Schnittke's most intimate music, the "Penitential Psalms," reveals the composer's soul at its very pinnacle. Based on anonymous 16th-century Russian texts, Schnittke created this work in 1988 to commemorate the millennium of the Christianization of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. These choral works lack the ironic detachment and sarcasm that often characterize Schnittke's compositions. Instead, they are music that springs directly from the heart and possesses immediate emotional power. After Schnittke's death in August 1998, the psalms acquired a particular depth and can also be understood as a lament for the composer himself.
