L/ UKASZEWSKIVIACRUCIS

BRITTEN SINFONIA · POLYPHONYSTEPHEN LAYTON

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CONTENTS

TRACK LISTING � page 4

ENGLISH � page 5

Sung texts and translation � page 10

FRANÇAIS � page 22

DEUTSCH � Seite 26

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PAWEL/ L/ UKASZEWSKI

VIA CRUCIS1 INTRODUCTION [0'58]

I 2 Jesus is condemned to death [0'36] STATION 3 Universa turba [2'37]

II 4 Jesus takes up the Cross [0'30] STATION 5 Dicebat autem Jesus ad omnes [1'56]

III 6 Jesus falls the first time [0'40] STATION 7 Quis credidit auditui nostro? [3'35]

IV 8 Jesus meets his Blessed Mother [0'35] STATION 9 Senex Simeon prophetizans [2'17]

V bl Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross [0'35] STATION bm Exeuntes autem invenerunt [1'21]

VI bn Veronica wipes the face of Jesus [0'33] STATION bo Auferet Dominus Deus lacrymam [2'12]

VII bp Jesus falls the second time [0'43] STATION bq Vere languores nostros ipse tulit [3'04]

VIII br The women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus [0'36] STATION bs Sequebatur autem illum multa turba [3'37]

IX bt Jesus falls the third time [0'46] STATION bu Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus [3'25]

X cl Jesus is stripped of his clothes [0'35] STATION cm Milites ergo cum crucifixissent eum [1'54]

XI cn Jesus is nailed to the Cross [0'32] STATION co Et perducunt illum Golgotha locum [2'01]

XII cp Jesus dies on the Cross [0'36] STATION cq Stabat autem iuxta crucem Jesu mater [6'23]

XIII cr Jesus is taken down from the Cross [0'52] STATION cs Judaei ergo [4'02]

XIV ct Jesus is laid in the tomb [1'05] STATION cu Post haec autem rogavit Pilatum Joseph [2'27]

XV dl The Resurrection STATION Una autem sabbati [3'05]

dm CHRISTUS VINCIT [0'56]

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SOME can relate better than others to the generalizedassertion that ‘music and maths go together’. To anygifted musician with memories of teenage quadratic-

equation trauma, perhaps the statement would ring truerif it were adjusted to ‘music and arithmetic go together’.Because there is no doubt that music, at a fundamentallevel, is all about numbers—counting the beats of a bar,counting the notes of the scale from one to eight.

Numerical relationships, and their larger structuralpossibilities, have fascinated composers across thecenturies. Musicologists have feasted on Bach’s predilec -tion, symbolically so, for the number three. Dufay’sisorhythmic motet Nuper rosarum flores, written for thededication of Florence Cathedral in 1436, has been shownto be based on the proportional relationships of thebuilding’s floorplan. Modernity in music, from serialismonwards, has often bound pitch, rhythm and numberpatterns together.

So it is interesting that the numbers seven and four -teen, so closely associated with the Passion story, haven’tattracted more composers for the structural possibilitiesthey afford in shaping larger works. Haydn created anextended, seven-movement meditation, both as a stringquartet and a cantata, on the Seven Last Words (actuallyseven short sentences) uttered by Christ on the cross.James MacMillan followed this example in 1993, with hisstriking work for choir and string orchestra (recorded byPolyphony for Hyperion, CDA67460).

Significant works based upon the 14 Stations of theCross can likewise be counted on one hand. There isLiszt’s Via Crucis—like Haydn, this Passiontide workcomes in more than one form, the main one being forchoir and organ. There is Marcel Dupré’s Le chemin de lacroix, Op 29, a liturgical sequence for organ. WilliamMathias’s Organ Concerto is structured upon the 14Stations, and fourteen composers contributed separately

to a work for Australian vocal ensemble The SongCompany in 2004.

Is it the overt Roman Catholic associations that havelimited the number of composers attracted to the struc -tural possibilities of 14 Stations of the Cross? After all, the‘storyboard’ of Mel Gibson’s gorily controversial movieThe Passion of the Christ closely follows the 14 Stations.Clearly favouring the broader Passion narrative and Stabatmater text, have Protestants, Lutherans and composers oflittle-or-no faith tended to steer clear of this very Romanform of veneration?

There is no doubting Pawel/ L/ ukaszewski’s embeddedlinks to Poland’s particular strain of Roman Catholicism.He was born and raised in the southern Polish town ofCze

‘stochowa, for many the country’s spiritual capital

and home of the Black Madonna icon in the Jasna Góramonastery. L/ ukaszewski readily acknowledges the influ -ence of growing up alongside Poland’s holiest relic, andamongst a steady throng of spiritual pilgrims. It hasshaped his musical and spiritual being; and although hestudied cello, alongside composition, at Warsaw’s FryderykChopin University of Music, the majority of his outputto date comprises sacred choral works (see HyperionCDA67639) and he is Music Director of the Musica SacraChoir at Warsaw Cathedral.

The Jasna Góra monastery and the Black Madonnaicon itself have ancient pasts. Before its transfer toCze

‘stochowa in the year of the monastery’s foundation,

1382, the origin and whereabouts of this soot-blackenedpainting of the Virgin and Christ child remain the subjectof legend and conjecture. The evangelist St Luke is saidto have painted the icon on a cypress table-top belongingto the Holy Family. It apparently moved from Jerusalem toConstantinople in 326 A.D., where its miraculous powersrepelled Saracen invaders. Similarly, once in Cze

‘stochowa,

the Black Madonna’s presence helped drive away a large

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army of Swedish invaders, causing King Kazimierz thefollowing year, 1656, to proclaim the Black Madonna asQueen and Protector of Poland.

Both the monastery and the icon are closely relatedto more recent events, ones of more direct relevance andresonance for someone like L/ ukaszewski, growing upthere in the 1970s and ’80s. During World War II, underGerman occupation, the faithful made pilgrimages as ashow of defiance. Jasna Góra contains the ashes of FatherJerzy Popiel/uszko, chaplain of the Solidarity movementwho was murdered by the secret police in 1984. LechWal/e

‘sa gave his Nobel Peace Prize medal to the monastery

as a votive offering in 1982, and John Paul II, on becomingPope in 1979, celebrated Mass there for a million peopleon the monastery steps.

All of this is important in considering the work featuredon this recording, because the sense of ecstatic, redemp -tive victory at the end of the work (Christus vincit dm )needn’t be regarded merely in literal, religious terms.The journey witnessed in the Via Crucis—the conflict,the suffering, the humiliation, the defiance, the resurrec -tion—can also be seen as a reflection on PolishCatholicism’s victory over Communism. This is certainlythe joined-up message in Jerzy Duda-Gracz’s paintings forthe Stations of the Cross at Jasna Góra, created at the sametime as, but not in connection with, L/ukaszewski’s work. Astriking image such as Jasnorgórska Golgota, featured onthis booklet’s cover, politicizes and updates the crucifixioniconography. The Polish Pope, Karol Wojtyl/a, is joined inthis deposition scene by other clerics—presumably fromJasna Góra’s past and present—a concentration campinmate and by the Black Madonna icon itself.

L/ ukaszewski’s Way of the Cross is one Station longerthan Liszt’s or Dupré’s. This reflects the Catholic Church’smore recent embracing of a final, 15th Station for theempty tomb and resurrection—an addition that brings

redemptive ‘closure’ to the Paschal story on Easter Sunday.L/ ukaszewski employs the 15 Stations as a rigorous struc -tural framework, so that the 55-minute span of the workevolves, he says, ‘in the manner of a mega-rondo’.

Repetition, from one Station to the next, is central tothe work’s culminatory, ritual power. Every Station, exceptthe last, features a highly calculated sequence of recurringmotifs and refrains. They define themselves most of allby textural separation—solo/choral, upper/lower voices,a cappella/instrumental—but also by tempo relation -ships and contrasts of mood.

Each Station is announced by solemn, three-partwriting for male voices: austere, parallel fourths (oneperfect, one augmented) making for a consciously archaiceffect—aggressive even, as if the singers are Pilate’sstrutting centurions. This stern pronouncement melts intoa supplicatory Adoramus te for sopranos and altos, eachtime accompanied by a four-part trombone chorus of low-voiced parallel fifths.

In successive Stations, narrative passages for the threesolo voices and the narrator, speaking in Latin, follow.L/ ukaszewski ‘colour-codes’ each solo part. The Evangelistpart, written for a particularly high-lying countertenorvoice, is always doubled by a bass clarinet. The tenor part,that of Pilatus, is tracked by the contrabassoon at theoctave or double octave. And the bass/Christus part isalways differentiated texturally with a doubling by thealto flute. With simple but effective symbolism, at themoment in the 12th Station when Christus bows his head(‘Consummatum est’—‘It is finished’), the alto flutecarries on playing alone. Musically, the soul has left thebody.

The final recurring component of each Station featuresa lamentation for upper voices and low strings, Qui passusest pro nobis—a more reflective, but equally austerecounterpart to the opening refrain for male voices. There

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then follows a bridge passage between each Station for thewoodwind quartet and sustained, droning fifths in thehorns and lower strings. This recurring passage, based ona Polish folk tune and with medieval-like hocketing effectsin the wind writing, is comparable to the Promenadesections in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Hereis a neutral space for the listener, free of text and voices,where L/ ukaszewski leads us on to the next Station. These‘amorphic inter-Station passages’, the composer writes,enact ‘the reset function’. What is different from the otherrepeated materials in Via Crucis is the way L/ ukaszewskigradually winds down the tempo of each successive re-appearance. The first time it appears, we hear an alert,springing dance, marked Allegro, �=120. With its lastappearance, at the end of the 13th Station, we hear amournful dirge, �=40–46.

L/ ukaszewski adjusts tempo and dynamics with onefinal, crucial element of each Station. In the first two orthree, it is not apparent. By the fourth, firm, tutti chordsbegin to register with the listener, because their numberrelates to the number of the Station. They precede eachof the male-voice Station announcements, ever moredominating. They are block-like blows of the hammer, andL/ ukaszewski cranks up the tempo from Grave, �=40/50at the start to Moderato, �=90 at Station 12. For the finaltwo Stations, though, we are back to the Grave tempo, andthe iterations of this chord, in Christ’s death, have losttheir loud insistence.

L/ ukaszewski guides us through the story further,musically, in Stations 3, 7 and 9. These are the threeStations where Jesus falls, so the hammer blow chordsare followed uniquely by snarling, snapped, brass-heavydiminished fifths—one of them in Station 3, two in 7,three in 9. These are musical signposts for subsequentdifferences in each Station; here the messianic prophecyfrom Isaiah Chapter 53 offers a presentiment of the

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suffering of the Via Crucis. These passages are uniquelyfor a cappella voices, and extend the overall range of thechoral writing with solo invocations amidst a wash ofsustained, eight-part clusters.

A similar, clustered wash of sound is achieved in thelongest Station, the 12th, when woodwinds and brass swaptheir instruments for ocarinas. Eerie and disembodied,and markedly different from the more firmly pitchedocarina chorales in the second movement of Ligeti’s ViolinConcerto, L/ ukaszewski prepares the way with hauntingeloquence for Christ’s death.

The 14th Station omits choir or soloists, and featuresinstead the most extended passage for spoken-voice narra -tor. The solemn cor anglais solo that weaves through thesewords is a Polish Christmas lullaby, Jezus malusienki—aquotation that symbolizes, L/ ukaszewski writes, ‘the birthto new life after the death of the body’.

Arvo Pärt, in his setting of the St John Passion, takesthe listener on an ever so tightly controlled, unwaveringjourney of tonal and textural experience. After 65 minutes

of calculated sparseness around A minor, the effect of hisfinal chorus, blazing into D major, can be monumentallyliberating. L/ ukaszewski does something similar with his15th Station for the Resurrection, though he is hugelymore expansive with his material both at that point, andwith everything that has preceded it.

With almost cinematic vividness, the choir treads atfirst warily, then ever-more surely towards the light ofChrist’s resurrection. The horns, at last liberated fromtheir almost constant drones of paired fifths, lead the wayto each new chord with a Bruckner-like sense of harmonicimpetus. And then L/ ukaszewski gives us the cataclysmicrelease of C major, the chord of resurrection in Polishliturgy on Easter Sunday. This is led by the organ—tuttala forza, and until this point silent in the tension andsadness of the Passion story. Choir and organ lead the wayfrom here to a reprise of the opening—this time withChrist in victory and majesty, and with a final, ecstaticchord bursting with the ambiguity of major and minor.

MEURIG BOWEN © 2009

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Via Crucis The Way of the Cross1 CHORUS Via Crucis The Way of the Cross.

Statio Prima Station I2 CHORUS Iudicium a Pontio Pilato pronuntiatum est. Judgement is pronounced by Pontius Pilate.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …3 NARRATOR Universa turba succlamabat dicens: The whole crowd cried out, saying:

CHORUS Crucifige, crucifige eum. Crucify, crucify him.

NARRATOR Pilatus autem tertio dixit ad illos: And Pilate said unto them the third time:

PILATE (tenor) Quid enim mali fecit iste? Why, what evil has he done? Nullam causam mortis invenio in eo: I have found no cause of death in him: corripiam ergo illum et dimittam. I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.

EVANGELIST (countertenor) At illi instabant vocibus And they persisted with loud voices, magnis postulantes, ut crucifigeretur: demanding that he be crucified. et invalescebant voces eorum. And their voices grew in strength. Et Pilatus adiudicavit fieri petitionem eorum. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. Dimisit autem illis eum, qui propter homicidium And he released him to them that for sedition et seditionem missus fuerat in carcerem, and murder was cast into prison, quem petebant, Jesum vero tradidit voluntati eorum. whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.LUKE 23:21–25

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Secunda Station II4 CHORUS Jesus Crucem sustinuit. Jesus takes up his Cross.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …5 NARRATOR Dicebat autem Jesus ad omnes: And Jesus said to them all:

JESUS (baritone) Si quis vult post me venire, If any man wants to follow me, abneget semetipsum let him deny himself, et tollat Crucem suam quotidie, et sequatur me. and take up his Cross daily, and follow me.LUKE 9:23

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Tertia Station III6 CHORUS Jesus sub Cruce primum prolapsus est. Jesus falls under the Cross for the first time.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …

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7 SOLO VOICES Quis credidit auditui nostro? Who has believed our report?Et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?Et ascendet sicut virgultum coram eo; For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, Et sicut radix de terra sitienti: and as a root out of a dry ground: Non est species ei, neque decor, et vidimus eum, he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, Et non erat aspectus, et desideravimus eum; there is no beauty that we should desire him.Despectum, et novissimum virorum, He is despised and rejected of men; Virum dolorum, et scientem infirmitatem, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: Et quasi absconditus vultus eius et despectus, and we hid as it were our faces from him; Unde nec reputavimus eum. he was despised, and we esteemed him not.ISAIAH 53:1–3

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Quarta Station IV8 CHORUS Mater obviam amantissimo Filio occurrit. The mother comes across the path of her most beloved Son.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …9 NARRATOR Senex Simeon prophetizans The aged Simeon prophesied,

dixit ad Mariam, matrem Jesu: and said unto Mary the mother of Jesus,

SIMEON (tenor) Ecce positus est hic in ruinam, Behold, he is set for the fall et in resurrectionem multorum in Israel, and rising again of many in Israel; et in signum cui contradicetur: and for a sign which shall be spoken against;et tuam ipsius animam pertransibit gladius and a sword shall pierce through your own soul alsout revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes. that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.LUKE 2:34–35

CHORUS Dolorosa et lacrimabilis es, Virgo Maria! You are sad and tearful, Virgin Mary!Quia in passione Christi animam tuam For in the passion of the Christdoloris gladius pertransivit. a sword of misery has pierced your soul.

