PRELUDE – LEAVING RUSSIA
REQUIEM FOR PEACE

Larry’s grandparents fled Russia c. 1917 – during the Bolshevik Revolution. The Molotschna Village – inhabited by German speaking Mennonites – was not far away from Kiev so this performance (top recording and video below) has special significance and poignancy for the grand-child-become-composer. Peter and Katherine Nickel  were given a homestead in Saskatchewan, Canada, where they farmed and raised nine children. This prelude begins with motifs from the movement “Dulce et decorum” and moves into plaintiff contrapuntal melodies.

footnote: soldiers were still dying (war in Donbass) because of boarder disputes when this performance was given.