Since December 20, 2024, a new recording of Vladimir Spivakov and the NPR, i.e. Requiem by Carl Jenkins, has appeared on streaming platforms. The work, written in 2005, is an astonishing example of interweaving Oriental and Western traditions. The composer dedicated the opus to the memory of his father. Following Fauré’s and Duruflé’s patterns Jenkins added Pie Jesu and In Paradisum to the traditional structure of the Catholic Mass and made the liturgical Latin text interact with lyrical Japanese poems on life and death (haiku). The score is written for an unusual arrangement: four soloists (soprano, treble, Japanese flute shakuhachi and harp) and orchestra. Some oriental instruments are included along with Western traditional ones into the orchestration, notably darabuka, daiko and other exotic drums.
The Moscow premiere of Jenkins's Requiem took place on January 27, 2019, closing the 11th edition of the Moscow Christmas Festival of spiritual music in the MPAC Svetlanov Hall with Vladimir Spivakov conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and the Grand Choir “Masters of Choral Singing”. The soloists included soprano Anna Aglatova and treble Egor Parfeniuk. The harp and flute solo parts were played by the NPR's soloists Ilona Nokelainen and Sergei Zhuravel. For the Japanese movements the soloists were sopranos Angelina Zelenskaya, Evgenia Kurova and Anna Nemzer. All of them took part in the recording.
The recording has been made with the participation of German sound engineer and producer Philipp Nedel and his b-sharp company. Philipp Nedel, a Grammy and ECHO award winner, a permanent partner of such recording companies as Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Sony Music and Onyx, collaborated with the NPR and Vladimir Spivakov for several years. He has taken part in making the NPR's albums A Wounded Heart, Holy Russia, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and others (which can be heard in the “Audio Section”).