«Remember! - Leningrad Oratorio»

On January 15, 2024, the Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich will host the premiere of a new work by Saint Petersburg composer Viktor Pleshak , «Remember! — Leningrad Oratorio for Reciter, Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Mixed Choir and Orchestra,» created specifically for the Andreevsky Orchestra.

The premiere of the first work took place in the hall of the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg on January 24, 2019. The oratorio «Leningrad Women» is dedicated to the composer's mother, Alexandra Fedorovna Pleshak (Moskvitina), and to all the women of besieged Leningrad. This work contains many biographical facts from the life of A.F. Pleshak, who spent all 900 days of the blockade in Leningrad. The oratorio «Leningrad Women» was a great success, and songs from this work are performed by Russian pop stars and famous choirs.

Viktor Pleshak’s new work «Remember!» is more ambitious in comparison with «Leningrad Women». In his second «blockade» work, the composer took a slightly different path: the libretto was based not on biographical or chronological facts, but on symbols of besieged Leningrad.

The main symbol is the voice of Olga Bergholz, which sounded almost daily on Leningrad radio. The oratorio will feature poems by the Leningrad poetess, which will be accompanied by soprano vocals to provide a deeper emotional immersion for the listeners. The result was a kind of concert for a reciter and voice with an orchestra. 

The symbol of the Leningraders’ resilience, the metronome, was heard from the city’s loudspeakers for all 900 days. «The metronome is ticking, which means the city is alive, which means you are alive» – these lines are repeatedly voiced by the choir. 

Blockade bread. The oratorio's numbers «The Feat of the Driver», «The Queue for Bread» and «Ladoga Ice» are dedicated to this topic.

The symbol of the «Tallinn transition» was the Leningrad poet and war correspondent Yuri Inge, who died on August 28, 1941, during the transition of the Baltic Fleet from Tallinn to Kronstadt. His poems, which were recited on June 22, 1941, were included in the reciter’s part, and his last poems, «Minesweepers,» became the expanded musical «canvas» of the oratorio. The libretto of the oratorio also includes poems by the Leningrad poetess Elena Vechtomova, a survivor of the siege and the wife of Yuri Inge.

During the most terrible winter of 1941-1942, two Russian old men, the director of the conservatory Alexei Mashirov and the composer Boris Asafiev, read the poems of A.S. Pushkin's «I love you, Peter's creation», thereby showing the incredible strength of spirit, which is a symbol of love for the city, for the Motherland, selfless faith in victory. The number based on Pushkin’s poems became the musical culmination of the entire oratorio.

The essay also reflects little-known facts about the siege of Leningrad, such as the Small Road of Life.
Poems about the small ice road were written by an eyewitness of those distant events, an honorary citizen of the city of Kronstadt, Maria Aminova.

The libretto of the oratorio, which was written by the composer himself, also includes poems by Mikhail Dudin, Leonid Khaustov, Alexander Prokofiev, Vera Inber, other poets, blockade ditties and eyewitness accounts of those who survived all the horrors of the blockade.

The song is the musical basis of the oratorio, and through the bright song themes the steadfastness of the Russian spirit and the unparalleled feat of the Leningraders are affirmed.

The monumental work ends with the famous verses of Olga Bergholz: «Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.»
It continues the cycle of musical works by Viktor Pleshak «Musical and historical epic «Russian world»«, dedicated to Russian history, and is its tenth part. All works of the cycle were performed by the State Russian Orchestra named after V.V. Andreev under the direction of artistic director and chief conductor, People's Artist of Russia Dmitry Dmitrievich Khokhlov.