Statio Quinta Station Vbl CHORUS Jesus a Simone Cyrenaeo Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene

in baiulatione Crucis adiutus est. in the carrying of his Cross.Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …

bm EVANGELIST (countertenor) Exeuntes autem invenerunt And as they came out, they found hominem Cyrenaeum, nomine Simonem: a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: hunc angariaverunt ut tolleret Crucem eius. him they compelled to bear his Cross.MATTHEW 27:32

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

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Statio Sexta Station VIbn CHORUS Veronica vultum Christi sudario detersit. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus with her handkerchief.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …bo EVANGELIST (countertenor) Auferet Dominus Deus The Lord God will wipe away

Lacrymam ab omni facie, tears from off all faces; Et opprobrium populi sui auferet and the rebuke of his people shall he take away De universa terra; from off all the earth: Quia Dominus locutus est. for the Lord has spoken it.Et dicet in die illa: And it shall be said in that day:

EVANGELIST (tenor) Iste Dominus, sustinuimus eum: This is the Lord; we have waited for him, Exultabimus, et laetabimur in salutari eius. we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.Quia requiescet manus Domini For in this mountain In monte isto. shall the hand of the Lord rest.ISAIAH 25:8–10

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Septima Station VIIbp CHORUS Jesus iterum sub Cruce prolapsus est. Jesus falls under the Cross a second time.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …bq SOLO VOICES Vere languores nostros ipse tulit, Surely he has borne our griefs,

Et dolores nostros ipse portavit; and carried our sorrows: Et nos putavimus eum quasi leprosum, yet we did esteem him stricken,Et percussum a Deo, et humiliatum. smitten of God, and afflicted.Ipse autem vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras, But he was wounded for our transgressions, Attritus est propter scelera nostra; he was bruised for our iniquities: Disciplina pacis nostrae super eum, the chastisement of our peace was upon him; Et livore eius sanati sumus. and with his stripes we are healed.ISAIAH 53:4–5

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Octava Station VIIIbr CHORUS Mulieres Jesum Christum The women

lamentabilem lamentabantur. lament for the lamentable Jesus Christ.Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …

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bs EVANGELIST (countertenor) Sequebatur autem illum And there followed him multa turba populi et mulierum, a great company of people, and of women, quae plangebant et lamentabantur eum. who also bewailed and lamented him.

NARRATOR Conversus autem ad illas Jesus dixit: But Jesus turning to them said,

JESUS (baritone) Filiae Jerusalem, nolite flere super me, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, sed super vos ipsas flete et super filios vestros. but weep for yourselves, and for your children.Quoniam ecce venient dies in quibus dicent: For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Beatae steriles, et ventres qui non Blessed are the barren, and the wombs genuerunt et ubera quae non lactaverunt. that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.Tunc incipient dicere montibus: Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Cadite super nos, et collibus: Operite nos. Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.Quia si in viridi ligno haec faciunt, in arido quid fiet? For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?LUKE 23:27–31

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Nona Station IXbt CHORUS Jesus Christus sub Cruce tertium cecidit. Jesus falls under the Cross a third time.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …bu Omnes nos quasi oves erravimus, All we like sheep have gone astray;

Unusquisque in viam suam declinavit; we have turned every one to his own way; Et posuit Dominus in eo and the Lord has laid on himIniquitatem omnium nostrum. the iniquity of us all. Oblatus est quia ipse voluit, He appeared as he chose to, Et non aperuit os suum; yet he opened not his mouth: Sicut ovis ad occisionem ducetur, he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, Et quasi agnus coram tondente se obmutescet, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, Et non aperit os suum. so he openeth not his mouth. ISAIAH 53:6–7

Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Decima Station Xcl CHORUS Jesus vestibus nudatus et felle potatum est. Jesus is stripped of his garments and drinks poison.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …cm Milites ergo cum crucifixissent eum, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified him,

acceperunt vestimenta eius (et fecerunt quatuor partes: took his garments (and made four parts, unicuique militi partem) et tunicam. every soldier a part); and also his coat.

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Erat autem tunica inconsutilis, Now the coat was without seam, desuper contexta per totum. woven from the top throughout.Dixerunt ergo ad invicem: They said therefore among themselves, Non scindamus eam, sed sortiamur de illa cuius sit. Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be. Ut Scriptura impleretur, dicens: That the Scripture might be fulfilled, which said, Partiti sunt vestimenta mea sibi: They parted my raiment among them, et in vestem meam miserunt sortem. and for my vesture they did cast lots. Et milites quidem haec fecerunt. These things therefore the soldiers did. JOHN 19:23–24

Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Undecima Station XIcn CHORUS Cruciatores Jesum Christum crucifigaverunt. The torturers crucify Jesus Christ.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …co Et perducunt illum Golgotha locum: And they bring him to the place Golgotha,

quod est interpretatum Calvariae locus. which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.Et dabant ei bibere myrrhatum vinum: And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: et non accepit. but he received it not.Erat autem hora tertia: et crucifixerunt eum. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. Et erat titulus causae eius inscriptus: And the superscription of his accusation was written over, REX IUDAEORUM. THE KING OF THE JEWS.Et cum eo crucifigunt duos latrones; And with him they crucify two thieves; unum a dextris, et alium a sinistris eius. the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.Et impleta est Scriptura, quae dicit: And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Et cum iniquis reputatus est. And he was numbered with the transgressors.MARK 15:22–23, 25–28

Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Duodecima Station XIIcp CHORUS Jesus Christus in Cruce mortuus est. Jesus Christ dies on the Cross.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …cq NARRATOR Stabat autem iuxta Crucem Jesu mater eius; Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus his mother;

et soror matris eius, Maria Cleophae et Maria Magdalene. also his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

EVANGELIST (countertenor) Cum vidisset ergo Jesus matrem When Jesus therefore saw his mother, et discipulum stantem, quem diligebat, dicit matri suae: and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said unto his mother:

JESUS (baritone) Mulier, ecce filius tuus. Woman, behold your son!

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EVANGELIST Deinde dicit discipulo: Then he said to the disciple:

JESUS Ecce mater tua. Behold your mother!

EVANGELIST Et ex illa hora accepit eam discipulus in sua. And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

NARRATOR Postea sciens Jesus After this, Jesus knowing quia omnia consummata sunt, that all things were now accomplished, ut consummaretur Scriptura, dixit: that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said:

JESUS Sitio. I thirst.

EVANGELIST Vas ergo erat positum aceto plenum. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: Illi autem spongiam plenam aceto, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, hyssopo circumponentes, obtulerunt ori eius. and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

NARRATOR Cum ergo accepisset Jesus acetum, dixit: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said:

JESUS Consummatum est. It is finished.

NARRATOR Et inclinato capite tradidit spiritum. And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.JOHN 19:25–30

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Statio Tertia Decima Station XIIIcr CHORUS Corpus Jesu Christi de Cruce depositum est. The body of Jesus Christ is taken down from the Cross.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …cs EVANGELIST (tenor) Judaei ergo (quoniam parasceve erat) The Jews therefore (because it was the preparation)

ut non remanerent in Cruce corpora sabbato that the bodies should not remain upon the Cross on the sabbath day (erat enim magnus dies ille sabbati), (for that sabbath day was a high day), rogaverunt Pilatum ut frangerentur eorum crura, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, ut tollerentur. and that they might be taken away.Venerunt ergo milites: Then came the soldiers, et primi quidem fregerunt crura, and broke the legs of the first, et alterius, qui crucifixus est cum eo. and of the other which was crucified with him.

EVANGELIST (countertenor) Ad Jesum autem cum venissent, But when they came to Jesus, ut viderunt eum iam mortuum, non fregerunt eius crura, and saw that he was dead already, they did not break his legs:sed unus militum lancea latus eius aperuit, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua. and forthwith came there out blood and water.JOHN 19:31–34

CHORUS Qui passus est pro nobis, You who died for us,Jesu Christe, miserere nobis. Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

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Statio Quarta Decima Station XIVct CHORUS Corpus Christi sepulchro conditum est. The body of the Christ is laid in a tomb.

