher

Capital Times, NZ

December, 2008

Live recording of "Requiem" (samples)

Prayer for Viola and Piano (samples)

Silent Music for Viola and Harp

Nigun for String Quartet (samples)

Live recording of "Requiem" (samples)

Prayer for Viola and Piano (samples)

Silent Music for Viola and Harp

Nigun for String Quartet (samples)

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