New Liturgical Movement: Benedict Sheehan’s Ukrainian War Requiem, Reviewed by Thomas Neal

Monday, February 24, 2025

Benedict Sheehan’s Ukrainian War Requiem, Reviewed by Thomas Neal

Gregory DiPippo

Today marks the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We are honored to share this review by our friend Thomas Neal of a recording of the Ukrainian War Requiem, commissioned by the Axios Men’s Ensemble from composer Benedict Sheehan, in remembrance of the victims of the invasion. The recording is now available from Capella Records. We urge all of our readers to continue pray for an end to the conflict and the establishment of a just peace.

In 2022, Damein Zakordonski and Steven Brese of the Axios Men’s Ensemble commissioned the multiple Grammy-nominated composer Benedict Sheehan to create a new work in honour of those fallen in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The result is a substantial composition in twelve movements titled Ukrainian War Requiem, which received its premiere performance in April 2024. (Video of the part of the premiere performance at the church of St Basil the Great in Edmonton, Alberta; photos below.)

Described as “one of the leading voices in religious classical music in the 21st century” (ConcertoNet), Sheehan works out of the sacred choral traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy and has gained international recognition for his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2020) and Vespers (2021).

His Ukrainian War Requiem follows the basic structure of the panakhyda, the Byzantine Rite’s memorial service for the dead:

I. Trisagion Prayers (Трисвятi Молитви)

   II. Psalm 90 (Псалом 90)
   III. Great Litany (Велика Ектенія)
   IV. Alleluia & Troparia (Алилуя і Тропарі)
   V. Evlogitaria of the Departed (Евлогитарії)
   VI. Sessional Hymn of the Departed (Сідальний: Упокой, Спасе наш)
   VII. Psalm 50 (Псалом 50)
   VIII. Canon (Канон)
   IX. With the Souls (З Духами спочилих праведників)
   X. Litany for the Dead (Заупокійна ектенія)
   XI. Eternal Memory & Light (Вічная Пам’ять)

XII. In Paradisum

As Dr. Deacon Nicholas Denysenko explains in the liner notes:

Ukrainians remember the dead in a beloved ritual called a panakhyda—a type of vigil centred on song. Mourners stand before God, in solidarity with survivors, and sing a panakhyda. It is a ritual reflecting on life and death, a lament of grief and loss, and of hope. [In the face of recent world events] the Ukrainian spirit continues to cry out to God in the panakhyda, commending the dead to God, singing them into God’s realm, remembering them for their sacrifice.

Sheehan selected sacred texts in Ukrainian, English, and Latin, sometimes combining different languages in the same movement. And he has drawn on a variety of musical influences including Ukrainian and Galician chant (галицький розспів), Western plainchant, and a Ukrainian Jewish psalm tone (nusach). These disparate elements are brought together with original thematic material, and the various movements are unified through frequent use of the melody of the Ukrainian national anthem, Shche Ne Vmerla Ukraïna, by Mykhailo Verbytskyi.

Sheehan explains the use of such disparate elements by pointing out that Ukrainian culture and artistic heritage is both multicultural and multireligious. It is very much to the composer’s credit that he has succeeded in drawing on this great variety of musical-liturgical traditions, holding them in creative tension, and making them ‘speak’ to, and of, each other. The result could so easily have been overly sentimental, even kitsch; instead, it is an ‘authentic’ work in the best sense of the term. Sheehan’s Requiem is firmly grounded in musical traditions; but, like the householder “who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old” (Matthew 13, 52), he has not shied away from handling the material with a contemporary voice. The result is a remarkably homogenous composition: the variety of styles, traditions, and languages gives the work a clear structure that is well-proportioned and well-paced.

Sheehan’s Ukrainian War Requiem has now been recorded by the Axios Men’s Ensemble, together with the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada, under the direction of Michael Zaugg. The performance is astonishingly good. The exceptional quality of the voices, the consistency of tone throughout the tessitura, and the impeccable tuning and ensemble make for an outstanding performance.

The recording has been released by Cappella Records (CR 432) in time to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022-25). The album includes a 28-page booklet with essays by the composer and Dr. Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, attractive photography, and all texts and translations (the downloaded version includes a PDF of the full booklet).

Sheehan is, without doubt, one of the most innovative and exciting voices in contemporary liturgical composition, and I am sure many NLM readers will want to own this tremendous and timely new release.

Photos of the premiere performance...