Adoramus te, sanctissime Domine Jesu Christe … We adore you, most holy Lord Jesus Christ …cu NARRATOR Post haec autem rogavit Pilatum Joseph And after this Joseph of Arimathaea

ab Arimathaea (eo quod esset discipulus Jesu, (being a disciple of Jesus, occultus autem propter metum Judaeorum), but secretly for fear of the Jews) ut tolleret corpus Jesu. besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.Venit autem et Nicodemus, And there came also Nicodemus, qui venerat ad Jesum nocte primum, ferens mixturam which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture myrrhae et aloes, quasi libras centum. of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight.Acceperunt ergo corpus Jesu, et ligaverunt illud linteis Then they took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes cum aromatibus, sicut mos est Judaeis sepelire. with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.Erat autem in loco, ubi crucifixus est, hortus: Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; et in horto monumentum novum, and in the garden a new sepulchre, in quo nondum quisquam positus erat. wherein was never man yet laid.Ibi ergo propter parasceven Judaeorum, There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; quia iuxta erat monumentum, posuerunt Jesum. for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.JOHN 19:38–42

Statio Ultima Final Stationdl CHORUS Una autem sabbati, Maria Magdalene venit mane, The first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early,

cum adhuc tenebrae essent, ad monumentum; when it was yet dark, to the sepulchre, et vidit lapidem sublatum a monumento. and saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre.Cucurrit ergo, et venit ad Simonem Petrum, Then she ran, and came to Simon Peter, et ad alium discipulum, quem amabat Jesus, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, et dicit illis: Tulerunt Dominum de monumento, and said unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, et nescimus ubi posuerunt eum. and we know not where they have laid him.JOHN 20:1–2

Tertia die resurrexit Victor mortis. On the third day the Victor over death rises.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Jesu, to you be glory,Qui passus es pro servulis, you who died for your servants,Cum Patre et almo Spiritu with the Father and the nourishing Spirit,In sempiterna saecula. for an age of ages.

Christus vincit Christ conquersdm CHORUS Christus vincit, Christ conquers,

Christus regnat, Christ reigns,Christus imperat. Christ rules.

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PolyphonyPolyphony was formed by Stephen Layton in 1986 for aconcert in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Since thenthe choir has performed and recorded regularly to widecritical acclaim throughout the UK and abroad. ‘Theoutstanding feature was the superbly unified, balancedand expressive choral singing of Polyphony—a realwonder’, wrote The Independent. For more than a decadePolyphony has given annual sell-out perfor mances ofBach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah at St John’s,Smith Square. These have become notable events inLondon’s music calendar and have been broadcast by BBCRadio 3 and the EBU. Since its double BBC Proms debutin 1995, Polyphony’s per formance high lights includeSchnittke’s Symphony No 2 with the BBC Sym phonyOrchestra, and premiere performances in colla borationwith Arvo Pärt, Thomas Adès, Morten Lauridsen, JamesDillon, and with John Tavener as part of the Barbican’sGreat Performers series.

Polyphony’s extensive discography on Hyperionencompasses works by Tavener, Pärt, Grieg, Grainger,Britten, Poulenc, Walton, Rutter, MacMillan, Lauridsen,and Whitacre. Their disc of Britten (CDA67140) won aGramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or. Discs of worksby Morten Lauridsen (Lux aeterna, CDA67449) and EricWhitacre (Cloudburst, CDA67543) won Grammy Awardnomi nations. The choir’s recording of Bruckner’s Massin E minor and motets moved Gramophone to write: ‘Put

simply, we’re unlikely to hear choral singing as fine as thisfor a good few years to come.’

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soprano Katy Butler, Katy Cooper, Juliet Fraser*, Amy Haworth*, Amy Moore, Rachael Parsons, Katie Thomas, Amy Woodalto David Allsopp, Ruth Gibbins, Kim Porter*, Abi Smetham, Harriett Webb, Tom Williams*tenor Ben Alden, Tom Cockett, Jon English*, Thomas Hobbs, Graham Neal, Nicholas Todd*bass James Birchall, Julian Clarkson, Edward Grint*, Andrew McIntosh, Tom Oldham, Charles Pott, Andrew Rupp*, Richard Savage

* solo group on tracks 7 and 15

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Britten SinfoniaOne of Europe’s most celebrated and innovative groups,Britten Sinfonia features some of the finest chambermusicians and soloists. The orchestra is widely praised forthe quality of its performance and intelligent approachto concert programming, which is centred around thedevelopment of its players. Uniquely, it does not have aprincipal conductor or artistic director but chooses to workwith a range of the finest international guest artists, assuited to each particular project.

Britten Sinfonia performs in many of Europe’s finestconcert halls and festivals and is a regular at the BBCProms. It has residencies in Cambridge, Norwich,Birmingham and Krakow, with a concert series at theSouthbank Centre and Wigmore Hall in London. Theensemble enjoys a blossoming international profile, andbroadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Theorchestra has received awards including a GramophoneAward and in 2007 won the prestigious Royal Philhar -monic Society Ensemble Award in recognition for itswork. For Hyperion the orchestra has recorded discsof Lauridsen with Polyphony, and Hartmann’s Concertofunebre with violinist Alina Ibragimova.

violin 1 Thomas Gould, Magnus Johnston, Manon Derome Beatrix Lovejoy, Gillon Cameron, Katherine ShaveElizabeth Wexler

violin 2 Miranda Dale, Nicola Goldscheider, Marcus BroomeJudith Kelly, Eluned Pritchard

viola Clare Finnimore, Catherine Musker, Rachel ByrtCatherine Bradshaw

cello Caroline Dearnley, Ben Chappell, Julia Vohralikdouble bass Stephen Williams, Roger Linleyflute / alto flute Emer McDonoughoboe / cor anglais Janey Millarclarinet / bass clarinet / ocarina Joy Farrallbassoon / contra bassoon / ocarina Andrew WatsonFrench horn / ocarina Richard Dilley, Tom Rumsby Kira Doherty

Simon Morgantrombone / ocarina Simon Gunton, Michael Lloydbass trombone / ocarina Andrew Waddicortuba / ocarina Kevin Morgantimpani / percussion Adrian Bendingpercussion Owen Gunnell, Sam Staunton, Adam Dennis

Chris Woodhamorgan Stephen Farr

Iestyn DaviesIestyn Davies studied Archaeology and Anthropology atCambridge, where he was a choral scholar at St John’sCollege, before pursuing his vocal studies at the RoyalAcademy of Music. Since his debut as Ottone in L’incoro -nazione di Poppea for Zürich Opera operatic roles haveincluded Handel’s Jephtha and Monteverdi’s Il ritornod’Ulisse in patria for Welsh National Opera; Purcell’s KingArthur and Britten’s Death in Venice for English NationalOpera and Vivaldi’s Griselda in Paris. Iestyn Davies haswon praise for the power, fullness and sheer personality ofhis voice.

Allan ClaytonAllan Clayton was a choral scholar at St John’s College,Cambridge, before studying at the Royal Academy of Music,where he was awarded an inaugural Sir Elton John Scholar -ship and a John Lewis Award. He was also awarded aMaidment Scholarship, administered by the MusiciansBenevolent Fund, a Star Award from the Countess ofMunster Musical Trust, and ‘The Queen’s Commendationfor Excellence 2007’. Allan is a member of the BBC NewGeneration Artists scheme, and was awarded a 2008 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the John Christie Awardfollowing his debut at the 2008 Glyndebourne Festival.

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Andrew Foster-WilliamsAcclaimed throughout the press for his authoritative,sonorous and regal voice, Andrew Foster-Williamscombines intelligent music-making with an instinctivedramatic sense. He brings vocal agility and richness oftone to concert hall and opera house alike. Andrew studiedat the Royal Academy of Music where he has since beenmade an Associate. He established important relationshipsearly in his career with Opera North, Glyndebourne andthe Göttingen Handel Festival. He has also appeared inconcert with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington,William Christie, Paul McCreesh and Christopher Hogwood.

Roger AllamRoger Allam is an Associate Artist of the Royal ShakespeareCompany and has worked extensively in the West Endand the National Theatre. He has also worked widely infilm, television and radio, and occasionally with theHallé, Les Arts Florissants, the Bournemouth Symphony,The Orchestra Revolutionnaire et Romantique, theIndianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Medici Quartet.He has won two Olivier awards and created the role ofJavert in Les Misérables.

Stephen LaytonStephen Layton has established himself in recent years asone of Britain’s most admired conductors. His interpre -tations of Bach and Handel have been heard from theSydney Opera House to the Concertgebouw, and withorchestras ranging from the Academy of Ancient Musicand the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to theLondon Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As Director of Music at the Temple Church, his boldrealization of Tavener’s epic all-night vigil The Veil of theTemple met with acclaim at its premiere performances inLondon and at New York’s Lincoln Center. Other importantcomposer collaborations, with Polyphony, have includedpremiere performances and recordings of music by ArvoPärt, James MacMillan, Thomas Adès, Morten Lauridsenand Eric Whitacre.

A former Chief Conductor of the Netherlands ChamberChoir, Layton now holds positions as Chief GuestConductor of the Danish Radio Choir, Director of Poly -phony, Artistic Director of the Holst Singers and Director ofMusic at Trinity College, Cambridge. He works widely asa guest conductor of numerous orchestras and at EnglishNational Opera, where he conducted Deborah Warner’s

staging of Bach’s St John Passion. Layton has a closerelationship with the Britten Sinfonia with whom herecords a wide range of repertoire.

Layton’s eclectic and award-winning discographyincludes music by Adès, Britten, Bruckner, Cornelius,Grainger, Gretchaninov, Handel, Holst, MacMillan, Pärt,Poulenc, Rutter, Schnittke, Tavener and Walton.

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Recorded in West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, on 29 and 30 March 2008Recording Engineer DAVE HINITT

Recording Producer ADRIAN PEACOCKBooklet Editor TIM PARRY

Executive Producer SIMON PERRYP & C Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MMIX

Front illustration: Station 12, ‘Dying’, from The Golgotha of Jasna Góra at the Beginning of the Third Millennium (Cze

‘stochowa)

by Jerzy Duda-Gracz (1941–2004)by kind permission of Jasna Góra Monastery, Cze

‘stochowa, Poland.

Other illustrations in this booklet are from the same source, printed by kind permission of Jasna Góra Monastery, Cze

‘stochowa, Poland:

page 2 – Station 17 ‘Galilea’ page 9 – Station 14 ‘The tomb’

page 7 – Station 10 ‘Jesus is stripped of his clothes’page 24 – Station 18 ‘Ascension’

Hyperion Records would like to thank the Polish Cultural Institute for their co-operation in making this recording.

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Also available on Hyperion

PAWEL/ L/ UKASZEWSKI (b 1968)Beatus vir; Two Lenten Motets; Ave Maria; O Antiphons;Psalmus 102 ‘Benedic, anima mea, Domino’;Nunc dimittisTHE CHOIR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE / STEPHEN LAYTON conductorCDA67639‘This is a lovely disc of enchanting choral music … Hereis a composer who really is a true master of the art ofa cappella writing … In saying that it has been difficultto draw this CD out of my player, so frequently have Ireturned to it, I can offer no higher praise’ (Gramophone)‘Layton’s affinity with this radiant, accessible music is clearas he guides the Trinity College Choir, which sings withpassion and purity throughout the programme’ (BBCMusic Magazine) ‘With performances as sonorous andacutely placed as these, they come across with a winningfervour. Layton’s advocacy is certainly vindicated’(The Daily Telegraph)

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CERTAINS peuvent comprendre mieux que d’autrescette idée assez répandue selon laquelle « la musiqueet les maths vont de pair ». Pour tout musicien de

talent qui se souvient du traumatisme des équations ausecond degré de son adolescence, cette idée se présen -terait peut-être sous un jour meilleur si on la formulaitainsi : « la musique et l’arithmétique vont de pair ». Caril ne fait aucun doute que la musique, à un niveaufondamental, traite de chiffres—compter les temps d’unemesure, compter les notes de la gamme de un à huit.

Les relations numériques et leurs possibilités struc -turelles élargies fascinent les compositeurs depuis dessiècles. La prédilection symbolique de Bach pour le chiffretrois fait la joie des musicologues. On a démontré que lemotet isorythmique de Dufay Nuper rosarum flores, écritpour la dédicace de la cathédrale de Florence en 1436,repose sur les relations proportionnelles du plan dubâtiment. Depuis le sérialisme, la modernité en musiqueunit souvent la hauteur du son, le rythme et les chiffres.

Il est donc intéressant que les chiffres sept et quatorze,qui sont indissociables de l’histoire de la Passion, n’aientpas attiré davantage de compositeurs en vertu despossibilités structurelles qu’ils offrent pour modeler desœuvres d’envergure. Haydn a écrit une vaste méditationen sept mouvements, à la fois sous forme de quatuor àcordes et de cantate, sur les Sept Dernières Paroles (enréalité sept courtes phrases) prononcées par le Christ surla croix. James MacMillan a suivi son exemple en 1993avec une partition saisissante pour chœur et orchestre àcordes (enregistrée par Polyphony pour Hyperion,CDA67460).

Les œuvres importantes qui reposent sur les quatorzestations du Chemin de croix peuvent aussi se compter surles doigts de la main : Via Crucis de Liszt—comme chezHaydn, cette œuvre du temps de la Passion existe sous

plusieurs formes, la principale étant écrite pour chœur etorgue ; Le Chemin de la croix, op. 29, de Marcel Dupré,qui est une séquence liturgique pour orgue ; le Concertopour orgue de William Mathias, structuré sur les quatorzestations ; et une œuvre collective pour l’ensemble vocalaustralien The Song Company à laquelle ont contribuéquatorze compositeurs, en 2004.

Faut-il imputer à la connotation catholique romainemanifeste le nombre limité de compositeurs attirés par lespossibilités structurelles des quatorze stations du Cheminde croix ? Pourtant, le « story-board » du film sordidementcontroversé de Mel Gibson The Passion of the Christ (« LaPassion du Christ ») suit de près les quatorze stations.Préférant de loin une narration plus large de la Passion etle texte du Stabat mater, les protestants, les luthériens etdes compositeurs peu ou non croyants ont-ils voulu resterà l’écart de cette forme très « romaine » de vénération ?

Il n’y a aucune raison de douter des liens très ancrésde Pawel/ L/ ukaszewski avec le courant spécifique ducatholicisme romain de la Pologne. Il est né et a été élevédans la ville de Cze

‘stochowa, dans le sud de la Pologne, qui

est pour beaucoup de gens la capitale spirituelle du pays etle lieu qui abrite l’icône de la Vierge noire au monastère deJasna Góra. L/ ukaszewski reconnaît volontiers l’influencequ’il a subi pour avoir été élevé au milieu des saintesreliques de la Pologne et d’une foule constante de pèlerins.C’est ce qui a formé sa personnalité musicale etspirituelle : et bien qu’il ait étudié le violoncelle, en mêmetemps que la composition, à l’Université de musiqueFrédéric Chopin de Varsovie, la majeure partie de saproduction comprend des œuvres chorales sacrées (voirHyperion CDA67639) et il est directeur musical du ChœurMusica Sacra à la cathédrale de Varsovie.

L’histoire du monastère de Jasna Góra et de l’icône dela Vierge noire est très ancienne. L’origine et les lieux où se

L/ UKASZEWSKI Via Crucis

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trouvait ce tableau noirci à la suie de la Vierge et del’enfant Jésus avant son transfert à Cze

‘stochowa, l’année

de la fondation du monastère, en 1382, restent un sujetde légende et de conjecture. L’évangéliste saint Luc auraitpeint cette icône sur un dessus de table en cyprèsappartenant à la Saint Famille. Elle a apparemment étéenvoyée de Jérusalem à Constantinople en 326 aprèsJésus-Christ, où ses pouvoirs miraculeux ont repoussé lesenvahisseurs sarrasins. De même, une fois à Cze

‘stochowa,

la présence de la Vierge noire a aidé à chasser une grandearmée d’envahisseurs suédois, ce qui a amené le roiKazimierz l’année suivante, en 1656, à proclamer la Viergenoire reine et protectrice de la Pologne.

