composer Sven Helbig in his new Requiem A

This Requiem, written in honour of the 25,000 lives misplaced within the warfare, will probably draw comparisons – particularly for British listeners – to Britten’s Conflict Requiem (1962). How do you see the connection between Britten’s work and yours?

I do know Britten’s Conflict Requiem very properly – it was carried out typically in Dresden. The most important distinction is definitely that I’ve not witnessed the horrors of warfare with my very own eyes. The second distinction is that my strongest influences not come from classical music.

I do know the classical Requiems by Brahms, Mozart, and Verdi inside out. Till I used to be 25, I lived nearly completely with this music—with the composers, their scores, their biographies, and their letters. I used to be deeply immersed within the correspondence between Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Classical music was my world.

Then I began taking part in drums. That opened the door to jazz, post-rock, and finally digital music. For the previous 30 years, that’s the type of music I’ve primarily listened to. On this sense, Requiem A is way more influenced by Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Sigur Rós.

There are additionally essential impulses from digital artists like Alessandro Cortini, Abul Mogard, and Venetian Snares. I exploit the devices of classical music, and you’ll definitely hear conventional compositional methods in locations, however I not observe the classical custom.

In that regard, maybe Jóhann Jóhannsson is essentially the most important inspiration—as a result of he adopted an identical path.

REQUIEM A is deeply related to historical past, drawing inspiration out of your grandfather’s reflections on warfare and premiering in Dresden on the eightieth anniversary of the town’s destruction in World Conflict II. How was this historic context concerned in shaping the work?

It’s tough to seize previous, current, and future in a single piece of music. I’ve not lived by means of warfare myself. But it lingers as a background noise beneath my current. The central query for me is whether or not we are going to ever have the ability to really overcome it.

In my childhood, warfare existed solely within the tales my grandfather advised. Now, we communicate of it every day. It has returned—instantly and forcefully—breaking into our on a regular basis lives. Requiem A speaks with quiet urgency in opposition to this backdrop of historic context.

The piece has been premiered and shall be carried out by main orchestras, together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the London Modern Orchestra, and the Wiener Symphoniker. What has it been like working with these totally different ensembles? How have they influenced the interpretation of the music?

It’s a deeply fulfilling expertise to work with such excellent ensembles. They reply swiftly to interpretative nuances, and each musical color turns into attainable with out pointless effort or pressure. It’s really a present to collaborate with these orchestras.

You might be additionally collaborating with choirs such because the Dresdner Kreuzchor. What makes working with this choir significantly significant for you?

The Kreuzchor is one among Dresden’s crown jewels. I’ve at all times been an enthusiastic admirer, and plenty of of my pals are former members of the choir. It’s a really distinctive establishment, whose alumni are interwoven all through society and have left a long-lasting cultural imprint. Particularly underneath the management of the brand new Kreuzkantor, Martin Lehmann, the choir is flourishing and reaching new heights of creative excellence.

You’ve described the construction of REQUIEM A as resembling a metropolis – partially destroyed, then rebuilt. How does this metaphor translate into the music itself?

I included a classical Kyrie and Agnus Dei to reference the destroyed metropolis. The Kreuzkirche remained standing on the skin, whereas the Frauenkirche was traditionally reconstructed. Some buildings, nevertheless, have been changed completely with fashionable buildings.

I discovered it significant to construct a Requiem on such a fractured architectural blueprint. That’s why fashionable components stand facet by facet with conventional varieties—silently acknowledging the layers of historical past embedded within the place.

REQUIEM A is structured in 9 sections. May you stroll us by means of how the story unfolds all through the piece?

Let me simply give a number of common ideas on the construction.

The Requiem consists of Introitus, Kyrie, Meer von Tränen (aria), Sana et Vola, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Aus der Tiefe, An die Weide (aria), Atem. The 2 bass arias bookend Requiem A with the common themes described within the choir turning into a private expertise right here. Theoretical connections typically fail when confronted with the person, with overwhelming ache and the ensuing paralysis. Requiem A turns into extra tangible in these two moments. René Pape was the perfect selection for this half. The arias couldn’t have been extra poignant.

I used additionally digital components in Requiem A to activate the background noise of the collective reminiscence.  The deep drone sounds have been particularly noticeable when the music from the choir and orchestra fell silent. “Anfang” is an energetic course of; it doesn’t happen by itself.

Musically, the important thing phrases within the textual content correspond to the Pythagorean Tetractys. Fourth, fifth, and octave intervals create a sonic microcosm – a mirrored image of order inside chaos. They signify basic relationships that stretch past the realm of music. Pythagoras related the Tetractys with the numerical ratios that govern music, arithmetic, and geometry. To him, these have been the very constructing blocks of the universe – a concord underlying all existence. The central motifs of inhaling Requiem A are formed utilizing these intervals.

The visible facet has at all times been an essential a part of your work. What can the viewers count on from the efficiency in London?

For me, visible components are crucial in my tasks. Every sense has its personal reminiscence. By means of this, I could make the viewers keep in mind my ideas and core concepts extra intensely. I’m positive that anybody who attended the live performance nonetheless has the outsized ‘A’ imprinted on their retina. That is how I hold the ideas on observe.

The visible content material is at all times created by the Icelandic video artist Maní M. Sigfusson. That is our third collaboration. I give him full freedom, and he surprises me with visible concepts that often don’t simply spell out the textual content however add a further layer. 

Ritual performs a central function in Requiem A. In occasions of grief and transformation, rituals give us construction—they mark transitions, maintain house for feelings, and permit collective expertise to unfold. The music itself is constructed round this concept: repetitive varieties, vocal invocations, and gradual harmonic developments mirror the gestures of formality. The efficiency, too, follows a type of liturgical arc—not non secular in a standard sense, however deeply religious in the way it creates presence and attentiveness. For me, Requiem A is not only a live performance, it’s a shared ceremony. An area the place each performers and viewers transfer collectively by means of reflection, mourning, and renewal.

Sven Helbig, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Staatskapelle Dresden on the Premiere of Sven Helbig’s REQUIEM A on the Dresdner Kreuzkirche (Picture: Oliver Killig)