Requiem more info

Henning Schmiedt – Requiem
after
Johann Heinrich Radeloff “Paula-a memory”

Baritone Hagen Matzeit
Soprano Jocelyn B. Smith
Sheng, erhu Wei Wu
Saxophone, flute, Altosaxoflöte Volker Schlott
Cello Ulrich Maiss
Piano Henning Schmiedt
Members of the children’s choir of the Komische Oper Berlin
Jane Richter
Ina Kutulas text editing
Sound engineer Wolfgang Hoff
Sound technician Willi Leopold
Mastering Ricarda Molder
Producer for the RBB Ulf Drechsel
Rec December 2004/April 2005 RBB Berlin

1 Introitus 6:37
2 Recordare 4:41
3 Kyrie 9:13
4 Graduale 3:34
5 sequence 4:09
6 Offertory 8:52
7 Sanctus 6:28
8 Agnus Dei 13:26
9 Communion 3:59

Total 01:01:03

in 2004 I composed a “Missa da Requiem composed` based on a autobiographical text by Prof. Radeloff.
After the collapse of Hitler-Germany, he witnessed as a 14-year-old boy the unspeakable suffering especially of the Civilian population.
As a musician I was touched and inspired through his text.
The work about the death of a young girl at the end of the second world war is dedicated to the victims of war and tyranny.
This project was recorded in December 2004 / January 2005 in cooperation with Radio Berlin / Brandenburg as host and was realized as RBB official contribution of the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II.
Collaborators were the internationally renowned baritone Hagen Matzeit, the soprano Jocelyn B. Smith, the Chinese Sheng-virtuoso Wu Wei and
the children’s choir of the Komische Oper Berlin, Volker Schlott Saxophone / flute and Ulrich Maiß cello.
The compositions style is between sacred Musical tradition, contemporary chamber music and improvised music.

Reviews of the Requiem

Dr. Norbert Lammert, president of the German Bundestag:
“My warm congratulations to you for your composition and your first presentation in the renowned rbb radio of culture”

Dr. Gunter Kennel church music director:
“The music had a strong effect on me, the recording is excellent “

Ulf Drechsel editor of radio culture of RBB:
More than 60 years the Second World War is over now. Looking back there is history and stories – stories of perpetrators and victims of murderers and survivors.
Everyone has his own history , it might be a self-experienced a told or read. And each of these stories lives in our heads in our memory their own lives, influence our thinking and action. In good and bad.
It is one of those stories. Heinrich Johann Radeloff has witnessed as a 14-year-old boy at the end of the Second World War in Mecklenburg, as a young girl he knew well, and her family were killed.
Today Johann Heinrich Radeloff lives as a professor in Kyoto.
His traumatic experiences he wrote down in an autobiographical Text “Paula – a memory” – which became the inspiration for Henning Schmiedt`s Requiem.
Henning Schmiedt is a musician who has searched for possibilities of artistic crossing over of boundaries for many years, time and again, whether in his collaboration with Mikis Theodorakis and Maria Farantouri, with the turkish singer Sema, with the American Jocelyn B. Smith or in the Duo PAmagieRA with Volker Schlott.
Chamber music, jazz and world music continously merge and flow into each other, building bridges between cultures and people, which is, after all, what the goal of all serious art should actually be.

In addition to the composer Henning Schmiedt, who also played piano and is responsible for the use of various Elektronics , at the Recording of the Requiem were involved the american soprano Jocelyn B. Smith,
Matzeit Hagen baritone, the Chinese Sheng-virtuoso Wu Wei, the Saxophonist and flutist Volker Schlott, the cellist Ulrich Maiss, and
Members of the children’s choir of Komische oper under the direction of Jane Richter.
On the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War Henning Schmiedt dedicated his requiem to the victims of war and tyranny.