Le monastère comme l’icône sont étroitement liés àdes événements plus récents qui présentent davantaged’intérêt et d’écho pour quelqu’un comme L/ ukaszewski,qui y a grandi dans les années 1970 et 1980. Au cours de laSeconde Guerre mondiale, sous l’occupation allemande,les fidèles y ont fait des pèlerinages en signe de défi. JasnaGóra contient les cendres du père Jerzy Popiel/uszko,aumônier du mouvement Solidarnos�c� assassiné par lapolice secrète en 1984. Lech Wal/e

‘sa a donné sa médaille

de Prix Nobel de la paix au monastère en guise d’offrandevotive en 1982, et le pape Jean-Paul II, lorsqu’il est devenupape en 1979, y a célébré la messe devant un million depersonnes sur les marches du monastère.

Tout ceci est important pour apprécier l’œuvre présen -tée dans cet enregistrement, car il n’est pas nécessaire deconsidérer simplement en termes religieux littéraux lesentiment de victoire extatique, rédemptrice, qui jaillit à lafin (Christus vincit dm ). Le chemin dont témoigne la ViaCrucis—le conflit, les souffrances, l’humiliation, le défi,la résurrection—peut aussi être appréhendé comme uneréflexion sur la victoire du catholicisme polonais sur lecommunisme. C’est certainement le message engagé des

tableaux de Jerzy Duda-Gracz pour les stations du Cheminde croix à Jasna Góra, qui datent de la même époque quel’œuvre de L/ ukaszewski, mais sans relation avec cettedernière. Une image frappante comme le JasnorgórskaGolgota, présentée sur la couverture de cette plaquette,politise et modernise l’iconographie de la crucifixion. Lepape polonais Karol Wojtyl/a figure dans cette dépositionavec d’autres ecclésiastiques—appartenant probablementau passé et au présent de Jasna Góra—avec un détenu decamp de concentration et l’icône de la Vierge noire elle-même.

Le Chemin de croix de L/ ukaszewski comporte unestation de plus que celui de Liszt ou de Dupré, ce quitraduit l’adoption plus récente par l’Église catholiqued’une quinzième et dernière station pour le tombeau videet la résurrection—ajout qui amène à la « clôture »rédemptrice de l’histoire pascale au dimanche de Pâques.L/ ukaszewski utilise les quinze stations comme un cadrestructurel rigoureux et, comme il le dit lui-même, la duréede cinquante-cinq minutes de l’œuvre évolue « à lamanière d’un méga rondo ».

La répétition, d’une station à la suivante, est essentielleà la puissance rituelle et culminatoire de l’œuvre. Chaquestation, à l’exception de la dernière, présente uneséquence très calculée de motifs récurrents et de refrains.Ils se définissent essentiellement par une séparation enmatière de texture—solo /choral, voix aiguës / voix graves,a cappella / instrumental—mais aussi par des relationsde tempo et des contrastes d’atmosphère.

Chaque station est annoncée par une écrituresolennelle à trois voix pour voix d’hommes : quartesparallèles austères (une juste, une augmentée) produisantun effet archaïque voulu—même agressif, comme si leschanteurs étaient les centurions de Pilate à la démarcheorgueilleuse. Cette déclaration sévère se fond dans un

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Adoramus te implorant confié aux sopranos et aux altos,chaque fois accompagnés d’un chœur de trombones àquatre voix en quintes parallèles dans le grave.

Les stations successives comportent des passagesnarratifs confiés aux trois voix solistes et au récitant, quiparle en latin. L/ ukaszewski identifie par des couleursdonnées chaque partie soliste. La partie de l’évangéliste,écrite pour une voix de contreténor particulièrementaiguë, est toujours doublée par une clarinette basse ; demême la partie de ténor, celle de Pilate, par le contre -basson à l’octave ou deux octaves plus bas, et celle de labasse / le Christ se différencie toujours sur le plan de latexture par une doublure à la flûte alto. Avec un symbo -lisme simple mais efficace, au moment de la douzièmestation où le Christ incline la tête (« Consummatumest »—«Tout est accompli »), la flûte alto continue àjouer seule. Sur le plan musical, l’âme a quitté le corps.

La composante récurrente finale de chaque station estune complainte pour voix aiguës et cordes graves, Quipassus est pro nobis—équivalent plus profond mais toutaussi austère du refrain initial pour voix d’hommes. Vientensuite une transition entre chaque station pour quatuorde bois et quintes tenues bourdonnantes aux cors et auxcordes graves. Ce passage récurrent, basé sur un airtraditionnel polonais, avec des effets de hoquet dans lestyle médiéval dans l’écriture pour instruments à vent,est comparable aux promenades des Tableaux d’uneexposition de Moussorgski. C’est un espace neutre pourl’auditeur, dépourvu de texte et de voix, où L/ ukaszewskinous mène à la station suivante. Pour le compositeur, ces« passages informes entre les stations [jouent] le rôled’une remise à zéro ». Ce qui change d’une reprise àl’autre des matériels dans la Via Crucis, c’est la manièredont L/ ukaszewski ralentit peu à peu le tempo de chaqueréapparition successive. La première fois qu’elle apparaît,on entend une danse alerte et bondissante, marquée

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Allegro, �=120. À sa dernière apparition, à la fin dela treizième station, on entend un chant lugubremélancolique, �=40–46.

L/ ukaszewski ajuste le tempo et la dynamique avec undernier élément essentiel de chaque station. Dans les deuxou trois premières, ce n’est pas apparent. Dès laquatrième, de solides accords tutti commencent à direquelque chose à l’auditeur, car leur nombre correspond àcelui de la station. Ils précèdent chaque annonce de lastation par une voix d’homme, toujours plus dominatrice.On dirait des coups de marteaux et L/ ukaszewski fait passerle tempo de Grave, �=40/50 au début à Moderato,�=90 à la station 12. Pour les deux dernières stations, onrevient toutefois au tempo Grave et les itérations de cetaccord, dans la mort du Christ, ont perdu leur forteinsistance.

Aux stations 3, 7 et 9, sur le plan musical, L/ ukaszewskinous guide encore davantage à travers l’histoire. Ce sontles trois stations où tombe Jésus, et les accords en formede coups de marteau sont suivis uniquement par desquintes diminuées rugissantes et hargneuses descuivres—une à la troisième station, deux à la septième ettrois à la neuvième. Ce sont des indices musicaux pourétablir une différence ultérieurement à chaque station, carce sont les seuls où le texte de la narration provient deIsaïe 53. Ces passages sont écrits uniquement pour voix acappella et couvrent toute la tessiture de l’écriture choraleavec des invocations solistes au milieu d’un clapotis declusters soutenus à huit voix.

Un clapotis sonore de clusters analogue survient dansla station la plus longue, la douzième, lorsque les bois etles cuivres remplacent leurs instruments par des ocarinas.Angoissants et désincarnés, et sensiblement différents deschorals d’ocarina bien accordés dans le deuxièmemouvement du Concerto pour violon de Ligeti,L/ ukaszewski prépare avec une éloquence lancinante la

mort du Christ.La quatorzième station omet le chœur et les solistes au

profit du passage parlé le plus long du récitant. Le solennelsolo de cor anglais qui se faufile entre ces paroles est uneberceuse de Noël polonaise, Jezus malusienki—citationqui symbolise, selon L/ ukaszewski, « la naissance à une vienouvelle après la mort du corps ».

Dans sa Passion selon saint Jean, Arvo Pärt emmènel’auditeur dans un voyage inébranlable, où les tonalitéset les textures sont parfaitement contrôlées. Après 65minutes d’une rareté calculée autour de la mineur, l’effetdu chœur final, qui entre avec violence en ré majeur,peut être incroyablement libérateur. L/ ukaszewski fait unpeu la même chose avec sa quinzième station pour laRésurrection, mais il est beaucoup plus expansif avec sonmatériel à cet endroit et aussi avec tout ce qui a précédé.

Avec un éclat presque cinématographique, le chœurmarche tout d’abord avec prudence, puis avec de plus enplus d’assurance vers la lumière de la résurrection duChrist. Les cors, enfin libérés de leurs bourdons presqueconstants de quintes appariées, sont en tête de chaquenouvel accord avec un élan harmonique brucknérien.Ensuite, L/ ukaszewski nous apporte la délivrancecataclysmique d’ut majeur, l’accord de la résurrectiondans la liturgie polonaise le dimanche de Pâques. Elle estmenée par l’orgue—tutta la forza—jusqu’à ce pointsilencieux dans la tension et la tristesse de la Passion. Àpartir de là, le chœur et l’orgue montrent le cheminjusqu’à une reprise du début—cette fois avec le Christ envictoire et en majesté, et sur un dernier accord extatiquequi éclate avec l’ambiguïté du majeur et du mineur.

