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With his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and Vespers Benedict Sheehan has established his status as one of our preeminent modern masters of liturgical choral music. His new Ukrainian War Requiem, out February 21 in a crystal-clear recording by Axios Men’s Ensemble and the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada, conducted by Michael Zaugg, bolsters that reputation.
Timed to coincide with the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the music recasts traditional harmonic structure in a distinctive, subtly contemporary idiom. The libretto brings together ancient prayers, Latin texts and Jewish melodies in a patchwork version of a Ukrainian memorial service known as the Panakhyda. The combination of sources and traditions is intricate. Suffice it to note that Sheehan describes the work as a Ukrainian “Catholic/Orthodox” memorial service. And then just listen.
The Long History of War
Soprano soloist Yuliia Zasimova is featured in the first movement, “Trisagion Prayers,” from an Eastern Christian memorial service for the dead, and in the last, the Latin hymn “In Paradisum.” Everywhere else we hear only men’s voices. And I say “men’s” deliberately: Often nowadays we refer to “lower” and “higher” voices rather than men’s and women’s, and rightly so. Many choirs include men singing alto parts. Women sing tenor parts at times. And that’s not to even mention countertenors, who seem to be undergoing a resurgence in popularity in the 21st century.
Here, though, the “male” sound of the collective voices stands as an important feature of the music. Not because women didn’t sing in church choirs in the Eastern Orthodox tradition (they did) but because historically it was men who fought and died on the battlefield. The absence of women’s voices here thus serves to represent the long history of war – even as, ironically, as I write this, U.S. senators are questioning a Secretary of Defense nominee about his opposition to women in combat roles.
The most striking thing about this death-themed service is the music’s continuous excitation of life. By that I don’t mean liveliness, though there is some of that, as for example in the angry strains in the first part of the emotionally boomeranging “Psalm 90.” I mean a more abstract assertion of the nervous electricity inherent in the fusion of art and the human voice.
Ukrainian War Requiem: An Assertion – of Life
A mournful quality does suffuse some movements, while a faintly anguished sense of peace pervades the “Great Litany,” where a major-key drone accompanies a chant-like recitative from tenor John Tessier. Tessier’s fine vocals add pathos and polish to several other movements, including a sublime “Psalm 50” with its Jewish-sounding strains.
The solo voices, which also include tenor Andrew Whiteside, help situate the requiem as liturgical. But this isn’t “church music” any more than a Bach courante is meant to be danced to. It’s vital new art that responds powerfully, as art always has, to injustice and violence and the horrors of war by projecting solemn beauty.
Ukrainian War Requiem is out February 21, 2025 on Cappella Records. Pre-order now.
