28th November 2011 – Requiem by Cyrillus Kreek
- Cyrillus Kreek
Cyrillus Kreek (1889 – 1962) was an Estonian choral and instrumental composer. He studied trombone and composition at St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1908 – 1916 and was a collector of Estonian folk songs, which he then used in his music to great extent.
Throughout his composing career he would travel around Estonia collecting folk songs using recordings from a phonograph, a primitive piece of recording equipment, and his harmonisations of these melodies took up most of his time as a composer. His requiem is largely considered to be his greatest work. In this he used an Estonian translation of the words to Mozart’s requiem and set it to his own music. His settings of the Psalms of David are his most regularly performed works, with performances being given regularly by choral societies across the world, including the King’s Singers.
Blog post written by Jeremy Telford, L6
Requiem – 1st movement
Here are some other lovely pieces by the same composer:
