Matei Gheorghiu’s Requiem takes on orchestral form

The orchestral version of Matei Gheorghiu’s bassoon concerto Requiem will receive its world premiere in Lappeenranta on 12 November. Mikko-Pekka Svala will be the soloist, with Erkki Lasonpalo conducting the Lappeenranta City Orchestra. The concerto grew out of collaboration between Gheorghiu and Svala. Originally scored for solo bassoon and an ensemble of seven musicians, the work was premiered at the composer’s postgraduate recital at the Sibelius Academy.

The death of Gheorghiu’s mother was a major influence on the bassoon concerto. The work depicts her journey after death and draws on Rudolf Steiner’s ideas about the afterlife and Christian esotericism. “Music born of such a personal subject felt natural and honest to me,” Gheorghiu says.

The first and last movements of the four-movement work are based on theme and variations, while the two middle movements use sonata form. Its musical language moves between tonality and atonality. The recurring themes and leitmotifs that run through the work are characteristic of Matei Gheorghiu’s approach to composition.

Gheorghiu wants to create art for people. “The pursuit of novelty is not an end in itself for me. Rather, I hope that people will enjoy my music and be inspired by it, including those outside contemporary music circles,” he says. Gheorghiu describes his music as a reinterpretation of Romanticism, but from his own, new perspective.

Following the bassoon concerto, there will be further opportunities to hear Gheorghiu’s music in spring 2027, including the premieres of a string quartet and an Easter-themed choral work. Other projects are also in the pipeline, and Gheorghiu plans to compose more orchestral music in the future. His own instrument is the piano, and he plays the trombone as a hobby at the Kankaanpää Music Institute, where he also holds a teaching position in music theory.

Concert details
Matei Gheorghiu on Fennica Gehrman
Matei Gheorghiu’s website

Photo: Octavian Balea