MEURIG BOWEN © 2009Traduction MARIE-STELLA PÂRIS

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NICHT JEDER stimmt der Verallgemeinerung, dass„Musik und Mathe zueinander gehören“ sofort zu.Für talentierte Musiker, die traumatische Erinner -

ungen an quadratische Gleichungen haben, sollte esvielleicht eher heißen, dass „Musik und Arithmetikzueinander gehören“. Denn es kann gar keinen Zweifeldaran geben, dass Musik auf einem ganz fundamentalenNiveau zahlenbestimmt ist—vom Zählen der einzelnenSchläge in einem Takt bis zum Zählen der acht Noteneiner Tonleiter.

Zahlenverhältnisse und größere strukturelle Möglich -keiten haben die Komponisten durch die Jahrhundertehinweg fasziniert. Die Musikwissenschaft hat sich inAnalysen von Bachs Vorliebe für die Zahl 3 und derenSymbolik geradezu ausgetobt. Es ist gezeigt worden, dassDufays isorhythmische Motette Nuper rosarum flores, die1436 anlässlich der Einweihung des Doms von Florenzentstand, auf den Proportionsverhältnissen des Grund -risses des Gebäudes beruht. Auch in der Moderne, etwabeim Serialismus und bei anderen Formen, sind immerwieder Tonhöhe, Rhythmus und bestimmte Zahlenmustermiteinander verknüpft worden.

Daher ist es interessant, dass die Zahlen 7 und 14, dieso eng mit der Passionsgeschichte zusammenhängen,nicht mehr Komponisten inspiriert haben; es könntendoch sicherlich alle möglichen strukturellen Gebilde,besonders größere, aus diesen Zahlen abgeleitet werden.Haydn komponierte eine längere, siebensätzige Medi -tation, sowohl als Streichquartett wie auch als Kantate,über die Sieben Letzten Worte (tatsächlich sieben kurzeSätze), die Christus am Kreuz sprach. James MacMillanfolgte 1993 diesem Beispiel mit seinem bemerkenswertenWerk für Chor und Streichorchester (eingespielt vonPolyphony für Hyperion, CDA67460).

Wichtige Werke, die sich auf die 14 Kreuzwegstationen

beziehen, können ebenfalls an einer Hand abgezähltwerden. Da ist einmal Liszts Via Crucis—ebenso wieHaydns Werk existiert dieses Passionswerk in ver -schiedenen Formen, die berühmteste ist für Chor undOrgel gesetzt. Dann gibt es Marcel Duprés Le chemin de lacroix, op. 29, eine liturgische Sequenz für Orgel. WilliamMathias’ Orgelkonzert ist auf den 14 Stationen aufgebautund 14 Komponisten lieferten 2004 für ein Werk für dasaustralische Vokalensemble The Song Company jeweilseinzelne Beiträge.

Sind es die offenkundigen römisch-katholischenVerbindungen, die die Komponisten so gebremst haben,das strukturelle Potenzial der 14 Kreuzwegstationenwahrzunehmen? Schließlich folgt der „Ablaufplan“ vonMel Gibsons blutigem und kontroversem Film ThePassion of the Christ ziemlich genau den 14 Stationen.Die protestantischen, lutherischen und kaum- oder nicht-gläubigen Komponisten haben stets allgemeinerePassionstexte und den Stabat-Mater-Text vorgezogen—liegt das daran, dass sie der katholischen Verehrungfernbleiben wollten?

Pawel/ L/ ukaszewskis Verbindungen zum polnischenKatholizismus können nicht verleugnet werden. Erstammt aus der südpolnischen Stadt Cze

‘stochowa, die für

viele die geistliche Landeshauptstadt ist; gleichzeitig ist siedie Heimstatt des Bildes der Schwarzen Madonna, das sichim Jasna Góra Kloster befindet. L/ ukaszewski bestätigtsofort, dass es ein wichtiger Einfluss für ihn war, inder Nähe der heiligsten Reliquie Polens und inmitteneines steten Pilgerstroms aufzuwachsen. Es hat seinmusikalisches und spirituelles Dasein geprägt undobwohl er and der Fryderyk-Chopin-Musikhochschule inWarschau Cello und Komposition studiert hat, bestehtder Großteil seines Oeuvres bisher aus geistlichenChorwerken (siehe Hyperion CDA67639). Zudem ist er

L/ UKASZEWSKI Via Crucis

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Musikdirektor des Musica Sacra Chors an der WarschauerKathedrale.

Das Jasna Góra Kloster und das Bild der SchwarzenMadonna gehen weit in die Geschichte zurück. Es könnennur Mutmaßungen darüber angestellt werden, was dieEntstehungsgeschichte des geschwärzten Bildes derHeiligen Jungfrau und des Jesuskindes ist und wo esaufbewahrt wurde, bevor es 1382, dem Jahr der Gründungdes Klosters, nach Cze

‘stochowa überführt wurde. Es

heißt, dass der Evangelist Lukas das Bild an einemZypressentisch, der der Heiligen Familie gehörte, gemalthabe. Dann wurde es angeblich 326 n. Chr. von Jerusalemnach Konstantinopel befördert, wo seine wundersamenKräfte die eindringenden Sarazenen abschreckte. Auf ähn -liche Art und Weise war die Anwesenheit der SchwarzenMadonna später in Cze

‘stochowa dabei förderlich, eine

große Armee von schwedischen Eindringlingen zuvertreiben. Daraufhin erklärte König Kasimir die SchwarzeMadonna im folgenden Jahr, 1656, zur Königin undBeschützerin Polens.

Sowohl das Kloster als auch das Bild hängen auch mitneuerlichen Geschehen zusammen, die für jemanden wieL/ ukaszewski, der dort in den 1970er und 80er Jahrenaufwuchs, von direkter Bedeutung sind. Während derdeutschen Besatzung im Zweiten Weltkrieg pilgerten dieGläubigen als Zeichen des Widerstands zum Jasna GóraKloster. In dem Kloster wird die Asche des Priesters JerzyPopiel/uszko aufbewahrt, der als Seelsorger für dieWarschauer Stahlarbeiter tätig war und für die Gewerk -schaft Solidarnos�c� eintrat und 1984 vom polnischenStaatssicherheitsdienst ermordet wurde. Lech Wal/e

‘sa gab

1982 seine Friedensnobelpreismedaille als Weihgabe andas Kloster weiter und Johannes Paul II. feierte auf denStufen des Klosters eine Messe für eine Million Menschen,als er 1979 Papst wurde.

All dies ist in Bezug auf das Werk auf der vorliegendenCD von Bedeutung, da die ekstatische, erlöste Sieges -stimmung am Ende des Werks (Christus vincit dm ) nichtnur in buchstäblicher, religiöser Weise verstanden werdensollte. Die Reise, die die Via Crucis bedeutet—derKonflikt, das Leiden, die Demütigung, der Trotz, dieAuferstehung—kann auch als Widerspiegelung des Siegesdes polnischen Katholizismus über den Kommunismusverstanden werden. Das wird jedenfalls in Jerzy Duda-Graczs Gemälden für die Kreuzwegstationen in Jasna Góraausgedrückt, die zwar unabhängig von aber zur selben Zeitwie L/ ukaszewskis Werk entstanden. Ein eindringlichesBild wie Jasnorgórska Golgata, das auf dem Deckblattdes vorliegenden Beihefts abgedruckt ist, politisiertund aktualisiert die Ikonographie der Kreuzigung. Derpolnische Papst Karol Wojtyl/a ist in dieser Sterbensszenezusammen mit weiteren Geistlichen—wahrscheinlichaus der Geschichte und Gegenwart von Jasna Góra—,einem Konzentrationslagerhäftling und dem Bildnis derSchwarzen Madonna abgebildet.

