All four Russian performances of the Requiem Aeternam for Princess Galyani were different, reports a theatre critic there
Audiences in four Russian cities, thousands of kilometres apart, last month heard "Requiem Aeternam", a tribute in grand classical music to Her Royal Highness the late Princess Galyani Vadhana.
Russian composer Boris Tishchenko's piece was presented in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, and those lucky enough to attend all four concerts say they heard four different pieces under four different conductors.
Beginning in St Petersburg, Tishchenko's hometown, the memorial mass travelled across the country, from the northwest to Siberia in the far east.
The producer of this musical journey, JS Uberoi, says he was fascinated by the subtle but meaningful changes the piece underwent at each stop.
"Each of the conductors brought his own vision to the material," he notes. "Each added his own spice to the dish."
All four concerts had at least three things in common: The final "amen" was always followed by a slight pause and then deafening roars of "Bravo!"
All four venues were sold out, even the vast Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.
And these four shows, as well as the Bangkok premiere in 2008, featured the young and talented mezzo-soprano Olessya Petrova, the soloist from the St Petersburg Conservatoire Theatre.
It soon became clear that Petrova was responding with vigour to the challenge of working with the different conductors, orchestras, fellow soloists and choirs.
"I have sung four totally different requiems - every conductor had an individual approach, changing tempos, dynamics, even the order," she says. "But I've fallen in love with this music."
At the outset, Alexander Dmitriev, conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, insisted he wasn't going to change a stroke in the score.
Tishchenko attended every rehearsal, Dmitriev says, "and after each part he offered advice, asking me to either make the sound of the chorus brighter or soften the soloists' voices".
The St Petersburg was the most "authentic" Requiem as a result.
"We heard genuine St Petersburg music," says Alla Butova, the foreign coordinator of Bangkok's International Festival of Dance and Music. "It was refined, intellectual, a little bit restrained in the northern manner, but very deep and thoughtful."
The conductors in the other cities, Petrova says, took more freedom in their interpretations.
For the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra's performance, Yuri Simonov substituted a full chorus for the two soloists singing the "Recordare" segment.
And overall, says Butova, it was "a kind of 'gold-domed' performance - imperial, full of bright dynamic shades".
"Simonov virtually removed all the soft lyricism," Petrova adds. "He demanded from both orchestra and chorus a very solid sound. It filled the music with a dramatic and even tragic colouring."
In Ekaterinburg, Fabio Mastrangelo demonstrated his belief that any requiem must make listeners think about life. He saturated the piece with bright contrasts.
"He would sometimes let the orchestra overwhelm the chorus," Petrova says, "and at other moments the orchestra would let the voices run free, or he had the flutes and clarinets match the soloists' parts so that we could send our breath to each other."
In Novosibirsk the young but much-acclaimed Andrey Danilov, who is steeped in St Petersburg tradition, stressed neither tragedy nor contrasts. Building on the melody, he ensured a fine orchestral quality and an even sound to the chorus, while making room for subtle nuances.
Petrova characterises this performance as "quiet, sad, very gentle and melodic, interlaced with sorrow, distant, and even inspiring".
It proved to be an appropriate finale to the series. The audience came away with feelings of tender sorrow and kind reminiscence, discovering through the music the exact sentiment that Thais share for their beloved Princess.
Irina Tumakova is the theatre critic for the Russian newspaper Izvestia.