Falik Yu. Prayer for choir a cappella

Yuri FALIK (1936–2009) was the disciple of the acknowledged Stolyarsky music school in Odessa. Studying in the Leningrad conservatoire he acquired two specialities: cello (prof. A. Strimer) and composition (prof. B. Arapov). Post-graduate education (M. Rostropovich). Falik was a professor of composition and instrumentation perfoming as a conductor all over the Russian cities and abroad. Among his creations there are many opuses of diverse genres. Numerous chamber and choral compositions by Falik are perpetually

Performed all over the world by the European and American ensembles and choral groups. Such conductors as Ye. Svetlanov, G. Rozhdestvensky, M. Janssons, V. Gergiev, A. Dmitriyev, V. Yampolsky (USA), M. di Bonaventura (USA), S. Edwards (UK) included Falik’s symphony compositions to their repertoire.

The “Prayer” for choir a cappella to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s verses was doomed to have become the last creation by Yuri Falik. The composer fortuned to detect this important tendency of contemporary art, striving for harmony and  beauty — once profaned and eager to be revived. Is it destined to save the world? God knows. However, our first poet is right: “the villainy shall get its recompense on Earth”. Listen to the “Prayer”, its obedient intonation, its words: “Our Father, Our most gracious Farther, do not leave thy suffering Russia in its striking of nowadays… oh. Thou, almighty God, do not let it be broken…” The “Prayer” was firstly performed some days before Yuri Falik’s death. It occurred to be the genius parting with his native land, his time, his mostly beloved art.