L/ ukaszewskis Kreuzweg ist um eine Station länger alsdie jeweiligen Werke von Liszt oder Dupré. Das erklärtsich durch die 15. Station des leeren Grabs und derAuferstehung, die die katholische Kirche erst in neuererZeit mit einbezogen hat—eine Hinzufügung, die derOstergeschichte am Ostersonntag einen erlösendenAbschluss verleiht. L/ ukaszewski verwendet die 15Stationen als relativ rigides Gerüst, so dass das Werk, daseine Länge von 55 Minuten hat, sich, wie er sagt, „wie einMega-Rondo“ entwickelt.

Wiederholungen—von einer Station zur nächsten—sind für das Werk, das einen starken anwachsenden undrituellen Charakter hat, zentral. Bei jeder Station, außerder letzten, erklingt eine genau berechnete Sequenz vonwiederkehrenden Motiven und Refrains. Diese sind haupt -

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sächlich durch Texturabgrenzungen bestimmt—Solo /Chor, hohe / tiefe Stimmen, A-cappella / instru mental—aber auch durch Tempo-Beziehungen und kontrastier -ende Stimmungen.

Jede Station wird mit einer feierlichen, dreistimmigenPassage für Männerstimmen angekündigt: herbe Quart -parallelen (wobei jeweils eine rein und eine übermäßigist), die einen bewusst altertümlichen, um nicht zu sagen:aggressiven (als ob die Sänger Pilatus’ umherstolzierendeZenturionen wären), Effekt erzielen. Dieser strengeAnfang schmilzt dann in ein flehendes Adoramus tefür Sopran- und Altstimmen, die stets von einemvierstimmigen Posaunenchor in tiefen Quintparallelenbegleitet werden.

In den aufeinander folgenden Stationen erklingenjeweils Passagen für drei Solostimmen mit Erzähler, derauf Latein spricht. L/ ukaszewski ordnet jeder Solo -stimme eine bestimmte Farbe zu. So wird der Part desEvangelisten, der für einen besonders hohen Countertenor

angelegt ist, immer von einer Bassklarinette verdoppelt.Der Tenor, Pilatus, wird mit einem Kontrafagott kom -biniert, das entweder eine oder auch zwei Oktaven tieferliegt. Der Bass, Christus, wird stets von einer Altflöteverdoppelt. Wenn Christus bei der 12. Station den Kopfnieder senkt („Consummatum est“—„Es ist vollbracht“),spielt die Altflöte allein weiter—ein einfaches, aberwirkungsvolles Stilmittel. Die Seele hat den Körpermusikalisch verlassen.

Die letzte wiederkehrende Komponente bei jederStation ist ein Lamento für hohe Stimmen und tiefeStreicher, Qui passus est pro nobis—ein nachden -klicheres, aber ebenso strenges Gegenstück zu demEröffnungsrefrain für Männerstimmen. Darauf folgt eineÜberleitung von einer Station zur nächsten, die jeweilsfür das Holzbläserquartett, Hörner, die Haltetöne imQuintabstand spielen, und tiefe Streicher gesetzt sind.Diese wiederkehrende Passage, die auf einer polnischenVolksmelodie basiert und mittelalterliche, Hoketus-ähnliche Effekte in den Blasinstrumenten aufweist, istvergleichbar mit den Promenade-Teilen in den Bilderneiner Ausstellung von Mussorgsky. Es handelt sichhier um einen neutralen Bereich, frei von Texten undStimmen, von dem aus L/ ukaszewski uns zur nächstenStation führt. Diese „amorphen Passagen zwischen denStationen“, schreibt der Komponist, sorgen dafür, dass„die Grundeinstellung wieder eingenommen“ wird. Wassich hier von anderen wiederholten Passagen der ViaCrucis unterscheidet, ist, dass L/ ukaszewski das Tempoallmählich ruhiger werden lässt. Wenn diese Passage daserste Mal erklingt, hören wir einen flinken, springendenTanz, der mit Allegro und �=120 markiert ist. Wenn siedas letzte Mal am Ende der 13. Station erklingt, so hörenwir ein trauervolles Klagelied mit �=40–46.

L/ ukaszewski richtet das Tempo und die Dynamik mitHilfe eines letzten, entscheidenden Elements am Ende

STEPHEN LAYTON und PAWEL/ L/ UKASZEWSKI

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jeder Station ein. In den ersten zwei oder drei Stationenfällt das noch nicht weiter auf. Bei der vierten jedochmachen sich beharrliche Tutti-Akkorde bemerkbar, daihre Anzahl der Nummer der jeweiligen Station ent -sprechen. Sie erklingen vor den Stationseinleitungen desMännerchors und werden immer dominanter. Sie sindblockartige Hammerschläge und L/ ukaszewski lässt dasTempo vom anfänglichen Grave, �=40/50, zu Moderato,�=90, bei der 12. Station hin anziehen. Bei den letztenbeiden Stationen geht er jedoch zum Grave-Tempo zurückund bei Christi Tod ist das laute Insistieren der Akkordenicht mehr vernehmbar.

Bei den Stationen 3, 7 und 9 illustriert L/ ukaszewskidie Geschichte besonders. Es sind dies die drei Stationen,bei denen Jesus fällt—auf die Hammer-Akkorde folgenbissige, schnappende, von den Blechbläsern dominierteverminderte Quinten: eine bei der 3., zwei bei der 7. unddrei bei der 9. Station. Es sind dies musikalische Schilder,die die darauffolgenden Unterschiede anzeigen, da nurhier der erzählte Text aus dem Jesaja 53 stammt. DiesePassagen sind ausschließlich für A-cappella-Singstimmenkomponiert, in denen die Spannweite des Chorsatzesausgedehnt wird und wo Solo-Anrufungen innerhalb vonausgehaltenen achtstimmigen Clustern erklingen.

Ein ähnlicher, clusterartiger Klang kommt in derlängsten Station, Nr. 12, zum Ausdruck, wo Holz- undBlechbläser von Okarinen abgelöst werden. Diese klingenunheimlich und körperlos und unterscheiden sichdeutlich von den bodenständigeren Okarina-Chorälen imzweiten Satz von Ligetis Violinkonzert. L/ ukaszewski setztsie jedoch ein, um mit ihnen auf kunstvolle Art und Weiseauf Christi Tod vorzubereiten.

In der 14. Station erklingen weder Chor noch Solisten,sondern stattdessen eine der längsten Passagen dessprechenden Erzählers. Das Englischhornsolo, das indiese Worte eingeflochten ist, ist ein polnischesWeihnachtswiegelied, Jezus malusienki—ein Zitat, daslaut L/ ukaszewski „die Geburt zu einem neuen Leben nachdem Tod des Körpers“ symbolisiert.

Arvo Pärt schickt in seiner Vertonung der Johannes -passion den Hörer auf eine tonale und texturbetonteReise, die stark kontrolliert ist. Nach 65 Minutenberechneter Spärlichkeit um a-Moll herum kann derEffekt seines Schlusschores, der in D-Dur auflodert, un -geheuer befreiend wirken. L/ ukaszewski macht bei seiner15. Station etwas Ähnliches, obwohl sein Material sowohlvorher als auch an diesem Punkt sehr viel ausgedehnterist.

Mit fast filmischer Lebhaftigkeit schreitet der Chorzunächst behutsam vorwärts, und dann immerbestimmter dem Licht der Auferstehung Christi entgegen.Die Hörner sind nun endlich von ihren fast permanentengehaltenen Quinten erlöst und leiten zu jedem neuenAkkord mit einem Bruckner-artigen harmonischenAntrieb hin. Und dann lässt L/ ukaszewski die umwälzendeBefreiung nach C-Dur stattfinden, den Auferstehungs -akkord in der polnischen Liturgie. Dies wird von der Orgeltutta la forza angeführt, die bis zu diesem Punkt in derSpannung und Trauer der Passionsgeschichte geschwiegenhat. Chor und Orgel leiten nun in eine Reprise des Anfangshinein—diesmal erscheint Christus majestätisch undsiegreich und es erklingt ein letzter ekstatischer Akkord,der die Zweideutigkeit von Dur und Moll kraftvoll darstellt.

MEURIG BOWEN © 2009Übersetzung VIOLA SCHEFFEL

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