Mezzo-soprano Krista River brings a fresh interpretation to Dvorak in the Florida Orchestra's premiere of the composer's Requiem.
By ROBERT HICKS
Published November 17, 2005
[Photo: Peter Schaff]
"I actually didn't know the piece at all until I got the call from the Florida Orchestra to perform it," soloist Krista River says of Dvorak's Requiem. And then she "completely fell in love with it."
Mezzo-soprano Krista River loves Dvorak.
"I love the sound of the Eastern European influence in his music," she said over the phone from Boston. "I really like his Requiem because I think he depicts a transcendence of death. During some of the most horrific sections of the piece, there is another layer of beauty."
Prepared by artistic director Richard Zielinski, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay will perform the Florida Orchestra premiere of Dvorak's Requiem this weekend. Conductor Grant Llewellyn will lead Rivers and the other soloists, soprano Barbara Shirvis, tenor Carl Halvorson and bass Stephen Powell.
"I actually didn't know the piece at all until I got the call from the Florida Orchestra to perform it," River said. "I hadn't heard the piece and I don't think it's done very often, so I went to the library and looked at a score and completely fell in love with it."
Winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, River, 34, has won critical praise for her clear diction, warm tone and musicality. The Boston Globe applauded her performance of de Falla's Cancion del amor dolido with the Boston Symphony. Opera News hailed her portrayal of Zerlina as "seductive and energetic."
River bought the Requiem score and listened to the Czech Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra's 1984 recording of it under conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch.
"At first, I was pretty astonished by the length of the piece. It's about one hour and 45 minutes. I'm much more familiar with the Mozart Requiem, which is a much shorter piece. I found it to be less folksy than Dvorak's earlier works. It obviously comes later in his composing career, but it still has some of those wonderful elements of Eastern European tonality. It's just wonderful Dvorak," she said.
Dvorak wrote his Requiem in 1890 and conducted its world premiere at the Birmingham Festival in England on Oct. 9, 1891. Some movements are devoted to the chorus, and he uses the four lead voices as soloists, in duo and as a quartet intermittently throughout the composition.
"Every soloist gets a really nice moment. He uses all four soloists pretty well. As usual, the soprano gets some of the dramatic moments, as well as some of the more somber moments," River said.
River started preparing by translating the Requiem's Latin text into English so that every word became meaningful to her.
"For me, when I'm thinking about expressing the music, it begins with the text," she said. "For instance, if I'm singing a particular phrase and there's a particular word that I might want to bring out, I might shape the phrase to emphasize that word."
River added that she is fascinated with the ways in which Dvorak shows the earthly passion of human suffering, yet also conveys an ethereal realm that transcends life.
PREVIEW: The Florida Orchestra and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay perform Dvorak's Requiem, 7:30 p.m. Sat., Pasadena Community Church, 227 70th St. S, St. Petersburg; 7:30 p.m. Sun., Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater; 7:30 p.m. Mon., Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $15.50-$50.50. (813) 286-2403 or toll-free 1-800-662-7286.
