KRZYSZTOF MEYER (b.1943): Creation of the World, Op. 91 for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus and Orchestra.

Description: This is a mightily impressive work. Meyer's chosen style has progressively moved away from modernism - even of the relatively restrained type exemplified by Lutoslawski - toward a recognisably Shostakovich-like idiom. This 1999 work is not so much a celebration of the Biblical creation story as a twentieth-century examination of the consequences of humankind's place in that Creation, with ample scope for doubt and conflict - more so in the music than is implicit in Gerhard Engelsberger's text. Gestures, textures and harmonic patterns very reminiscent of Shostakovich abound, while the orchestral adagio that forms part 5 is very Mahlerian, mysterious nocturnal nature-music. The work is at its strongest in moments of dramatic tension, which are notably more numerous and sustained than those expressing unalloyed praise and wonder at the created world, especially in the powerfully cumulative second part, in which lamentation at mankind's destructiveness is a central theme. The music becomes progressively darker, suggesting a return to the monumental depiction of chaos at the outset, bringing the epic work full circle. Sung in German; printed texts in Polish only. 2 CDs. No texts. Agnieszka Rehlis (soprano), Ewa Marciniec (alto), Ryszard Minkiewicz (tenor), Piotr Nowacki (bass), Polish Radio Choir Cracow, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice; Lukasz Borowicz.