With the war in Ukraine entering its second year, and with no end to it in sight, asking the question “What is Russia?” would seem to be a little one-sided. However, Eugene Birman’s Russia: Today, was written as “a documentary opera” during the period between the annexation of Crimea and the launching of full-scale war. It was here presented under the sub-title of “Requiem for Peace”, as part of Kings Place’s “Sound Unwrapped” season, and was accompanied (if that is the right word) by a video by Alexandra Karelina. The confluence of a documentary opera doubling as a requiem for peace, and a video that didn’t seem to belong to either conception, provided an unusual experience. What saved the day was Exaudi’s performance which was every bit as committed and insightful as we have come to expect of them.
The libretto for the piece was fashioned by Scott Deil using the verbatim speech of ordinary Russians, as recorded by Birman in Finland, Latvia (where the composer was born) and Russia (where he was raised). In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s military adventurism, Birman was interested in what those people thought about the fate of the country and asked them three questions: What is Russia? What was Russia? What will it become? Needless to say, the replies were many and various – and included a hankering for the glory days of the Soviet Union, whenever they were. Testimony of that sort fits well into a documentary opera but sits uneasily in a requiem for peace. The video footage included some striking images – a brooding birch forest, an ice-hole sunk into a vast expanse of snow, a mound of earth writhing with maggots – but it wasn’t obvious how they related to the composer’s concept for the work as a whole.
Written in the style of the Russian Orthodox panikhida – a prayer for the soul’s repose after death – the piece was extremely challenging for the performers. However, under the authoritative direction of James Weeks, the singers – Juliet Fraser, Jessica Gillingwater, David de Winter, Jimmy Holliday and Zigmārs Grasis – tackled it with some purpose. The ensemble was kept very tight, revealing Birman’s gift for well-rounded sonorities. Any religious connotations inherent in the piece were glimpsed through those sonorities, their placing throughout the various movements, and the group’s rendering of them with much attention to detail.
If considered as documentary opera the characters were on their mettle articulating the conflicting narrative of candid confessions: nostalgia for a lost world; uncertainty about present dilemmas; fears for a future without guarantees; and also pride about “belonging”. Fraser’s projection was steely, a pulsating halo; here and there the line was a little strained, but that may have been the passion of those particular moments. At the other end of the spectrum, Grasis, brought in from Latvia specially for the occasion, was excellent; the timbre of his low bass oscillated like the throbbing left over from a cosmic boom. The other singers had their moments in the spotlight, contributing to the imaginative realisation of a work that is well able to stand on its own merits, and without the need for extra-musical crutches.
As the war rages on, the response from musicians, venues and promoters will no doubt continue to include particular humanitarian gestures. From this concert the proceeds will be shared between organisations supporting refugees in Ukraine and human rights agencies in Russia.
